The Grapevine...

So quite awhile back I promised some announcements...

As far as "other people's news" that is related to me-I am going to be an AUNT again!!!
My 'little' sister Beth & her husband, Neil, are expecting a baby this spring-we're all keeping or fingers crossed for a smooth pregnancy & a healthy baby. She comes from a family of girls & him a family of boys-even all of the biological grandkids (aka my sister Emily's girls & Neil's brother's boys) so far in both of the families are following the same trend. It will be interesting to see, which "trend" will continue & which will be broken (And I sure hope they don't mind that I have shared this with the whole blogging world now!) :D

As far as news directly related to us, well...

We are working with another birthmother who is due towards the end of November!

Honestly, we have known about this situation since before "Baby E" was born, but were unwilling to act on anything related to it until we knew how that adoption would turn out. Unfortunately, that adoption did not go as we were hoping so we acted upon this one immediately when that happened-even so, the "Baby E" situation was probably the hardest thing that we have endured in our marriage to date. It was tough, but at the same time we were also aware that this particular birthmother was still interested in us as parents for her baby. It acted as a distraction from what had happened, but it definitely was no "magic cure" for our sadness from losing "Baby E". At the time though it did kind of feel like that's what people thought, since most would only ask about the circumstances surrounding the 'new' baby & would never dare to ask about what had actually happened up to that point.
But that is all in the past now, those feelings do still bubble up on occasion, but they have been replaced more & more lately with excitement as the due date approaches. They are very much mixed with apprehension-what if this happens again? Will we even be able to afford to try again soon if it doesn't? Why does it have to be so hard? Scott has already said that we are "heading to a beach for Christmas" if it doesn't go! :) Peace, Love & Joy~I'm not sure we would be feeling it at that point, but nothing has been decided yet so until then we hold on to Hope that maybe we'll have a baby in our arms & a sibling for Luke this year yet!

Things that are "important" to know about this adoption:

*Birthmom is Luke's biological mother so the baby will actually be Luke's genetic 1/2 sibling (please refrain from leaving any "neat" "cool" "so good for Luke" comments-they are making my ears tired in real life only because it makes me wonder about our society & the importance that is placed on "blood" ;)
*She lives out-of-state so (like with Luke's birth) we are looking at having to spend the first several weeks of baby's life living many hours away from our home & much of our family-still trying to figure out whether we should do this with/without Luke in tow for the entire time
*Scott doesn't have much time built up yet in his job, which means we can't afford for him to have many unpaid days off, especially with a newborn to care for
*Birthmom's story is definitely NOT the "rosy" picture that everyone always imagines-her life has been hard, therefore, the way she interacts with us/attornies/agency workers at times can be very trying/difficult-yet we know that she is only trying to decide what the best decision is for her baby. I do not judge her or her actions, but I DO hope that some of the things we are dealing with for her will all be worth it in the end...

BTW (Mom & Dad, I know you read this so those letters mean "by the way" ;)
The baby is supposed to be a girl! :)