This is our official announcement that we have been sharing with family and friends. We are still in shock. Adoption is such a beautiful and painful thing, and words cannot express how blessed we feel to be trusted with Allen’s baby sister. Jim and Tara called us last Wednesday and we asked them to pray about it for another day and night just to be sure. They called back on Thursday with the same answer from their Heavenly Father. We feel it’s right for us, too. It’s so very humbling to know people who are this strong and willing to put their children first, and themselves last.

This is a photo from Tara’s pregnancy with Allen. She’s due to give birth to Hannah on April 1st and we really need to snap out of our shock and start preparing things around here for her. It’s just amazing to us. Allen doesn’t get it yet but Katy has been telling anyone and everyone that she has a baby sister coming.

We sat the kids down for a family conference on Friday night and Peter and I were cracking up. I guess it’s a symbol of how crazy our lives are about to become. I was holding Allen’s adoption book and pointing to Tara’s pregnant tummy. Allen started leaning forward, stabbing me in the eye and saying, “Bug!” I guess I had a piece of mascara under my eye? Who knows. So Katy thought I was just playing school and she hopped down to retrieve some random book from the shelf. She held it open and said, “Tell me a question.” Peter and I labored between the bug stabs and the lessons learned from Katy’s book to try to help them grasp our amazing news. Finally Katy understood what we were saying and she ran around the room yelling, “I’m having a baby sister!!” over and over. For the next two days she kept saying the name was Donna. I have to keep reminding her that it’s Hannah. I think she finally agrees that it is. Allen went to bed that night thinking how fun it was to have that family time. He won’t understand for a few weeks yet, I guess.

This is a photo collage I assembled for Allen’s adoption book. He will be able to see with his own eyes how much he is loved. Katy has a collage just like this one with photos of Marie holding her in loving awe. Hannah will have one, too.

This is a necklace that Hannah will have. Katy, Marie, Tara and I already have one and I wear mine every day. It says “The Heart Remembers” and it symbolizes to me that no separation can ever break the bond of child and parent. It reminds me of the quote about how an adopted child grows under her birth mother’s heart, and grows inside her adoptive mother’s. When people ask me about my necklace I have the opportunity to bear my testimony about the amazing adoption experiences that we have shared. I hope that people have a glimpse about how strong and selfless a birth mother and birth father can be. I am passionate about it.

Well, I just couldn’t mention our big news without putting some of my thoughts about adoption down here for all to see. We truly feel that our birth families are now part of our own family. We have been so very blessed. Our prayers are always with our birth families, but even more so for the next little while.

We started off our February with another trip to our local Bounce. My friends Diane and Cindy met up and I was amazed at how empty it was in the morning. It started out fun but Katy wilted like a little flower after about half an hour. Turns out she had a fever. Poor thing. On the way out we snagged some cotton candy, Allen’s first, and then we stopped by Peter’s office to share it with him as a surprise. Plus Katy wanted some sympathy from her dear ol’ dad. Since then, Allen has pounced on my bag of cotton balls that I use to wash my face and he tries to rip it open screaming “Andy! Andy!” I relented and let him taste a cotton ball and he threw it away in disgust. Then he grabbed another one – same story. Repeated at least four times. He just can’t figure out why the white ones don’t taste good. Needs more sugar, I guess.

While Mom was out of town our hot water heater broke and we took advantage of using her bathroom for our grooming on a couple occasions. When she returned she said, “Who stayed at my house?” I guess I would never be a good secret agent. Then Peter called his dad who told him what to do. Next thing I know, Peter has fixed the hot water heater on his lunch hour. WHAT?!?!? MY husband? We’ll just have to change his name to Handy Pedro!!

When Mom and Gramma came home with Aunt Donna we went over to her house to hear about their trip. Katy was really putting on a show and at one point she stood up on a dining room chair, turned her back to us, wiggled her bum and said, “Milk makes my bum grow stronger!”

This month has also brought Katy a healthy fear of monsters. I would have thought October would do that, but for whatever reason she is now scared of them. Even Cookie Monster. I found a little sign to put on her door that says monsters are not allowed in. It’s so funny to hear her say the words, especially the “absolutely” part. She refuses to believe monsters are pretend, but somehow kid magic allows her to believe that they can read and respect a keep out sign.

Warren and Marjean (Papa and Grammy) babysat for a few Friday nights for us. Peter and I actually had some date nights, including Valentines Day. Katy woke up in the middle of the night and came to the side of our bed. She reached up to feel my hair and then crawled up and snuggled between us. In the morning she explained that she thought Grammy and Papa were asleep in our bed and she had to feel my hair to be sure. That cracked me up!

Allen has really been loving our nice weather this month. If I have the glass sliding door open, he can pry open the sliding screen door and run out into the back yard. I keep trying to explain that he’s not allowed to be out there without my permission, but he’s fast. And cute. So I usually succumb and we all go outside for a good, long swing.

He also has joined me at Katy’s school to play on their fabulous playground. If I’m early to pick her up (gasp – me early for something?) then Juicy gets to play on the slide and he has his pick of at least 10 trikes. He is in big baby boy heaven! And our friend Lily is usually on the playground so she’ll play with him, too. Allen loves picking Katy up from school! And he’s already registered for the 2010 class!

Valentines Day was a fun event for us this month. Katy’s school had a party on the 12th and I was able to photograph her as she dropped her Valentine cards into each of her classmates’ bags. About halfway through she got frustrated and said, “This isn’t fair! I quit!” which has been said a lot lately. It turns out that she was frustrated because she didn’t think she was going to get any of that luscious candy. We skipped her bag and she was mad. I had to stop everything and show her that she was getting treats, too. Then she happily went down the line stuffing cards and treats into everyone’s bag. I was even able to stay and play with their playdough for a while with Katy and her best school friend, Kalan. Lots of fun!

When Katy came home that day she shared some of her loot with Allen. She especially loved the red rostings on her cupcakes. The kids went on to receive m&m’s from Grammy, helium heart-shaped balloons from Mookie, cards from Gramps and Emily and Abby, plus cute little stuffed puppies from Aunt Kathy. I scored dinner and some gorgeous tulips! We are spoiled rotten!

We’ve had Sage and Jade over for some play dates, too! And Katy’s friend Maggie. Pushing all five kids on that swing set is quite a work-out!

Here is some of our fun in the back yard. Allen wasn’t even fully dressed but he snuck out.

Lately Katy has refused to wear clothes when she sleeps, both at nap time and bed time. It makes for some curious looks when the mail man delivers a package in the late afternoon and she comes to the door in just her panties.

The other day I heard water running in the bathroom and found Katy washing off some Little People. I asked her about it and she said they had germs. Then she told me that she had washed them in the potty first. I looked and sure enough…soap bubbles in the pot.

Katy and Allen now race to get their seat belts buckled. I love it! Instead of dragging them into the car they hustle now on their own – more Katy than Allen. I think if I put bacon in his car seat he would hustle for that, but not much else. His favorite time to run is when I’m chasing him.

The other day I was vacuuming out the sofas and the cushions were down on the floor. For two solid days Katy insisted that we keep them there to play on. The kids jumped and rolled all over them and loved it. Or else they would have me build a fort. Notice Katy’s casual attire?

Katy’s school is studying colors for the next few weeks and I have really had to be on my toes for dressing her. This was orange day and I almost forgot about it for red day. I had to iron something for her and we were late. I think we’re okay until the last day with is rainbow. We don’t have any rainbow clothes that I know of, but by the time she finishes painting every time she attends school, she’ll look like she’s wearing one.

Okay, that catches us up for a lot of the past month. In recent days more has happened but that deserves a post of its own!