Two years ago today...

A beautiful, red headed, sweet baby boy was born
to a beautiful, amazing young lady who only wanted the world for her baby boy.

We watched as tears streamed down her face while she held her precious baby.

She sacrificed an amazing amount, all because she loved Mac!

Adoption is a miracle, a blessing, a gift!

All of which made us Mac's parents!

Today he is TWO!

And our most precious GIFT!

Our TWO year old!

100% him...

Christmas Tree Hunting...

Our Christmas Tree!

It was so cold Saturday morning when we went to get our tree. We were able to go with both my parents and Hubs's parents. I love the tradition of going and cutting down our tree, although we haven't done it the last two christmas'.

I was excited to get a taller tree this year since we have 9' ceilings. It smells delish! We got the lights put up but it is not decorated yet. I don't want to go into the cold garage to search for the ornaments. That is also why my house isn't decorated yet either.

LOVE this pic of my mom and Mac.

On the way home eating his candy cane!

Heaven on Earth!!

THANKFUL...

I am a little late on posting what I am thankful for. November both flew by and drug on, I mostly feel like I was in a haze for the whole month from being sick and so busy at the same time.

But I truly feel that we should look at what we are thankful for every single day.

So here is what I am most thankful for...

First off, the picture above actually represents what I am truly most thankful for everyday of my life. MY LITTLE FAMILY! My day is dedicated to these two handsome young men in my life, and I wouldn't have it any other way. I LOVE being the love of my husband's life and I LOVE being my baby boy's Mommy! It really is a dream come true...in every way! Not only do I live every day for my boys, but I live forever for them. I get to keep these two FOREVER. I am one lucky girl!

I am so thankful for my Hubs! He is my love, my best friend, my eternal companion, and the best Father to our children. I am so grateful that he loves us, that he works hard everyday for us, that he loves to come home to us, and that he always wants to be with us. Once again, I am one lucky girl!

I am so thankful to not just be a Mommy, which I waited so long for, but that I get to be Mac's Mommy. I love spending my days with my little Mister. I love teaching him, and playing with him, and watching him learn, laugh, and love me and his Daddy. I am so thankful that Hubs has made it possible for me to stay home with our kids.

I am so thankful for Mac's Birthmother and her never ending love for Mac and us. I love hearing from her so much, and knowing how she is doing. I am so thankful that Mac has her. I am so thankful for the incredibly hard decision she made for Mac, for what she wanted to give Mac. Not a day goes by that we don't think about her or pray for her.

I am so thankful for adoption. With out it I would not be a Mother right now. It has been the most incredible experience, and I feel truly lucky that it is a part of my life and that it was always meant to be apart of our Heavenly Father's plan for me. I am grateful for what it has taught me and given me.
I am thankful for trials, my trials. I know saying this confuses most people, but there is a reason behind it. I am thankful for the person that my trials have made me into, and what I have learned from them. I am thankful that I know that through these trials that my Heavenly Father loves me and has not forgotten me, and that he knows I am strong enough to handle the trials that I face. And I have been so richly blessed through every single trial.
I am thankful for the knowledge I have that I am a child of God!
I am thankful for family. That we are surrounded by people who love us and support us. I am thankful that Mac will get to grow up around family and know that he is loved.
There are a million more things that I am eternally grateful for, but I would never get this posted if I tried to get them all down.

Mac's 2nd Birthday Party

Once again Hubs totally rocked the birthday cake design! Mac all day kept on saying "Want to eat Thomas!" He loved his cake and has been playing with his "Happy Birthday Thomas!" non stop since.

We had a great turn out for his party this year. Lots of family and friends!


Just looking cute before everyone arrived!

Friends from church came. Mac begged for Rocky to come to his party and even saved the spot at his table just for Rocky. No one else was allowed to sit there. He loves his Rocky! So cute!

He did awesome opening his presents!

When he saw this bag he thought that there was supposed to be a dinosaur in it and was totally disappointed that it was just lego blocks.

Acting all shy and cute when we sang happy birthday to him!

When he went to blow out his candle he said "awww...awwww (blow)!" like when you sneeze! It was hilarous! He did blow out his candle all by himself.

Mac Funnies ~ November 2009

~We were driving to the store and I slammed on the breaks “slightly” to make sure I stopped when a light changed and after I stopped, Mac said “woah, that was fast!”

~We were outside playing in the dirt and he walked by hole in the ground and said “Mama, dinosaur tracks!”

~Mac was handing a blanket to Hubs, and said to Hubs, “your welcome Daddy!” (He usually says “thank you” when he hands you something.

~I was getting ready for the day and Mac was playing in our closet and he kept opening the door and saying, “Good morning Mommy!”

~McCoy has been going peepee in the potty for a couple of weeks now. Before he was going to take a bath I had him sit on the potty to go peepee. He went a little and jumped up really excited. He then went over to the bath for a second to watch it being filled, then all of a sudden he ran back to the potty and kept saying “potty” and he sat down really quick and went peepee more. I was so excited to know that he actually has the idea of going in the potty.

~We were playing outside in the mud one day and when we came inside he said “Mommy, I want a bath, water, get cleaned up!”

~We have been reading “Where the Wild Things Are!” because he is obsessed with monsters. (He likes them, he's not afraid of them). And when you ask him what Max says, he says “Be still!” with his hands out just like Max in the book.

~When something is hard to do Mac will say that it is “heavy” instead of hard.

~At the beginning of one of the movies he likes to watch it has the “20th Century” blip and Mac was watching it and said, “Mama look a zero!” and pointed to the zero in “20”. I didn't even know he knew the word zero.

~Daddy and Mac went grocery shopping and left me at home (I was sick). On the drive home Hubs said to Mac, “We are almost home!” and Mac responded with “Yay Mommy!”.

~We were in the car on our way home from the store. Mac wanted some more fishy crackers. I told him he had to drink some water first. He very deliberately and defiantly said “I DON'T want a drink of water!”

~We were getting ready for church and I was asking Mac about Nursery and what he was going to do in nursery. He said, “Play cars.....cry...” (Yep, that is about what he does in nursery.)

~We were at a funeral and someone was saying a prayer. Hubs was holding Mac and when everyone said “amen”, apparently Mac didn't hear Hubs say amen, so he said to Hubs, “Daddy..amen!” This comes from when we say prayer we always make Mac say amen, and if he doesn't do it on his own, we always say, “Mac..amen.” until he says it.

~I noticed Mac looked like he might be chewing on something little in his mouth. I asked him what he was chewing on and he said “My nails!” I about died laughing since he seems to have a nail biting problem. (Although I think I have curbed it a little telling him “yucky” when ever I see him biting his nails)

~Mac woke up really early one morning (4am) so I went to go comfort him for a minute. When I went to put him back in his crib I moved the blanket that Hubs had laid down under him before he had gone to bed the night before, thinking that might be what woke him up. When I laid him down he sat up and started hitting the mattress with his hand saying “right here!”. I realized that he actually liked sleeping on the blanket, so I laid it back down and he laid down on it and went back to sleep. I guess he liked that extra bit of cushion to sleep on.

We love our Beavers!!!

I have been so bad at blogging and journaling what has been going on in our lives. I need and want to be better. So here is a start...

Last night was the CIVIL WAR and War of the Roses. We don't get huge into football in our house but we do love our Beavers. Hubs graduated from OSU as well as both of his parents and two of our brothers-in-law, so you can see that we are a Beaver family.

We were able to go and watch the game at our friend's house, whom are all duck fans, but we don't care. It was fun, with good food and good friends and a good game, even though we lost.

Mac got to play with his friend Cade, and he got to play with Cade's little train set. Mac was totally into it. He was also very funny because he kept dragging any adult (except for Mommy or Daddy) to go and play with him. He mostly liked having Cade's Grandma to play with him. (Can you tell that he is around more adults than children, this kid majorly needs a sibling!). And this morning Mac asked me "Where Cade's Grandma?" Too funny!

BEAVER BELIEVERS!!!

GO BEAVERS!!!

Question # 2 answered first...

I am still working on the answer to the first question I was asked, I am almost done with it, promise.

With an open adoption will it be possible for Mac to visit his birthmom on his own? Like when he is 15 and he wants to spend part of the summer with his birthmom. Is that a possibility with an open adoption? How would you address that if it came up?
I am pretty sure that most people do not know exactly what an open adoption is. Part of that is that it is fairly new in the adoption world, and because of that many people are not educated about the subject. Another reason is that an open adoption is unique with every situation so people have a hard time grasping what it actually is when it is really different for everyone.

When we first started our paperwork for adoption in 2006 we were very against open adoption. We thought that it would confuse a child or that we would not feel like the parents. But then as we learned more we decided to educate ourselves on it more and then as we did our hearts opened up to the actually very amazing experience of open adoption. Not long after that we were chosen by our son's Birthmother and the moment we met her, we knew we wanted her to always be in our lives as well as our son's.

Our open adoption and our son's Birthmother's situation is different then most. I don't want to go into details, because that isn't for me to share. But I don't think that Mac visiting his Birthmother on his own for a length of time will ever be a possibility. (Although we will have the privilege of her coming to visit us for a couple of days this coming summer, hopefully). I am sure that C will be married with a family of her own by then, and when that happens I am sure how we handle our open adoption will change a bit, because she has a right to move forward with her life. But if it was a possibility we would look at the whole situation and if it was appropriate emotionally for all involved then we would consider it. But honestly I don't see it happening.

Also, Mac will always know where he came from and he will always know his own personal story. He will always know who he is and who C is, and I think because of this he won't have the curiosity that would probably fuel the idea of wanting to have a long visit with C on his own. We pray everyday that we can raise Mac to love his story but that it doesn't define who he is, it is just a very important part. He is not special because he was adopted, but that he is special because of who he is, and the characteristics and traits that he received from his birthfamily.

We hope and pray that we always have an open relationship with C. I hope that we still get to visit every year. I pray that she will find someone worthy to marry her in the Temple and be very understanding of her past and will be open to us still having a relationship with her and her new family