Friday, December 31, 2010

Dear Baby Sanborn,

We are waiting for you.  The waiting is almost too much to bear now that we know when you are coming.  Funny, I thought I would feel better once we knew when you would be here.  We will be meeting you in less than 40 days (37 to be exact).  Wow.  Just saying that makes my stomach flutter.  It is New Year's Eve and we are ringing in the New Year with your brother and sister in California.  We are at Disneyland for the last time without you!  UB gave us tickets for Christmas.  Every time I walk by a baby my heart yearns to hold you in my arms.  My sweet cousin Caitlin (your second cousin) gave us a baby gift today- our first official wrapped baby gift!!!  Baby, do you know how much you are loved???!!!  You got Christmas presents even thought we didn't know about you.  Our dear friends, or precious neighbors and sweet family are almost as excited to meet you as we are.  Everyone is working together to get us ready to bring you home.  Brynnie bought you some really warm clothes, Aunt Brenda and Uncle Kim bought you a changing table, Miss Stephanie gave us a baby bag, Miss Erin gave us burp cloths, Caitlin and Bryan gave us a Moby Wrap...  The list goes on!!!  Right now, Daddy and I are working on your name.  We have a few choices, but nothing just perfect for you yet sweet pea.  We want to name you after your sweet Pappy, but not sure how to do that yet.  We also want you to have a strong name, one you can grow into, and a name that sounds good with Andrew and Annabelle.  So we are really working on something so that we can start calling you by name.  Whatever name we choose, we know that God has chosen you for our family, and that's the most important thing.  We are praying for you and your sweet birth mom and your brothers and sisters.  We are praying for your health and safety as you wait to come home with us.  We love you sweet pea, and can't wait to meet you!

Sunday, December 26, 2010

Match Day

As of 4:00 today we have been matched!!!  We are expecting a baby boy on February 7, 2011.  We cannot even put into words how we are feeling right now.  We had the privilege to speak to our birth mom today, before she was our birth mom.  She had narrowed it down to two families, and wanted to speak with each family.  She was so easy to talk to and so sweet.  She told us she knew adoption was the best option for this little one from the day she found out she was pregnant.  She asked us several very thoughtful questions.  The conversation flowed very easily- AMAZING!!!  Bill and I were so nervous!!  We are so glad that God answered our prayers the way he did.  She is sure about her decision regarding adoption and has a peace about choosing us.  We also feel a peace as well as OVERWHELMING EXCITEMENT!!!  We are so excited to finally meet our sweet pea!  We will let you in on a few more details as we know them!  This is surely going to be the longest 6 weeks of our lives!!!  Thank you for all of your love and support so far in this journey.  Thank you for continuing to pray for our family as well as our baby boy and his birth mom. 
Love,
Team Sanborn (+1)

Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Adoption Circles-Shout Outs

So, you probably know someone who is adopted or has adopted-everyone does. As an adpotive parent, "these people" become cornerstone in your life.  Often their families look like yours, you often have the same journey.   I am very lucky to have a very tight knit adoption circle.  Kind of like "six degrees of seperation" but without Kevin Bacon:).  Here goes:
Andi:
Adoptive mom of 1, bio mom of 1.  I met Andi and her husband when I did their homestdy as they prepared to adopt Olivia (from Ethiopia).  Ask her...  she's going to "lead the revolution", she is a "hippie mom" who cloth diapers and baby wears (in a $200 silk baby sling), does organic like she has a money tree in the back yard (chicken blessed by monks).  We don't always agree on politics, but we do agree about how to love on our kids.  She has been a constant cheerleader for our family, and a fierce defender of Andrew (thank you obnoxious lady at Tumbleweed).
Christy:
Adoptive mom of 1 waiting to adopt #2.  Good friend since college (I have known her husband since high school).  We "job shared" together for 3 years.  Her dad passed away when she was 20, and her insight has been AMAZING as she has helped me walk through the grieving process with my dad.  Five years ago I ran into her at an adoption conference (see Amy for this one) at an "infertility class" (lead by a man who had something like 6 kids-WHAT???).  They weren't ready, and we were.  We brought Andrew and Annabelle home and took them to church a few days later.  Christy was the first person I wanted to hold Annabelle.  I told her all the pain will go away when you have that sweet baby in your arms.  What I didn't know until later is she went directly to the bathroom and cried her eyes out.  Christy is a relentless prayer warrior and a  faithful friend.
Amy:
Bio mom of 1, maybe, sort of thinking about #2.  Why is she in our adoption circle you may ask....  I have known Amy since college (her husband offered me my first glass  tumbler of wine in college, so shady, I know).  What I didn't know is that she has wanted to adopt a little girl from China since she was 14.  Always had the dream in her heart and I never knew about it until 2005 when she took me to the adoption conference (where I saw Christy) that got our "adoption ball rolling".  Just a few months ago she and her husband decided it was time to move on from thier Chineese adoption (after 5 years of waiting with no end in sight).  She looked up at us, tears streaming and said, "Why would God put a burden like this on my heart, only not to fulfill the desire?  What could be the reason?"  I of course started to cry (the ugly kind, in a public place no doubt), and blubbered, "WE ARE THE REASON.  Our family is the reason".  At the conference Amy took me to, I met our homestudy agency (that would later introduce me to Andi and Erin) and they were at our house doing our homestudy the next week.   Encourager and wonderful friend.  So even though Amy does not have an adopted child of her own, she can count ours...
Erin-
Adoptive mom of 1 (Annabelle's future husband), bio mom to 1, soon to be 2.  Erin and I met 5 years ago when Andi and I were doing her home study as she prepared to adopt from Ethiopia.  She taught with Christy a few years before (crazy huh?).  She and her husband relocated to Pasadena when her kids were tiny babies and we had a long distance relationship (so to speak).  I WAS PUMPED when they decided to move back.  Our families genetic makeup is similar, so I am sure we turn a few heads on playdates.  2 mommies with 3 black kids and one white one, trust me we have heard it all!  Our kids are close in age and we have had the recent pleasure of taking dance and sports class together. We got to spend most of the day together every Friday for 10 weeks.   I LOVE LOVE LOVED the time to get to hear more of Erin's heart for all things, adoption included. Giving servant and supportive friend.

I am so excited to see the ways God is going to grow our families and our hearts.  Thank you sweet friends for the amazing and constant support you are in our adoption circle.

Monday, December 6, 2010

So here are the nursery pics...

Sorry it took so long to get these up!

The nursery before...  This was the playroom and when we moved into the house 3 years ago, we thought we would adopt a boy next which is why the room is bright blue!

Our color choices, all shades of yellow!

Bill taping, my least favorite job!  What a good hubby!

Okay, so one coat of primer was not enough...  The "yellows" are on there because I wanted to see if the blue would show through there too- IT DID!!!  Two coats of primer it is!

She waited patiently to help with the nursery for like... oh that's right- 2 YEARS!!!

"Do Work Son!"

Halfway through the project...

The rocker
We used this for Andrew and Annabelle, we got it as a gift from the Delp's (are they a blessing to us or what?)
I think we calculated over 5000 hours in that rocker already!

Finished product, and the spot where the changing table will go

The crib with all of the clothes Mimi bought for the baby.  Of course Mimi isn't going neutral!  She will return when she needs to.  Thanks Mimi!

This is a bear my dad bought me in December of 2005 when we first decided to adopt.  We didn't know we would be blessed with two babies, so there is only one bear.  Since my dad died, this has been such a treasure.  Of course I bawled my eyes out when I was finally able to put this sweet bear in the crib.

Here is our packed, gender neutral suitcase 

The only outfits we packed that are gender specific are the "homecoming" outfits, to be used on the plane home.  They say "little brother" and "little sister"

This is the rest of the baby stuff!!  I was sooo excited to pack new bottles, and pookies and TINY baby clothes.  Yes, that is a had with a flower and a huge sparkly and next to it is a headband with a big bow.  Those gender neutral clothes are too drab for Annabelle's sister!!!  If it is a sister that is...

Diaper bag packed and ready to go.  So much smaller with only one baby!  And yes, it is still in the dust cover...


Now the "logistics" are seemingly worked out- ALL WE NEED IS A BABY!!  HA!!!  Tiny little detail- really tiny!  We are praying for discernment and wisdom as we wait.  We know God is in control of all of this and feel so excited to see what He has in store for our family.  We are so blessed to have you praying for us on our journey!

Monday, November 29, 2010

It's only been 2 weeks since my last post

Okay, so two weeks seems like a long time for most bloggers.  But remember my little blurb about "hurry up and wait"- well we have had more of that!!!  We have applied with 2 different agencies out of Utah (VERY adoption friendly state) and have finished the nursery.
We have a suitcase packed with gender neutral clothes and I am working on a big hair bow!  If Baby Sanborn is a girl and we can't have people confusing her gender because of the gender neutral clothes we packed now can we??!!  We chose the "gender neutral" because with domestic adoption we truly will not know if the baby is truly ours until we get on the plane to come home.  So if we get a call and it's a boy, we fly to Utah with a bunch of baby boy stuff, and it's NOT God's baby for us we will have a bunch of baby boy stuff we have already used and is non-returnable.  With gender neutral we can reuse the clothes for another baby.  Of course we are hoping this is not the case and we only leave to get the baby one time!!!  But we are trying to be practical.
We have had a few birth moms presented with our profile and I must say it's a little nerve wracking!!!  By nature I am a "people pleaser" and I have a pathological NEED for people to like me.  So imagine, you are like me and want desperately for people to like you.  Your whole life story is laid out on paper for the whole world to see.  Most importantly, the woman who will trust you with her child, she will be reading said life story on paper (otherwise know as a family profile).  Then to have that woman (or anyone for that matter) read your life story and say, "not interested", or "not good enough"...  Talk about a kick to the stomach!
God is using this experience to remind me that none of this is about me.  It's not about what I want, or when I want it (clearly).  It's not about what we wrote in the family profile (or what we left out).  It's not about what pluses and minuses we have as seen by outside observers.  It is about how God is building our family.  It is about Him.  He has our baby picked out, He always has.  It's just our job to wait patiently (okay, so I'm not super good at the patiently) until His plan is revealed.
We covet your prayers and are so thankful that you have come along side us on this journey.

Monday, November 15, 2010

Here is the "More To Come"

So in case you didn't read the last post- WE GOT OUR CERTIFICATION TODAY!!!!!!  This is the piece we have been waiting for so we can move forward with the adoption.  So the court has said we are "fit to adopt" (they obviously haven't read the "mother of the Year Monday" posts from our family blog)!  I guess Andrew and and Annabelle were the proof they needed:)
So next steps:
1) Get pics taken tomorrow of just Bill and I
2) Sent them to CAC so Tracie can complete our "Family Profile" (which is totally complete except these few photos).
3) Fill out applications for as many agencies as we want.  We are focusing on 2 right now(both in Utah)
4) Send our profile, additional paperwork and home study documentation to the agencies we have chosen by Friday hopefully
5) Get matched with a birth mom
6) Bring home baby #3
AAAHHH!!!!  Sounds easy right?  NOT SO MUCH!!!  We have a ton of extra documentation to get together for these agencies (I am filling out 21 page applications after posting this blog).  All of that said, we would like to have this all finished by Friday- MY BIRTHDAY BY THE WAY!!!
(Just a side note, with our first two adoptions, we spent my birthday getting our fingerprints done.  And by the way, National Adoption Day is also on my birthday.  It kind of seems fitting doesn't it??!!)
Getting back to the matter at hand...  Getting matched with a birth mom is also very tricky.  We would like to do this only once, but we know that is in God's hands, not ours.  Please be praying for our family during this exciting time.  We want to make decisions based on God's wisdom and discernment, not on emotion and adrenaline.  Please also pray for our baby's birth mom.  Pray that she would have a peace about her decision even now.  Pray her boldness and conviction in giving her baby to us and that it would be out of a heart filled with confidence and hope for her future.  Thank you for joining us on this journey!

"Brand New Day"

OUR CERTIFICATION CAME TODAY!!!!!  More to follow...

Sunday, November 7, 2010

Restless

We are still waiting for our certification- GRRR!!!!  I did mention (a few times) that adoption is about "hurry up and wait" right?!!  I am feeling so restless as we wait.  I know I was like this waiting for Andrew and Annabelle, but the thought has faded.  I am so excited to see what God has in store for our family- I CAN NOT STAND IT!!!!  I have made lists for diaper bags (halfway done filling it by the way), lists for suitcases (not even close yet, because we don't know where we are going ie. will parkas be required?), lists for registries (check and check), lists for nesting (every time I finish one task, I add two more) and written an in-depth schedule for whoever will be watching Andrew and Annabelle while we are gone.  BTW- the "flying anywhere on a moments notice" kind of adoption is EXTREMELY exciting (what adoption isn't) but not exactly practical when you have two little ones.  Let's just say, I have planned for contingency if we are gone during a weekend (Bill's parents), or during the week (Erin, Amy, Christy, Aunt Frankie, Mimi and UB THANKS GUYS).  So I think it is pretty obvious here I am not doing the whole "waiting thing" very well.  I can say I have had minimal "freak outs" in general.  Both have involved Bill making some snide comment about this "not being a big deal"-well you can imagine how well that went over.  All that being said, I am restless.  I am restless to mark something else off my checklist, I am restless waiting for the nursery to be finished, I am restless wondering what will be.  When I find myself on the edge of restless just about to cross over into anxious, I go into the nursery (pics to come, I swear, when it's done) and sit in the rocking chair.  I DO NOT look at all of the things that need to be done, or packed or finished.  I just sit and pray.   I pray for our baby's birth mom, her health and well being as well as her anxiety about what is to come.  I pray for our baby, as he or she is being formed as I pray.    I pray for all the financial details that must be worked out.  I pray for the chaos that is sure to ensue when we bring another baby into our home (AAHHHH-Can't wait).  I pray for what the Lord must have in store for this little one. I pray for the Lord's will to be done in all of the above because He is the only one who can oversee all of it.  It brought my soul such peace to pray over Andrew and Annabelle in their nursery (before we knew they were Andrew and Annabelle).  I pray over Baby #3 the same way.  Just writing about it calms my restlessness...  Guess what I am off to do?

Tuesday, November 2, 2010

Maybe a speed bump, maybe a mountain

We just sent all of our "Sanborn Family Profile" pics to our consultant.  She is a little busy these days with a 13 day old baby boy who is in the NICU (check my previous post for the downlow on this sweet family), but looked at them immediately!  We have a few more pics to gather, as the only pics we have of just Bill and I together are from 5 years ago.  The only pics we have of ourselves alone are from our wedding!  Note to self: "Get more pics of you and your husband!".  So our work on this front is not quite done.

We are still waiting on our recertification notice, it should be coming from the courts any day.  Although it could take longer than expected, as it is adoption paperwork!  HA!!

We were also waiting on one more piece of info- our taxes (boo).  Bill wanted to take our "funding sources" to the tax guy to see what makes the most sense financially as we adopt.  Here comes the "speed bump" or "mountain" part.  After talking to Bill on the phone for  while, he seems to think it's in our best financial interest to wait until Jan 1st to procure the funding.  So we now have more "hurry up and wait" in our future.  I was looking forward to having that part be in our review mirror by Jan 1st.  But it looks like that will not be the case.  GRRRRR!!  I know, it's not that long...especially in "adoption time".  I was kind of looking forward to a baby by Christmas.  I also wanted to travel to get the baby and be home before weather in other places gets really wicked.  I would hate to be stranded in an airport with a newborn and 2 crazy preschoolers waiting on the other end.  Well, God's plans are bigger than all of this!  No lack of pictures of Bill and I together (since 2001), no lack of money, no epic winter storm, nothing will thwart the plans He has for those who love Him.  Please join us as we pray for our baby, timing, finances, our baby's birthmom, El Nino... Well you get my drift!  Thank you for taking this journey with us.

Friday, October 29, 2010

Prayer Request

Our consultant's name is Tracie Loux, she works at CAC (Christian Adoption Consultants).  We don't know her very well yet, but she is an amazing woman.  She has six children, 3 are biological, 3 are adopted and 2 of those are special needs.  She and her husband just (last week) adopted Matthias Samuel.  Mattie is very sick, please pray for him and his family.  You can follow their blog at www.tracieloux.wordpress.com
The story of the Loux family is an unbelievable story of God's leading and grace.  It is a perfect reminder of how fragile a tiny life can be, wether adopted or not.  Please join us in praying for this sweet family.

Sunday, October 17, 2010

Finished the Family Profile

What is a Family Profile you ask?  Well it is 27 little questions that will match us with a birth mom...  No big deal right?  BIG FRIGGIN DEAL IS WHAT I SAY!!!  I sat down at the computer at 1:00 and took a deep breath, spent some time in prayer and started writing.  My sweet friends who have done this before told me not to "sweat the small stuff".  I could drive myself crazy wondering how to phrase something or thinking about what a birth mom might want to see.  So I just wrote.  27 questions some 3500 words and 4 hours later I am finished.  Sigh of relief anyone?  Sort of...  This means that I now have 2 more steps to complete before we can being sending out our profile.  One is glorious because I have no control over it- certification from the state!   I know, those of you who know me well say. "did she just say glorious and out of my control in one sentence"?  Yes, I did...  Adoption is changing me...  And truly I HAVE NO CONTROL (even if I wanted to).  We just wait for that to come in the mail!  Second is pictures...  Molly, you say, seriously?  You could find the 80-100 pictures you need between your two blogs!  Although think about it, do I want a birth mom reading my "mother of the year monday" posts?  I don't think so!  Do I want her to see the pics of Andrew's mess (chocolate syrup, flour, eggs and fish oil ring a bell)? Not a chance!!!  I do have 132 pics put together with our shiniest smiles and our neatest hair.  Here comes the but... BUT I do not have any pics of Bill and I together (since our Wedding in 2001) YIKES!!!  Let me tell you I am SUPER excited to go have a photo shoot-BOOO!!!  I love my husband for sure, but I am not looking forward to a few hours of getting our pics taken hoping we get 30-40 good ones (yes, that's how many they want of us).  Okay, bright side Molly!  You will get to spend 2 kid free hours with your husband gazing into each other's eyes. Yea, I'll let you know how it goes!

Thursday, October 14, 2010

How do you spell thousand??

I remember asking that question when I wrote my first tuition check in college- YIKES!!!  You have to write REALLY small to get all the letters to fit on the tiny line on the check.  We were asking ourselves the same question again tonight as we wrote the check to Christian Adoption Consultants who will be assisting us with our adoption (see their website at www.christianadoptionconsultants.com).  But again, God was faithful!  He gave us money from another unlikely source!  So we are on our way to becoming parents again!  So we have now cleared out our adoption fund and we are hoping to get a grant or two to help us with the costs for the rest.  We know it is God's plan to grow our family, so we know He will provide.  Here is a pic of the kids mailing a grant application!

Praise the Lord for His provision so far!  Please continue to pray with us as we wait for Baby Sanborn #3- and stay tuned for pics of the nursery and some adorable baby clothes we were given already!

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Dear Baby Sanborn #3,


This is the entry from "Our Adoption Journal" from last night:

October 11, 2010
            Today is historic on our road to bringing you home!  After 3 weeks of prayer and tears and more prayer and more tears…  your daddy and I have decided to bring you home from somewhere in the United States, not Ethiopia as we had previously planned. We knew when we started this journey that God would direct us to you, and we wanted to be faithful to His desires for our family.  Well little one, we now know that means taking a path we know nothing about.  You will soon learn that is often how God works.  He wants us to fully trust Him, not rely on what we already know.  This is exactly what we have done with this decision.  In a lot of ways, Ethiopia seemed like the safer route.  We have done it before, had virtually NO questions when we started out paperwork this time.  It seemed right.  The more we prayed about it and thought about it, we just weren’t sure.  That little doubt was enough for us to put aside our plans and ask God what he wanted for us.  And 3 weeks later, we know you will not have an Ethiopian adoption story like Andrew and Annabelle.  You will have your own story, different from theirs, different than any story we could have imagined (and still can’t seem to wrap our heads around).  But your adoption story will end the same as theirs, with you becoming a Sanborn.  
We love you baby and can’t wait to meet you!  See you soon!

Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Turn of Events... Maybe...

From day one of this adoption journey almost 2 years ago we have been open to any way God would build our family.  We started our dossier preparations for Ethiopia (yeah) and are were (are) hoping to turn it in January 1.  There have also been a few situations present themselves here in the US as well.  As many of you know, we want our family to be similar racially, so an African baby makes sense.  So does a bi-racial or African-American baby.  What you may not know is that these babies are considered "special needs" in the US because they are hard to place.  The exact type of baby we would love to add to our family would have a difficult time finding a home here.  Obviously, this tugs at my heart strings just writing it.  So this has brought us to the crossroads of domestic and international adoption.  We have not made any decisions other than to look into a few agencies here in the US.  There are pros and cons of each for sure between cost, travel time, paperwork, emotion and somewhere in there we know God will make his voice clear to us. There is one thing we have been thinking about a lot.   We think we want to do the "tiny baby thing".  Andrew and Annabelle were small when they came home at 4 months for sure (13 and 8 pounds respectively).  But they made great strides soon after coming home and we caught up in no time.  I grieved for every minute of their lives I was not there to hold them and comfort them.  As all adoptive parents do.  This was only 4 months mind you!  I really have a desire for a baby in a snuggly.  You know, wrap that baby up close to my body and carry them everywhere.  Now, Annabelle was so little she was in a snuggly until she was 18 mos old and her long legs reached almost to my knees.  So be sure, I will have my baby in the snuggly regardless of how big the baby is...  HA!  Now with the new regulations in Ethiopia, it looks like the youngest baby we could bring home would be 6 to 8 months, and that is super young.  So we will be missing out on more of the baby's life.  Everyone told us, "you are so lucky to get to miss out on those first few months, not fun!", and "look how easy it was, your kids are so responsive already, little babies just lay there".  Well meaning, for sure, but these people had no idea how that grieved my heart.  We missed an entire chunk of these sweet babies lives.   Again, it's a trade off...  We would not trade ANY of it for the amazing experience God brought us through to get to Ethiopia and back.  And we know that God will reconcile any thoughts we have about either type of adoption as we go to Him with this.  If Ethiopia is God's will for us, then we will embrace it wholeheartedly and move on with turning in our dossier.  But if it isn't we want to be open to that too.  Please join us in praying for clarity and wisdom in how to proceed at this point.  We want to be sure to follow God's leading in bringing home baby #3.

Thursday, September 16, 2010

Hooray!- Home Study Done!!!!

Last night we had our home study visit!  We answered a bunch of questions, turned in our MOUNTAIN of paperwork and a smallish (compared to what's to come) check.  Now we are waiting for our home study to be written by the agency, they then submit it to the court and then we will know if we are certified to adopt another baby.  We aren't really worried about not being approved, but every little step leads to another!  Once we get the okay from the courts we will be able to submit for a few grants to help pay for the adoption and a REALLY important piece of international paperwork (I-600A).  So again, we wait.  These are a few pics from our home study.

Picking up paperwork at my dr.'s office.  Is this receptionist the cutest or what?  This had to be notarized so my "traveling notary" came with me and then we went out to lunch!  Thanks Aunt Shari!!

Here is our big mountain of paperwork... Notice the folder is now EMPTY!!!!


Did you hear me?  EMPTY!!!!!

All that remains is our checklist and our receipt!!

If you know me at all, you know I of course have a binder for everything!!!  This is the binder we have using for the last few months preparing our home study documents and keeping everything organized.  I also started collecting info in here almost a year ago when I first started getting organized, having NO IDEA when we would have the opportunity to start our home study.  Just another reminder of God's faithfulness!  So last night, we ceremoniously went from this notebook to this one...

And here we are with the NEW binder.  Again, if you know me, you also know this binder has been ready for a few months too, but we just didn't have anything to do with it.  UNTIL NOW!!!

So now we begin the paperwork that is a dossier.  Lots and lots of notarized documents- 23 to be exact, all notarized in triplicate.  That is 69 documents.  Oh, and the measly amount needed to turn in the dossier to our agency...  $9500.  Sounds daunting, but we know our God is good...  all the time!  Please continue to pray with us for God's provision for the adoption and for the safety of our baby wherever he or she may be.  

Friday, September 10, 2010

Today's Task-Fingerprints

We went to get fingerprints done today (after Dance Class and Sports Class of course).  We stopped and had lunch at Basha's ( lunch for all of us for $6 can I get a woot woot?!) and did some shopping.  We were with our friends T and B all day and their mommy agreed to tag along for this too.  Yes, they are in carts and yes, we are no longer in Basha's but at the UPS store.  In case you are wondering, no- they do not have carts at the UPS store...  When we walked in with those 2 huge carts, the ladies looked at us like we had 3 heads.  I simply said, "trust me, you would rather have them here in carts than running a muck in your store".  I'm sure after the first verse of "B-I-N-G-O" they agreed.  Thanks to Erin for taking these pics!  So here we are adding one more check mark to our adoption list of to do's!

Annabelle, B, Andrew and T


I know, kind of ghetto- but cute too!

Doesn't the "fingerprint lady" look thrilled?  She is probably thinking, "seriously, you want another one?"

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Dear Baby Sanborn #3

Today was your sweet Pappy's birthday. He would have been 61 today, but it wasn't God's plan for him to be here for this birthday. I grieve over the fact that you will never get to know him the way I do, or your daddy does. You will not reap the benefit of his sweet patience with you as Andrew and Annabelle have. You will never have his hands to hold or his neck to squeeze. Your laughter will never come as a result of his antics. He won't hold you or rock you, sing to you or pray for you. At least not here. We are so sad about all of these things. But you know what little one? We know that Pappy sees and knows all about you. Someday he will hold you and rock you and steady you with his hands. Someday you will know this wonderful man who helped shape your life without ever meeting you. Someday, a long time from now, you will look into his bright eyes and see what we have all missed so terribly. We love you baby and cannot wait to tell you all about your sweet Pappy.

Thursday, August 19, 2010

The Paperwork has begun!

We got our packet in the mail from our agency, so we could get started on our home study. I finished all the paperwork in just a few hours, and here it is! Do you think we are a little excited?


The pink post-its are for Bill's signatures! Thank you for bearing with me as the process is sometimes super slow and tedious. This is why I get so excited about the little victories. As an adoptive family, we don't get to read a pregnancy test, or see ultra sounds, or hear the heartbeat. These are the things we get to celebrate. Tomorrow I will be at the bank to open an account for Baby Sanborn #3 and on Sat. we will be getting our fingerprints taken. Stay tuned for more boring pics of that as well! Tee Hee!
Please continue to pray for this journey and for Baby Sanborn #3 wherever he or she is!

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

No new news...

I assume there will be several of these in our journey! I just wanted to share something that has been on my heart. As you know from previous posts, bringing Andrew and Annabelle home was not exactly a financial strain on our resources. We had very little debt then (only my measly student loan, which we still have by the way). Technically we did have one other debt, our home. Well, actually, even though our home was a debt, it enabled us to bring the babies home. We took out a home equity loan and started charging!!! Can you say cha-ching??!! Well, 4 years later, the world is a different place-as we all know! Our adoption this time around is going to be much harder to fund. After our initial "money drop" from God, we were able to start our home study. After this, God will need to provide another $3000 for a dossier fee, which of course He is working out. After that another $6500 when we accept referral. We think with the addition of my second job we will be able to save some of it. But the point is, it's expensive and we know our God will provide. More importantly, Bill and I have had to let go of some of our pride and talk to other people about it. This has been a terrifying and sometimes embarrassing experience. Most of our family doesn't even know how much our last adoption cost because we were guarded about money. With this adoption we are letting God work and not holding on so tightly to the whole process. Because of the prompting of our hearts, and the process he is bringing us through we know that He is in control of financing this adoption, not us. I plan to work my bootie off to get grants and loans once our homestudy is final, as I mentioned before a second job, and that will help. But the bottom line is we have to trust our God to be faithful. Our God who brought us through some terrible struggles and amazing triumphs to bring Andrew and Annabelle home, will be faithful. He wants to change our hearts and add to our family. But we have to trust Him to be faithful.
Isn't He always?

Wednesday, August 4, 2010

Welcome to our Adoption Blog

Welcome! We are a family of four becoming a family of five (even typing this seems weird). We have 4 year old Andrew and Annabelle who are adopted from Ethiopia (they came home at 4 mos. old) and we are traveling the adoption road again, not sure where it will take us. We are open to any way God wants to bring a baby into our family and are currently getting paperwork together to send a dossier to Ethiopia.

When we set up our original family blog "Team Sanborn", I specifically liked the fact that we could add to our family and not change our blog title. Well that, and at the time I didn't know how to change our blog title!! HA!! I wanted to start this blog to address our adoption because even though my heart and mind are over run with all the details and preparations, my children are still as crazy as ever and deserve their own posts as well. So now we have two blogs. If you know us, you know we really are not that interesting (interesting enough to have 2 blogs) but this is a great place to keep adoption updates because sometimes they are coming a mile a minute and sometimes it's a long time before any news. Adoption is truly "hurry up and wait"!! We are keeping an adoption journal for the new baby's eyes only, but sometimes, we may post some of that here too.
So with that said... Here is the story (short version):
We have been planning on adopting another baby since the week after we got home from Ethiopia with Andrew and Annabelle (4 years ago). It made sense to wait a little longer... So two years ago we decided to really lay this at the feet of our Savior. In the meantime, we lost my sweet Daddy which changed our perspective on everything. We even thought of not adding to our family because the new baby would not have known my dad. It still breaks my heart to know our next child will not know his precious wide smile, and his tight meaningful squeezes this side of heaven. But after much prayer (shout out to all of you that have joined us in prayer), we decided to move on with another adoption. I quit my teaching job to stay home with the "A Team" (which I am loving by the way). This is a plus, because me being at home was always a prerequisite for another adoption. But it is also a minus because with only one income, it seemed impossible to scrape together the funds to do it. AAAHHH!!! Two weeks ago my prayer group started praying that God would just drop the money from the sky (to see the "discussion" Bill and I had about this see www.teamsanborn.blogspot.com). OUR GOD IS GOOD!!!! He has provided the money for our home study- so here we go!!!! Our home study appointment is on Wednesday, September 15- AHHHH!!!! As you can see we are a little excited about this (that would explain all the exclamation points). Like I said earlier, adoption is filled with ups and downs and everything in between. We would love for you to buckle your seat belts and join us. It promises to be an unbelievable ride!