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.