I have heard that you can print your blog... Has anyone done it? Does anyone know how?

The Tree is Up

Several years ago I used to get really irritated when people would put up their Christmas trees before December....and if I saw a Christmas tree up before Thanksgiving I would go crazy. Then all that changed when I started working at the Church Office Building four years ago. The first Christmas tree was decorated the day after Halloween and I think once we even decorated a tree on Halloween. We had to start decorating trees that early in order to get them all decorated before December. Even though I love staying at home with Claire and I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world, I must admit that I really miss working this time of year and decorating Christmas trees all over Temple Square everyday for an entire month. So last night I got to thinking about what I would be doing if I was still working and it totally put me in the mood to put up my Christmas tree....FIVE days before Thanksgiving.

Our Little Balloon Girl

Tonight while eating ice cream sundaes after Young Women in Exellence, some of my Mia Maids decided to have a little bit of fun with Claire. First it was just a helium balloon tied around each pigtail......and before we left the church she had the rest of the helium balloons tied around her wrists. She absolutely loved it!! She has so much fun with the girls in my class and I love working with them. It has definately been my favorite church calling so far.

Family and Friends,
Almost three years ago we started the adoption process for the first time. It seemed like forever before we were approved to adopt through LDS Family Services and after we were approved, it took us about four months before being selected by a birth mother. During those four months, we were contacted through email by several birth mothers and were disappointed when we never heard from them again. So when we received an email from Melody, emailed her back, and then didn’t hear back from her, we weren’t too surprised. Then a week later I received a call at work from our case worker wanting to know why we never emailed Melody back. Melody was 6 months pregnant and had been looking at our adoption profile for awhile and wanted to get to know us better. She had been waiting for a response to her email all week but for some reason the email that we sent her the previous week never went through. By the end of the day we were emailing each other back and forth. We were trying so hard not to get our hopes up….but we were so excited!! The emails continued for the next two weeks and then we received a call from our case worker saying that we needed to come in to the office. She didn’t tell us why but we were pretty sure what was going on. We went in that evening and were given a package from Melody that contained a baby blanket, a little pink teddy bear, and a card asking us if we would raise her baby girl for her since she wanted more for her little girl than she was able to give her. Luke was so excited!! So was I, but more than anything I was just filled with peace. It was a peace that had been missing for years. We knew that this baby was meant to come to our home. We knew that this was the baby that we had been praying for.
Several weeks later we met Melody for the first time and the next month we got together again so her parents could meet us. We were extremely nervous during each visit….more nervous than we have ever been in our entire lives. We were afraid that after meeting us, she would think we were weird or something and change her mind. The next couple of months were spent getting ready for our baby. Two and a half months after getting that first email, I woke up in the middle of the night to the sound of my phone beeping from a missed phone call and a voice message from Melody saying that Claire was on her way. Although Melody didn’t want us at the hospital when Claire was born, we had exchanged phone numbers so she could call us when she went into labor. The next day was the longest day of our lives as we waited for another phone call saying that Claire was born. Each time the phone would ring, we would get so excited and my heart would start beating really fast. Finally we changed the ring tone for Melody’s phone number so we could distinguish it from the other calls we were receiving. Melody called us that evening soon after Claire was born. Luke answered it since my hands were shaking so badly. Our baby girl had finally arrived. Two days later we were able to see our little angel for the first time. No words can describe how it felt when Melody laid Claire in my arms for the first time. We were so excited, filled with peace, overcome with joy, and scared to death. That was eighteen months ago. Claire has been the highlight of our lives since then. She can make us laugh so hard with the funny things she is constantly doing, make our hearts melt when she calls for her “mommy” and “daddy”, break our hearts when she gets hurt, and occasionally drive us crazy with her stubbornness. She is everything to us and we are so grateful that we are able to be her parents.
We have what is called an open adoption and during the last eighteen months we have exchanged emails and photos with Melody and have even got together for an occasion visit. We love and respect Claire’s birth mother so much. Through her selflessness we were able to finally start our family. She loved Claire so much that she was willing to set aside her own feelings and do what she felt was right for her baby even though it was a hard thing to do. She is the most courageous person that we know. Although we may not see her very much and in the future we will probably have even less contact with her, she will forever remain a part of our family.
Six months ago we again applied for adoption through LDS Family Services. We feel that there is another baby that is meant to be part of our family. We are asking you to keep us in your thoughts and prayers and to please tell others about us. With your help we may be able to find the part of our family that we are missing. Our profile can be viewed at itsaboutlove.org and we are in the process of setting up another blog at lukeandtinaadoption.blogspot.com so that potential birthmothers can learn even more about us.
Thank you so much for your love and support.
Luke, Tina, and Claire.

One Year Ago....

One year ago our little sweetheart was sealed to us in the Salt Lake Temple. We can't believe how much she has changed since then.

Our Top Ten Favorite Things about Halloween 2009....in no particular order.

1. Making Claire’s costume and her wanting to put it on everyday.

2. Picking out pumpkins at the pumpkin patch.

3. Carving pumpkins and seeing Claire’s expression when we turned off the lights

4. Tina getting the best costume award at the YW/YM Halloween party

5. Roasting pumpkin seeds

6. Eating homemade chili and cinnamon rolls.

7. Eating most of Claire’s Halloween candy after we put her to bed. Well, she isn’t supposed to eat it anyway!!

8. Claire getting excited to get so much candy. She would say “please” and “thank you” and then she would take extra candy.

9. Claire refusing to put her hand inside of a pumpkin because she said it was "dross"=gross….but hours earlier she had no problem sticking her hand in the toilet to grab a toy that fell in.

10. Now that Halloween is over I can change the music on our blog….. we thought the Halloween music was a good idea but we got sick of listening to it really fast.