Luke is SOOOO Big!!!

I am seriously overdue for a post.  I am SO SORRY!  Work has been crazy ... life has been crazy ... and I have not had a chance to sit down, go through photos and type out what's been running through my head these last four(!) weeks ... although I did discover my phone has a "record" device, so I've recorded some little gems on that and will back-post my thoughts.  To catch you up on Luke and so you can see how big he's getting ... enjoy these weekly photo shots.  I'll be back really soon with more Luke-info and updates and questions for you all.  :-)

As my bib says, ladies, I'm THE BOSS!!  I am keeping mommy busy and away from the computer.  All I have to do is smile at her ...  :-)

One Lovely Blog Award

Kristen over at Lucky as Sunshine, has awarded me with the One Lovely Blog Award.  Thanks, Kristen!
I love reading Kristen's blog!  She is on the journey to become a mom and writes about all things that go along with it.  She has married her high-school sweetheart, is beginning NaPro treatments, teaches CCD, & is a godmother to many lucky children ... plus, she has done an amazing job becoming healthier & has lost 40 lbs so far!  

Here are the steps to follow after receiving this award:

• Share who gave it to you with a link back to their blog. (See above)
• Write down seven random facts about yourself.
• Give this award to fifteen other bloggers.
• Let them know they've won.
• Pop the award on your blog.

7 Random Facts about Me:

1.  Met my hubby on a blind-date on New Years' Eve.  We were set up by my best friend and her boyfriend at the time.  They didn't last long after we met.  

2.  I have 4 cats.  My younger sister has 2 cats.  My youngest sister has 2 cats.  My parents have 5 cats.  That's a total of 13 cats.  :-)  We were never allowed to have pets bigger than a hamster or fish when we were little.  I moved out, got a cat, had to move to a different town for college, sent my 2 cats (at the time) to my parents ... and the cat-acquiring began!  

3. I love watching The Office.  I will watch the seasons over-and-over-and-over again and laugh EVERY time!

4.  I'm 6'1.  I am totally uncoordinated.  I cannot play basketball.  But I get asked if I played basketball all.the.time.

5. Love to procrastinate!  (Ummm, hello, I sat on this award for a month before posting about it!!)

6.  Just bought a minivan and LOVE IT!  If you are debating on getting the sliding/power doors on both sides, just DO IT!

7.  I love shopping the clearance aisle!  It's the first place I head to when I go into stores.  

Bloggers I Nominate (I'm picking nine in honor of my upcoming birthday in a few days):

• Novie *and* Jan @ Women for All Seasons
• Morgan @ Life as We Know It ... Robbins' Style
• Polkadot @ Making God Laugh
• Jess @ With Love for Africa
• Sissy @ Two plus One equals Three
• Lena @ Eucharist Always
• Sarah @ A Child to call me Mama
• Julie @ Andrew & Julie's Adoption Story
• Karen @ Small Things with Great Love

Adoption Finalization!!!

An EXCITING Announcement:
Luke "officially" became a member of our family today!

We had to be at court at 9 am and by 9:30 am, were in front of the judge.  Our attorney asked us several questions about our intentions for the record:  ... did we want to adopt him? ... did we understand this was forever? ... are we sure?  The answers were:  ... Yes!  ... Yes!  &  ... Absolutely!

Then the judge signed the paper ...
... and Luke legally became OUR SON!  Forever and for always.
He is the baby we have dreamed of ... longed for ... prayed for ...
... it was an emotional morning.

There were two other families adopting children today.  Both were adopting as step-parents, now taking legal guardianship with a biological parent (ex:  new wife, etc), but it was special and emotional none-the-less.  Even though I didn't know any of these people, my heart & eyes were overflowing for this special moment in their lives.

Adoption is beautiful.

Here is a shot with the judge (who is an adoptive father of a 33 years old):
(Unfortunately, the only photos we have are blurry!  The nice gentleman who took the pictures for us must have shaken the camera each time he took a picture.  (EEK!! So frustrating!!!)  ... so squint your eyes and we'll look perfect!  BTW, did you know you cannot take a camera into court?  Or the hallway outside the courtroom?  At least in our small town, it is not allowed.  They only let us because we were adopting today.

"Officially" a Family of Three!  Thank you, St. Joseph!  

And THANK YOU blog ladies!  Your prayers have made this Adoption happen!!!

5 & 6 Week Pics + Update

I'm behind on posting any 5 and 6 week pictures of Luke ... we're almost at 7 weeks on Monday!  He's growing so fast!  I hardly recognize the little newborn we *just* had a few days ago!  Luckily I take several hundred pictures each week.  We'll have to get a new computer hard drive soon.  :-)

5 weeks old

6 weeks old

After Bath Time ... Luke really likes his baths!

Hanging out with the kitties ... soon he'll think he's a cat.  

Mommy decided to do a cute photo op.  Daddy wasn't happy about it.  He thought Luke would get scratched, but Mommy knows her kitties.  :-)

Luke (1-1/2 months) & cousin Jayden (3-1/2 months)

Babies are fed and happy .. for the moment!

Hubby facilitating the cousins hanging out ... so much to see!  (Who's this kid again?)

This last week (since Monday the 14th), I've been back at work full time and hubby has been at home.  He took a week's vacation.  Next week Luke starts daycare.  Gulp.  It's not my hearts desire to have him in daycare at all, but we aren't able to go down to just one salary. 

I guess we could, but it would mean selling a lot of things and prevent any future infertility treatments or adoptions, so back to work I go.  I have a company that is depending on me to be back so they can operate, otherwise 2 other people are out of a job as well.  It was nice for the last seven years how everyone depended on me to get things done, but there are downsides as well, as I can see now ... I am now invaluable ... literally.  Of course, who knows what the future will bring, as the owner is having failing health and episodes with his heart, which may cause total heart failure and then we would be out of a job as a result.  I was filled in on the owner's health on Monday when I got back to work.

It was definitely surreal going in on Monday.  It felt a little like "normal", where I kind of forgot that we adopted Luke and I wasn't gone for 6 weeks, but other things, like operating a mouse and keyboard, were so unfamiliar and felt weird.  I missed Luke like crazy those first few hours, as I LOVED lots of time every day with him for the last six weeks and then I had to go cold turkey and deal with grownups.  Ugh.  Luckily, my hubby sent me pics all day of what they were doing and recorded Luke's cute breathing so I could hear him sigh and wheeze like he does.  I'm so thankful for smart phones.  What would I do without them?  

We met the day care lady a few weeks ago, who will take care of Luke next week.  She is nice and has been working with kids for over 20 years.  She has the nicest home and it is bright with lots of fun kid things to do. Out of all the options, she was the best.  And let me tell you ... there were some CRAZY day care people / homes out there!  I had one lady with both eyebrows pierced and I think her tongue pierced too.  And she said she wouldn't tell the kids she loved them if they said it to her.  Some unusual reason, I guess.  She was the first one crossed off!  A lot of the rest of them had smaller, older, dark homes and cramped quarters.  Most were single moms, so I understand that they don't have the easiest time sprucing up their home, but some were just dirty.   I'm not sure how some people would trust their kids to their care.  It would make me feel so uneasy. I like the socialization factor but hate the germs.  Any crazy day care stories out there?

I'm just worried about how she'll care for Luke and how much she'll hold him and interact with him.  She had several other kids there when I visited and they were very well mannered and polite, so I'm sure that she takes good care of them, it just must be mommy nerves.  I'm worried about Luke being too cold and what to dress him in as they can't have blankets in their playpens.  I guess I'll give her the swaddler onesie we have and maybe dress him in a long sleeved onesie for daily wear.  I'm sure as he gets older he can dress in lighter clothes since he'll be moving around a lot.  Advice?

I have yet to get pictures to Luke's birth parents.  I've been "trying" for the last six weeks, but you can see how far I've gotten ... nowhere!  I've been trying to load them onto an iPhoto journal that they could access (hubby will have to tell me how to do it), but I'm not sure if there is a better way.  I'm hoping to load lots of photos and add captions below some of them, so they know who is in the picture, besides Luke.  Also, they can print out any photos they want.  Any good suggestions for sites for sharing photos?   I think doing a separate blog wouldn't have enough room for all the pictures I want.

In more exciting news, on Monday, we will be going to court at 9 am to finalize Luke's adoption in the court!  Then he will be ours "officially"!!!!  Pictures to follow!

4 Week Pics, Baptism & Giveaway Winner

Congratulations to Jenny @ All Things for winning the Blog-o-versary Giveaway I held last week!  Thanks so much for entering and of course, reading along!



Here are some of Luke's 4 week old pictures from last Monday ... tomorrow he will be 5 weeks old.  Agh!  Where has the time gone?  I go back to work next Monday.  Seven days left ... the countdown begins ...

<3   His little smiles make me melt.   <3

After our bath in our bear towel

Today, May 6th, we welcomed Luke into the Catholic Church!  We celebrated the Baptism after the 10:30 am Mass with my parents, sisters, brothers-in-law, brother & hubby's parents.  My best friend (pregnant with twins), her hubby and two-and-a-half year old boy also were down for the weekend and celebrated with us.  

It was a wonderful ceremony, but we didn't feed Luke during Mass, and the baptism was at the time he should have eaten, so ... he was fussy.  So much for the godparents holding him.  Mama got to hold him and shush him and pat his bottom and didn't get the "full effect" of the day.  Oh well.  It still counts, right?  Not to mention the full diapers of warm, messy poop he made right.as.we.were.getting.him.dressed!  And then he wouldn't stop!  Ahh, memories!

Buttoning up the Baptismal Gown that has been worn by all of my mom's side since 1949.  Her older brother, herself, her two youngest siblings, all of their kids and now all the grandkids are privileged to wear this heirloom.

Outside prayer at the start of the baptism before processing into the church.  Little J, my friend's 2-1/2 year old, was such a cutie ... he kept walking closer and closer to Father, all the while listening so intently ... then ran off.  :-)

After the water was poured ... little Luke didn't cry WHEN the water was poured on his head ... just before and after.  Go figure.  :-)

Hubby with the Baptismal Candle and me keeping Luke pacified.  

Hubby, I, Father Frank, and Luke's Godparents

Hubby and I with Luke

Godparents B and N ... my sister and her hubby

My BFF (due in July), her hubby and 2-1/2 year old with Luke

My side of the family with our star attraction!

Hubby's parents and us.  We are so grateful they came to support us.  They are not Catholic (neither is hubby), yet came to Mass and the Baptism today regardless.

A good shot of Luke & my dad ... enjoying Grandpa-hood.  

Luke is his first grand-child. 

My sister making faces with her godson.  He studied her like no other. 

Congrats to another blogger Mama!

Perfect Power in Weakness just welcomed her baby girl yesterday!!! Stop by her blog (see my sidebar) and send her some love!!! She has waited so long for this blessing.

Congrats PPIW!!!!!

Darn Cat!

So Luke & I get home from our walk today and what do we see???

Someone thinks he's a baby!!!
Of course I took a picture first, then made him get out. :-)

Help Catching Up

My two boy cats (Brother (sitting) & Biker (standing)), who helped me "read" blogs today ... all the while scooting them away from the computer screen, so I could actually "see" it ... nevermind being able to type and comment on the keyboard.  :-)  

I love me some kitties!!!

Congrats to Matching Moonheads!!!

Congrats to Alison @ Matching Moonheads on the birth of her baby boy, Samuel!

Please head over to congratulate her!!!

Alison, I am SO happy for you!

Congratulations to Isaiah 55!!!

Can I just say that I am THRILLED for Isaiah 55:8-9?!?!?!??

While I was "out to lunch" and MIA, I missed out on the news that a birth mom picked her and her hubby ... and they have a NEW BABY SON through the gift of adoption!!!!

Please head over to her blog to congratulate her!  I am over the MOON that she is a mom!  I hope that their wait for papers to be signed goes smoothly and we can see pictures of her adorable little man soon!!!

Praise be to God for this miracle!

One Year Blog-o-versary!!!

April 10, 2011 was the day I started my blog.

Who would have thought that a year (and a few weeks) could bring about so much change?

It was my hope that by starting a blog, I would find out I was pregnant ... or find out in a few months that I was pregnant.  That wasn't quite the case.  Looking back, I know I didn't wait long after starting a blog to become a mom.  There are still some of you who have started blogs before me that are still waiting to become a mom and it breaks my heart.  I continually lift you up to the Lord and pray that a child will soon be in your lives.

I know without the gift of Adoption, I would still be waiting and hoping to be a mother.  I know that my body is broken and have doubt that it will eventually be repaired to carry a child, even with all the knowledge of the doctors at the Pope Paul VI Institute and all the surgeries I've had.  That's not the way to have faith ... to doubt in God's ability ... but I do know that if God doesn't bless me with biological children, I am beyond blessed and humbled without a doubt to be the mother of a child (and hopefully, children) born to others.

Throughout the adoption process, I worried that I wouldn't love another's child quickly, easily or completely.  I would also worry that I wouldn't feel like they were "mine."  Although we only met Luke's birth mom at our initial meeting and then a second time at his birth, we didn't build a relationship.  He was still "abstract" to me in the womb.  Not that I didn't try to love him and pray for him, or that the seeds of love weren't planted, but after waiting for so long, my heart was still guarded that this wasn't happening ... this couldn't happen ... this might not happen.  I hadn't "seen" him.

Holding Luke for the first time, it was amazing!  He felt "mine."  Yes, he felt a part of me, even though I didn't birth him or carry him in my body for nine months.  It was scary being alone with him (and my hubby) in our room for the first time in the hospital, realizing that I don't have a clue what I'm doing here.  Adoption?  Are we really doing this?  Do his birth parents really think we can be good parents?  Are we going to be trusted with a baby?  Regardless of the fear, I've always been "my son" from the first day I met him.  And my love for him has not faltered, it has only grown.

To those of you out there considering and pursuing Adoption, let me confirm to you:  It is SO worth it!!!  Every CRAZY experience you go through.  I wouldn't be a mom without it.  I wouldn't be blessed with my amazing son.

My blog is called  "All in His Perfect Timing."  At times over the last few years, I honestly doubted God's timing.  I was impatient.  I was frustrated.  I wasn't sure that that I picked the right name for my blog ... that it didn't fit my life and my journey well.  In hindsight, my blog title is just another perfect God-incidence in bringing Luke home.

Now that you've read my testimony to Adoption ... I'd like to announce a give-a-way to celebrate one year of blogging!!!  :-)  Let me know who's reading by leaving a comment saying hi or anything else (nice) you'd like to say and I'll draw a name on May 2nd (in honor of Luke being one month old!) for either a Target or Walmart gift card!  Thanks to all of you who are faithful readers!!!  I'm honored to share my journey with you.

Three Weeks Old Already! (Picture Post)

You'd think with the time off from work, I'd have an abundance of time to be at the computer, but its just not the case.  It probably would happen more if the computer were still upstairs instead of the basement, so I'd have a better vantage point of Luke, but its too chilly yet to take him downstairs and lug the swing or play pen down at this point.

To make up for my 10 day absence, here are a host of pictures.  I do plan to have a few other posts in the next week with more substance, but picture posts will just have to do for now.

2 week old pic

3 week old pic

Some cross-eye action goin' on

Luke and Biker ... just chillin'

Aunt N, my sister, meeting Luke for the first time

My mom, Luke and my sister, N

We like to sleep with our arms up ... perhaps Luke is conducting music in his sleep?!?

Posing with the bear we also gave his Birth Mom ... we have one too so we can take weekly & monthly pics so she can see how big he is getting

With hubby's grandma ... Luke's Great Grandma E ... who adopted his mom and sister.  

She wasn't able to have kids, but by God's grace & the gift of adoption, was able to be a mom.  She's so proud of her great-grandson!

She has been my inspiration through it all.

Another cute sleeping position

Sleeping with Mom

My brother-in-law, my sister (see above)'s hubby ... Uncle B

We like to stick out our tongue a lot!

Here's a tongue shot with eyes wide open ... something we're seeing more of now!

Action shot ... or kung-fu fighting!

Pensive look ... Mom, you're taking too many pics!

How are the cats doing?  They know no different.  :-)

We have had no trouble with them and Luke ... even at night.

 Just to prove he's not always smiley ... a series of shots taken while hungry and trying to change his diaper before feeding him ...