Three cheers...

If I wanted my team to win at a football game, I would cheer for them. If I wanted a rock band to perform an encore, I'd cheer my heart out. If I wanted my laundry done, I might use some Cheer brand laundry soap.

Seems to me, if I want something, all I have to do is cheer for it.

Please join me in giving three cheers to our son, to encourage him to make his prescence in the world. So put on your short-shorts, dig out your pom-poms, put your hair in a pony and repeat with me:

Hip, hip hoo-ray! {clap} Come out to-day! {clap}

Hip, hip hoo-ray! {clap} Come out to-day! {clap}

Hip, hip hoo-ray! {clap} Come out to-day! {clap}

Please stay tuned. I'll let you know if it worked.

Does he know?

I keep looking in his basinette, and in his crib, and at his little clothes, and I try to picture what he is going to look like, and how tiny he will be. I think of singing him lullabies, rocking him to sleep, and cuddling his sweet body. And I keep thinking, does he know how long we have waited for him? Does he know how precious he is to us? Does he know he is the answer to thousands of prayers? Does he know how much we love him, even though we've never met him?

Does he know? If he doesn't, he will, because we will tell him every day.

Baby preparation

I figure it's time to write a new post. There's not much new in the Baby Front. We're still waiting anxiously for our Little Mister to make his entrance into the world.

Here are some of things we've done in preparation for Baby:

• Sanded back deck
• Stained/painted deck (because it will never get done if it's not done now!)
• Scrubbed the basinette until it shined
• Moved everything into/out of Baby's room
• Put together crib
• cleaned crib and "fixed" all the scratches with furniture oil
• edged all carpeting
• cleaned all baseboards
• Cleaned all carpets (with a Rug Doctor)
• a dozen other random things I can't think of at the moment

I still have a list of things I need to do before we go to Mississippi, but I know I'll never get them all done. Plus, I'm sure there's got to be some things I'll forget to do. Hopefully it's nothing that can't wait!

_____________________________

Up until this past Saturday we had only a handful of baby items. A beautiful thing happened on Saturday to change all of that: BABY SHOWERS! That's right. I said showers- with an "s". I had a ward shower from 12:00-2:00, and then a family/other-friends shower from 3:00-5:00. We are amazed at the generosity of our friends and family, and are so grateful for their help. Now we feel much better and have most of the things we need. All the baby stuff is so cute (yes, even the diaper cream is cute!) and it makes me want our baby to come NOW!

One highlight of my Shower Day was that my friend Becky from Arizona flew in and surprised me! She flew in just for my shower, and left the next day! Boy, did I feel special. Because she came all the way out for me, I feel I at least owe her a picture on my blog. Here's Becky and I. We've been friends since middle school and she is one of my dearest friends in the whole world.

I also had some very cute cakes that were made for my showers. The following cake was made by my friend Heather for my first shower.

Pretty funny, huh?

And then, at my next shower, my friend Raven made these cute mini-cakes. There were 10 mini-cakes, and together they spelled out the words "Welcome Baby".

Aren't these wonderful? She has a business called Dollhouse Cakes.

http://www.dollhousecakes.com/

Thank you, thank you, thank you to all our family and friends for all your support! It means a lot to us that you care so much. It is impossible to say how overwhelmed we feel with the love and support we have received. Everything has come together so smoothly, and we feel this is the way it was always meant to be. Thanks again, everyone!

Dear Baby

To our dear son,

When are you coming? We are earnestly trying to get things ready for you. We're putting together your crib, and putting all your furniture in your bedroom. We're buying you all the things your little body needs, like formula, diapers, and clothes. We're thinking about you every second. You'll have everything you need when you get here.

And, when you get here, we'll finally have everything we need. We are so excited to meet you.

We love you,
Mommy & Daddy

Here's how it's gonna work...

For those of you interested in our adoption escapades, read on. If you're not interested, I also give you permission to read on (or go grab a sandwich).

#1- Baby is "due" on or around August 27th. (Technically, he's due on September 17th, but his birthmother has had all four of her other kids 3 weeks early, hence the August 27th due-date).

#2- He's going to be born in Mississippi. His birthmother can't travel to Utah anymore, so we're going to Mississippi to pick him up.

#3- Yes, that's right. I said Mississippi. I told everyone it was Georgia, but I was totally wrong.

#4- Good thing it'll be Mississippi, because we get to stay with cousins Derek & Heather, which will be a lot of fun and save us a big wad of cash...

#5- We have 3 names picked out for Baby. We'll see what he looks like and go from there. (And, no! I'm not telling you the names!)

#6- As soon as birthmother goes into labor, the agency calls us and we fly on the next flight out to Mississippi.

#7- While on the plane, we count the seconds by saying "One Mississippi, Two Mississippi, Three Mississippi," and so forth. And we anxiously smile while we do it.

#8- When in Mississippi, we meet Baby at the hospital. Then, 24 hours after Baby is born, birthmother signs the relinquishment (this is where she gives up her rights of being his mother). Once the form is signed, there's no changing her mind. Due to her circumstances and her commitment to adoption, we are not worried that she'll change her mind before she signs. Also, Jared & I feel very strongly that Baby is meant to be in our family, and that the Lord has a hand in this.

After the relinquishment is signed, we get to take Baby back to the hotel. We hang around for 3-4 days, until the Custody Hearing. This gives us custody of Baby for 3 months. After we get custody, we take Baby up to cousin's house.

While we're at Heather & Derek's, we'll be waiting for ICPC to clear (this means we're getting permission from Mississippi & Utah to bring Baby across state lines). This takes 5-10 days. Mississippi is supposed to be a "fast" state when it comes to ICPC, so hopefully it will be closer to 5 days.

SO... when ICPC is cleared we get to take Baby home (which means two more ridiculously expensive last-minute plane tickets). We'll have two "post-placement home visits" from the agency in the next 3 months, in which they make sure we are good parents. (duh! we're gonna be AMAZING parents... they should know this by now! After all, they know more about us than we do). Then, after 3 months, we get to finalize the adoption.

After finalization, Baby can be blessed and be sealed to his mommy & daddy for time and eternity.

And he will be ours. We've waited so long for him. We love him already. He will be beautiful. And we will be the 3 happiest people in the world- Mommy, Daddy, & Baby.

You've been waiting for this.

We have some good news. Actually it's great news. If you know us personally, it's pretty much the best news you're going to hear this year. Maybe even in your lifetime. No joke.

As you might know, Jared and I really, really, really, want to be parents. And, without boring you or giving a pity-story about the past 5 years, I'll just say this: it's been a tough journey. We received news last Saturday (August 1st) that a new chapter in our lives will be beginning. We will finally be parents! And, no, I'm not pregnant. We have been matched to adopt a baby boy! I know you're dying to know the details.

Due date: August 27, 2009 (um... that's in 3 weeks!)

He will have two eyes.
He'll have two feet.
And ten tiny fingers, and ten tiny toes.
He'll make stinky diapers.
He'll cry and not let me sleep.
He will cost us a truckload of money.

But he will also...

Smile at me,
Call me his mommy, and
Fill my aching heart.

I can't wait to meet him.

My pseudo-baby.

I think I have too much pride. Too much pride in our garden. I think Jared would agree, because I spend more time with the garden than with him. I never even knew I would like gardening, but we had this ugly slope of land in our backyard, and we had to do something about it. Here's the overgrown, useless piece of land before we did something with it:

Then I asked hubby if I could make a garden, and he said yes. (but that was before he knew how much work it was going to be!). We had about 9 men, putting a total of about 90 man-hours in to make this delicious-looking wall:

(Yes, that's right. I said "delicious." If walls were edible, I'd eat this one).

The retaining wall was built at the end of May, and now we're reaping the benefits of our thriving garden. I think I just got lucky. We'll see if I can do it again next year.

It's hard to see in this small picture, but we've got tomatoes, cucumbers, zucchini, summer squash, rhubarb, watermelon, green beans, carrots, and corn!

Like I said. I got pride. And I know pride ain't such a good thing. (and neither is saying "ain't"). But, what can I say? My garden has been my baby in leiu of having no baby, and so I've got pride in my beautiful baby garden.

A little about us.

We are Jared and Harmony. We're two peas in a pod and happy as a chocolate-covered baby. Our life together has been pretty great so far, and we know it will only get better. We are both Utah transplants and we've learned to love the mountain landscape and all it has to offer. Jared works in IT (the man is a freaking computer genious!) and I teach piano lessons to a bunch of cute kiddos. We come from two great families and can't wait to have our own little great family soon.

Here's us:


Well, actually, my hair is usually straight- not curly. (We were in New Orleans at the time and it was a useless battle to fight the humidity). We're not die-hard fans of that photo but it will have to do. We don't usually end up acquiring a lot of pictures of ourselves.

Actually, that's a lie. I take a lot of pictures of myself. It's kind of a weird habit of mine, and I probably shouldn't share it in my first blog post. Whenever I get a camera, I can't help but look into it and snap a picture, as if I don't know what I look like. Maybe it's one of those "cute" things that makes me, me. Or maybe it's just annoying. You be the judge.

So, what do you think? (remember, Thumper says: "If you can't say something nice, don't say nuthin' at all!")