Anniversary...

Six years ago (May 8) on a beautiful Saturday evening, I exchanged wedding vows with my Best Friend. Without God in the center of our lives, we clearly would not have made it, and we would not be at the level of togetherness we are now. It has only gotten better and we are looking forward to the next phase of our life by adding to our family in special ways.

Yes, our wedding was Mother's Day weekend, which made it extra special and we could not have asked for a more beautiful event with perfect weather. I have to give a lot of the credit to one of the best wedding event planners/event coordinators in the country (in my opinion) for making our day a perfect day.

We feel our process will be the same way, in God's time and made perfectly for us. We have prayer over our lives and favor from God, and we don't doubt that his time is the best time, just as our special day was orchestrated.

I thought I would share a picture that I have not shared before, only for a day or two, being that we are kind of private people. We were featured in a wedding magazine 6 years ago as Real Couples with our wedding event. Yes, I have blurred out my hubby's name and I cut off the article to give us a little more privacy. This is my blog and not his, and I respect that. Those who really know us, know who we are. I apologize for taking a picture of the magazine, but that was the quickest way for me to post it!

I plan on posting something soon on what has been going on with us and our process.

Happy Mother's Day to all of the Mothers, Soon to be Mothers, God Mothers and those who do not have children but help raise others. Today is your special day.

cute..

We attended a couples shower today of a close friend of mine from work. She is expecting her first baby in June. I am so excited for her! I had been putting together things for the past month or two for a basket for her. I also scrapped a card and printed it to give it a personal feel. I try to make each basket and card tailored for the person.

Here are a few pictures of the basket and card. The colors and prints are from her nursery's print. They absolutely loved the basket and the card. The onesie with sweet pea on it is an iron on that we found. That was the baby's nick name until they found out the sex of the baby!

It is so much fun to make things for people who are genuinely sweet and good people.

We arrived a little late at the shower due to a glitch at the last minute with the cello paper and I needed to reprint something on the card. It was really the cello paper that was giving us a fit with the basket. Nevertheless, we made it there and although we arrived later, we arrived with a basket full of love. Luckily, the shower was held close by! We only had to drive about 2 minutes!

Here are a few pictures of the basket. I took pictures at the shower, however, I usually do not share other pictures of our private events that we attend with others. The pictures were wonderful and we had a great time.

Close up card without ribbon

Going through all of the items in the basket at the shower

Interesting...

I mentioned in my replies on my last post that I would do a separate post about the fees associated with this journey and my personal concerns. Well, interestingly enough someone sent me a text today about these articles that were discussing the issue going on with many local agencies.
The article exposed a lot of agencies and it was not a surprise to me. Fortunately, our current agency was not listed as apart of the ones with the large salaries paid to the top executives.


Read the article here.....I would love to hear your thoughts.

While we all know that there is a process and finances are involved, however, where do you draw the line? Many parents get caught out there with giving, giving and giving and nothing becomes of their process, but lost money given at a risk. This article here discussed findings that dealt with families who invested and had a long journey with their process.

I know for us, it was a little uncomfortable looking at different agencies when we first began our process. One agency went by your household income and others had flat fees. Then there were others that had fees based upon each situation. We still stuck to what we felt was comfortable. Regardless of what your income or occupation is, there should be some discernment in selecting the agency, and it definitely should not be out of impatience or being desperate for a child. We all often hear that "children are priceless", however, there should be some sort of rules set in place with how much a person or couple pays for their process.

I feel sorry for the families who have invested a lot and have nothing in return. It is unfortunate, however, it is going on everywhere.

The sad part is that there are so many families who would love to adopt, however, after hearing the costs of adopting here in the US, many are spooked and feel that they can not afford the process. There are many families out there who are professionals making very good salaries, however, they just may not have or may not be willing to invest 30k or plus to an adoption process. However, they can afford to raise the child. I believe this is the case for many families out there who would proceed, however, they do not feel that they have the finances. Hopefully, something will change in the future.

I would love to hear your thoughts...