Today I am thankful that J & D have always gone about their life with the Munchkin with the motto that honesty is the best policy. Beside the Munchkin's bed she has a picture of me, pregnant with the Munchkin, and D together, taken just after the only ultrasound I had during that pregnancy. Even though it's a horrid picture of me (seriously), D refuses to take it down because she wants the Munchkin to understand that she grew in my tummy. They've always been open and honest about... more

A lot of things in the thankful series this week have been specific to this visit. But it's given me a lot to be thankful for so... deal! Today I am thankful for the opporunity to make cookies with the Munchkin.

On Friday night, the Munchkin and I gathered in the kitchen to make firefighter shaped cookies for Nick's first birthday party. We rolled the dough together. I placed each cookie cutter and the Munchkin pressed... more

I am thankful for the little moments I spend with the Munchkin.

Of course, I'm thankful for all moments. There have been some great "big" moments such as my wedding, her first birthday and other celebratory moments in which we have been together. Yet today something happened that I didn't know to miss.

I was drying my hair, getting ready for the AP photographer to show up this afternoon and the Munchkin came back to see what I was doing. She then sat down just outside the bathroom door and watched me get ready.

That... more

I am thankful for my inability to keep quiet. ;)

I've never been a quiet person. As a child, I was always the one singing the loudest. I was always the one talking in class. In high school, oh yes, I was a cheerleader. Yes, I was loud. In college, though I became a little more reserved, I spoke my mind freely.

Adoption has not changed that fact about me. In fact, if anything, adoption has brought out my speaking and wirting ability, polished them a little and made them shine. Due to the things that have gone both right and wrong within our adoption, I have felt the need to speak out.

First and foremost,... more

Today I am thankful for sleeping children!

As you can imagine, yesterday's arrival and subsequent beginning of a visit created, as I posted, a Crazy Day. Don't get me wrong, we had a great time. But late airplanes, hives, vomitting and sleep boycotting left two tired Mommies on the couch at ten o'clock in the evening.

However, once the kids were asleep, D and I were able to slip back into our old routine of simply being friends. We talked about things that are... more

I am thankful for visits. Appropriately, we have a visit that starts tomorrow when a plane lands around 11:35 in the morning. (Which means some blogger you know will be cleaning like a crazed woman today!) Before every visit, my nerves get a little frazzled and I'm left thinking about past visits.

First and foremost, I did not originally want visits in our open adoption. Near the end of my pregnancy, J (Munchkin's Dad) approached me in conversation... more

I like when other bloggers remind me of things that I am thankful to have in our adoption journey. Karianne just wrote a great post about the benefits of journaling. I've journaled throughout a majority of my life. Some journals have met with untimely deaths, "round files" or have been lost in general. However, I've kept an online journal for over five years... more

Sometimes you have to dig to find something to be thankful for, so I've been digging around my mind this morning trying to think of something relevant to our adoption for which I am truly thankful. Then it hit me. But it's got some back story. So kick back.

My agency wasn't very ethical to say the least. I wasn't informed until about a month after birth and the Termination of Parental Rights that open adoptions were not legally binding in our state. And don't misinterpret that statement. The agency didn't come forward and tell me. I had moved and found myself with internet access again, thus popping into the forums... more

It's Friday! That's reason enough to be thankful! But today's moment of thankfulness will be a look into the blessing that the Forums at Adoption.com have been in my life. I'm such a techno-dweeb.

I joined the forums before I placed. However, due to financial restrictions, living between my apartment and being cared for on bed rest at my parents' house and a very,v ery complicated pregnancy, my connection to the internet... more

I was saving the "big ones" for later in the month but with how helpful my Husband has been today, I need to state how thankful I am for him! I had my wisdom teeth out today and he made me homemade mashed potatoes. That's love, folks.

I will, in this space, someday tell the entire story of how Josh and I came to be along with his place with regard to the Munchkin. Suffice it to say for today's purposes that he is not the Munchkin's birthfather. However,... more