Baby Reynolds Week 20

Wow! We've made it to the half way point! If the second half of our pregnancy goes as fast as the first half did we're going to have a baby here in the blink of an eye!

Since we last posted about Baby Reynolds we've had a couple of check ups. We got a healthy check up at week 17 and and went in for the big ultrasound at week 18.
The big ultrasound was a blast! It was amazing to see that there was someone in there growing and wiggling around! We were also amazed because got to learn a little about our little one's personality too! Our baby is a little bit shy and a little bit stubborn. Our technician, poor thing, was frustrated because the baby did not want to move around to take the pictures she needed. Despite the lack of cooperation she was able to see that the baby had all it's parts. Praise God! Unfortunately, she could not get a good picture of the heart. Sooo we're to return in two weeks to try again. On the bright side we get to see our sweet little one again!

Today we go in for another regular appointment and are hoping for another healthy check up!

Here are a few pictures for those of you who are curious:

(If this helps you figure out the gender please do not share with us! We're still in the dark!)



Baby is showing off their drinking skills for you! (Open the mouth)

(Close the mouth)

The End of an Era

As the end of school draws increasingly closer so does the end of an Era. I have now spent the last 19 years (not including preschool) of my life, with no breaks, being a student. That is all about to change! I cannot quite imagine what a life with no papers, reading requirements, and tests will look like. "What will she do with all her new free time?" they ask. My response, "I have no idea." Without a doubt I will be busy. After all I will be trading the title of "student" for that of "Mom." However, I know as most mom's do that I will be much more than that title. So, this morning, I have decided to brainstorm some of the things I plan on filling up my free time with after graduation.

*** Note: While there are many papers to be done and books to read even in this last month of school I feel this is an important project because it will give me the motivation to finish strong.***

Laura's List of Free-Time Fillers:

• Make cute crafty things for the baby
• Make some easy to pop in the oven (nutritional) freezer meals in preparation for the baby
• Read my copy of the new Duggar's book that Steve got me for my birthday I haven't had a chance to open
• Load and unload the dishwasher in a timely manner
• Send some hand written cards to loved ones
• Go to the weekly farmers market for free samples
• Skype with people
• Finish my Middle East trip photo album
• Join a local mom's group
• Take Guitar lessons

 

The Duggars are my favorite!

 

 

Cute baby outfit crafts!

 

I have no idea if any or all of these time fillers will be accomplished but it sure is fun to dream!

Baby Reynolds Week 15

Sorry we're a few weeks late giving the update on our last baby appointment which was week 13. The appointment would have been really short except that I didn't know they wanted me to go to the bathroom and I went right before they called me into the appointment. Luckily as I'm learning (from the 2-3 trips to the bathroom a night) it doesn't take long before a pregnant lady needs to go again! Baby Reynolds is doing really well and has a good strong heart beat! We didn't get to see a picture of our little one but hearing them was really great too!

So when is the next appointment?

Our next appointment is in 2 more weeks.

So how are you feeling Laura?

This is the most common thing that people have been asking so here's my short answer: Thank you for those of you who have been praying for my morning sickness. It has eased up a lot with only a few hard days a week. With the second trimester kicking in please pray with Steve and I that I continue to feel better and get some energy back. Working 2 jobs and being a full time student is not easy! That being said I will be wrapping up my time as a babysitter at the first of December and a student December 14th! I can't wait for graduation day!!

Is it a boy or a girl?

We don't know and hope to keep it that way until baby Reynolds arrives! I know that may sound crazy to some but it sounds fun to us. We love surprises!

Here is an updated picture on the pregnancy process:

Week 14 Day 6

Here is a picture of week 8 to compare:

8 weeks 6 days

Baby Reynolds!

In case you hadn't heard yet… Surprise! We’re having a baby!

I decided to write a blog that would hopefully answer many of your questions about baby Reynolds.

You were in the fost-adopt process. Did you think you couldn’t have children? What’s happening with that now?

All are fare and good questions. Yes we were in the fost-adopt process and that has sadly been put on hold. We were about 1/3^rd of the way through our paperwork when we found out. We were able to talk to our social worker Rolf about it and he was very gracious. He encouraged us to apply again when we felt ready. There has never been a known issue that we couldn’t have children we simply feel called to adopt. Therefore the process is not over just put on an extended pause for right now.

Were you trying to get pregnant?

Maybe a better way to word the answer than a yes or a no is that we were ready to be parents and God blessed us in this way. We are very excited to be parents in 6 and a half months!

How far along are you?

That is a tricky question. We believe we are at 10.5 weeks. However, that being said when we went in for our 8 week appt. the doctor told us the baby was measuring at 9 weeks and 5 days. She assured us that we were not going to have a giant baby that it was just on a growth spurt. So we really don’t know how big our baby is now haha. Steve said it’s a Reynolds therefore it’s going to be big.

When is your next appointment?

Our next apptointment will be on September 27^th. Not sure what we’ll find out but we’ll keep you posted.

Do you want a boy or a girl?

We don’t care at all and have no guesses yet. Oh and we’re planning on keeping it a surprise even to us! Sorry for those of you that we disappoint by that.

When is the baby due?

April 5^th

When did you find out? (Ok maybe no one is asking this but it’s a good story so I’ll share anyways!)

This summer we went with 8 of our youth group and 3 other leaders to Disney Land. I suspected that something might be up about halfway through the trip, but seeing as there was no alone time to sneak away I didn’t know what do you. The morning of Disney I started to stress out a little because I began to worry that I shouldn’t ride the rides. If I was pregnant I didn’t want to hurt the baby. I also didn’t want to get Steve’s hope’s up over nothing. I came up with a plan to ask for the keys of the van to run to Target. I was turned down because I was not on the rental insurance. I finally broke down and asked Steve to take me. Steve asked me if I remembered that we were about to leave for the park in 30 minutes and that he was responsible for buying everyone’s tickets. I said yes and that it couldn’t be avoided because I needed to see if I could ride all the rides. Confused he asked what that even meant and I told him there is a chance I might be pregnant. Shocked he said oh ok and we were on our way. With no time to take the test before we left I was doomed to wait until we arrived at the park. God blessed me with a chance for Steve and I to be alone. Another leader had needed to go back to the hotel for something and did not have a ticket to enter. I did what felt like a science experiment with stalls flushing all around me and then waited for what felt like forever before seeing the word “pregnant” appear! I came out so shocked that I all could do when I saw Steve was say you’re going to be a dad! Our moment together was short because the other leader walked up and so I quickly excused myself back to the bathroom because I started tearing up. It truly was a magical day and the happiest place on earth!

How is Laura Feeling?

In short not great. I’ve been dealing with a lot of morning sickness. That title is the meaning joke ever because really I feel sick most of the day. While I have learned some things that help I still am feeling pretty sick all the time. Please pray with our family that by week 12 I will be getting some relief! Please also pray for me that Tuesday nights I would be feeling well. I have a night class then and it has been really difficult to go so far.

Here are some pictures:

(Please be warned if you're not into pregnancy pictures!)

Baby's first outfit!

Celebrating with Donald!

6 weeks and 5 days

8 weeks and 5 days

Fost-adopt update: Meeting with Rolf

"So how did the meeting go?"

Without a doubt yesterday was wonderful! I got up and changed shirts about 3 times before I was satisfied. (Partly because I couldn't decide how casual or dressy I should be and partly because of the bad sunburn on my back.) After finally picking a shirt I proceeded to iron it. For anyone other than Steve or my mother this is a big statement. I NEVER iron. I must have been anxious. Shortly after my nicely pressed shirt was completed we headed out the door for Sebestaphol. It's a little town about an hour or so north of where we live. After getting turned around several times we figured out where we were going and grabbed breakfast at the McDonald's just down the road. Once we finally got our order (and I mean finally! How long does it take to make a sausage biscuit?) we quickly ate and showed up right on time for our meeting. We took turns describing what we imagined Rolf to look like. I suggested 35 skinny and balding. Steve felt he would look 40-45 and chunky. It turns our in reality our Rolf was quite normal in body build with a full head of hair (mostly gray) and a full beard. He told us at some point in the meeting that he was 57 years old. So we were both way off. Personality wise we were a bit more on par. He was super sweet and comfortable to talk too. While we don't think after talking he is a Christian he is surly a person of peace.

He began the meeting by asking us if we had any pressing questions. We had some but felt that if he went over the process it might answer some of them. He slowly walked us through the process and shared potential scenarios with us of things that might happen. After sharing he gave us time to ask a few of our unanswered questions and then gave us a few minutes alone to discuss and make sure that this is what we want. We shared we sill wanted to move forward in the process and that led to a mound of paperwork. Half of the paperwork we filled our at the office. The other half he sent home with us.

Things we learned that surprised and encouraged us

The process of adoption is much shorter than we expected. Each child's parents are given 6-18 months to meet the requirements that will allow them to get their children back. If in that time frame they have not been able to get their act together they are offered to us for adoption. Once we agree it is then a 6 month process until the adoption is completed. So the entire process could be completed in 1-2 years. There is risk involved no matter how low risk they believe the child is. This is because at any point if the child's relative wants to keep them they get first choice in adoption. Please pray with us that the child who we receive will stay with us.

We also were encouraged by the prudent parenting law. This allows us to leave our child with an adult we trust for less than 24 hours without having to get them fingerprinted. It also allows us to have guests in our home for less than a month without having to have them fingerprinted. We are so grateful that our friends and family who want to help us will not have to hassle with red tape.

One last very cool thing we learned is that can travel with our child before the adoption is completed. For example if we want to vacation back to Mississippi or Washington we can bring them with us! The court simply has to approve it. 

Most people have been asking us, "what's the next step in the process?" 

The  answer is filling out all the forms we were given. This includes 75 essay questions on our life, getting a physical, a financial form, getting finger printed, drawing a floor plan of our house, going to the DMV (YUCK!!!!), paperwork for our employer to fill out, emergency contact information, and instructions on how to prep our house for an inspection. (Feeling a bit overwhelmed just thinking about it all!) Once this is all completed and submitted we are then going to be assigned our social worker (Rolf will be their supervisor.) She will then come to our home for the home study. Much to my surprise this does not mean an inspection. She will be coming to "interview" us over a series of meetings in order to write a 15 page document on us that will be sent out to agencies looking to place children. Once our home study is complete we will go to our intensive 18 hour training weekend. We have several other training events to attend after that and then we will be certified! So we still have a long way to go but we are so excited about what lies ahead of us in the next few months. We are still on track for a January or February placement of a child!!!

Well I guess it's time to start working on all this paperwork I have have instead of just blogging about it! We love you all and want to thank everyone who sent us encouraging messages last Thursday. It is such a blessing to know we're not in it alone!

Ps. if you're interested in doing foster-care or fost-adopt yourself in California check out: http://www.tlc4kids.org/

San Diego Mission Trip

Last week Steve and I had the chance to go with 2 other adults and 3 of our youth to San Diego for a mission trip. It was a great week and very challenging. We spent each morning working in a local nursing home building relationships and each afternoon serving in the SD Food Bank distribution center. Here are a few pictures from the week!

 Mount Soledad

 Steve, Ryan, and Zac during the daily Starbucks run

 My with my nursing home friend Ms. B.

 Joesph the puppet gave us a lot of joy throughout the week!

Packaging food boxes at the SD Food Bank

Our rice baging gear. Notice the beard net on Steve!

Carlena and I enjoying the beach

One night we went to the board walk on the beach for a treat. We enjoyed some rides and some good funnel cake!

TBC with the whole Youthworks group at the end of the week.

Thanks to everyone who prayed for us while we were gone. We were truly blessed by the experience and saw God moving in huge ways!

Fost-adopt Update Q&A

It's been a while since our last update on our road to adoption so I wanted to let you know what's going on. The questions below are some of the most popular we've been getting recently.

Where are you in the process?

This Thursday (7/12/12) is our first face to face meeting with our social worker Rolf! We are so excited to get to know him and learn more about how this process is going to work. Our meeting with Rolf will be an in depth explanation of how everything will work. He has also asked us to come ready with all the questions we can think of to ask. So far Rolf has been a great person of peace through this process as we have spoke on the phone several times. Please pray for us that this meeting will clarify any questions we have and set us at ease.

How are we feeling right now?

I suppose like all soon to be Parents out there we have been experiencing a verity of emotions thinking about our new son or daughter; excitement, joy, nervousness, anticipation... Knowing, however, that our Heavenly Father has his hand over it all has given me a lot of comfort.

What's the time line looking like?

We unfortunately were unable to do the most recent intensive training weekend we will need for certification because we were out of town. We don't expect this to slow us down because we have another chance to do it in the fall. Please pray for no more scheduling problems. After our meeting we will know a little better what the overall time line will be but we were originally told that our goal of a February placement was realistic. We look forward to updating you on what the next few months will look like after Thursday.

Who are you looking at adopting?

As of now we have no update on who the child will be. We listed on our application boy or girl age 0-11. In the interest meeting we went to they said normally older children are not put on the adoption track and babies are hard to get because the demand for them is high. So, with that being said, the likelihood of a baby or an older child is much smaller than a toddler or a young elementary school aged kid. We praise God that he knows who we need and who needs us! Please pray with us for our child's physical safety and spiritual health.

On behalf of Steve and I, thank you for praying for our family as we continue through this wonderful crazy journey! I will try to update you all after our meeting Thursday so check back soon for more details!