Our Growing Family

I was talking to my sweet husband last night about wanting to get a blog started up, so that we could keep everyone updated a little better on Logan's case. We figure all the prayers we can get will definitely help. Bless, Jeff's heart he stayed up until who knows how long last night setting this up for me. I think he did a great job!

I thought I would let everyone know what has been going on in our lives over the last few months. Jeff has been so busy with school, church, and life. He is completing his last year at Oregon State, and has begun in the process of applying to medical schools. He has already gotten interview requests back from the schools. His top choice is in Iowa. He is leaving in November for that interview. He is back in school and working at a computer lab on campus. He has a full load of classes this term with, golf, scuba diving, psychology 101, etc. It actually has been a blessing that his load is not very full with all the traveling that we will be doing. He is also still in his elders quorum presidency.

I have been enjoying my new business that Jeff convinced me to start up. I have been making and designing baby blankets ever since my Aunt took me to a sweet woman who taught me the basics of how to crochet. That was about fifteen years ago, and I have been enjoying it ever since. My husband finally convinced me that I should try and sell some of my work. I'm trying to get a large resource built up so that I can make the rounds to all the holiday bazaars that are coming up. I'm finally back on my feet again after my accident where I broke my ankle. I now have seven screws and a four inch metal plate in my right ankle. It will be interesting to see what it does once the weather starts turning colder. I'm still Relief Society president for our ward, apparently I didn't learn all that I was supposed to the first time around. It's keeping me busy, and I love working with all the amazing women in the ward.
Now for the news that everyone is dying to hear about...our son Logan. Here is a brief background on him. We found out about Logan in June of this year. We were getting very frustrated with our experience with LDS Family Services and someone told us about this other agency, Premier Adoption. The first day I contacted them they told us about Logan and asked how soon we could make it down to Guatemala to start the paperwork. Well of course we started looking at flights that same day.

We were able to spend a couple wonderful days with Logan the first part of June. We were immediately taken with him. He has the most wonderful spirit and is such a loving little guy. He was seven months at the time, and was full of energy and excitement. The time flew by so quickly and before we knew it we had to hand him back over to his amazing foster moms. Ever since Logan was born he has been in the same foster home. It is a mother and her daughter that take care of Logan, and they are wonderful. They love him so much, and it's been comforting to know that even though we can't hold him right now he is being taken care of by people that love him.

Once we got home we started on the wonderful process of international paperwork. I think this has been our 'labor' part of the birthing process. We have learned about the wonderful joys of working with the government, although we haven't quite found any of the 'joy' parts yet. Any hoop they give us we have jumped through, they ask us to jump ~ we ask how high. The games continue and we just keep playing them because we can see the prize is more valuable then anything else we could possibly imagine.

A couple weeks ago we got a call from our case worker saying that they couldn't find Logan's birth mother to do DNA testing. The US government is now requiring that all birth mothers and children have DNA testing done to make sure that the birth mothers really are the biological mother and not someone just trying to make money off the system by posing as a birth mother. Well anyone who has lived in a Latin-American country knows that when people move it's not like the states where you just fill out a forwarding address card. In many places in Guatemala they don't have street names or numbers, and it's incredibly easy to move some where else and never be heard of again.

I asked our case worker what would happen if they couldn't find Logan's birth mother. She told us that we would not be able to adopt Logan and he would be sent to a orphanage. Now I'm sure any mother would have felt the same way that I did when I heard this information. Let's just say it was a ruff week. Wonderful news did come our way yesterday, though. We got another call from our case worker last night, telling us that they found Logan's birth mother. Yeah!!! Our case work told her that her id card doesn't match the information on her birth certificate, and because she can't read she never noticed it. It is always something. They are taking her back to her home town today to get a new card made up, so she will be able to get the testing done. We are hoping and praying that she will be willing to get the testing done, so that Logan's work can continue to move forward.

Our case worker also told us the other day that the US government is wanting to shut down all adoptions going through Guatemala starting the first of January 2008. Our case worker told us to write our state senator a letter and let him know about our situation. She said she would send me more information about it, so as soon as I get it I'll post the information.

This whole process has been such a learning experience for Jeff and myself. We both have felt the Lord's hand in sending Logan to our family. We know that he is part of our family, and meant for us. As we have gone through the many ups and downs in the adoption process it has been such a comfort to know that when we feel like there is no way that we can make it to the end, God always comes in and takes over. We are incredibly thankful for the lessons that we have learned from this experience. And every time we think it is too hard, we just have to remind ourselves that when we are a forever family we will look back on this time and know that it was all worth it.

I'll end on a good note...we do get to go see our little man this month. I am SOOOO excited. Logan's first birthday is on October 22nd. We are going down for a full week, and he will get to spend the whole time with us at the hotel. Logan's foster moms drop him off at the hotel when we get there and then pick him up when we have to leave. Obviously I enjoy the drop offs better then the pickups, but a wise man always told me, "You have to say the goodbyes to say the hellos." ~ Grandpa Wayne.

I promise that my other additions will not be this long. Thanks for all your kind thoughts and prayers. Our little family enjoys them.