I got a job!

Well, I am happy to say that I am no longer unemployed.  Although the few weeks off were nice, I was ready to find something to do.  I am now working as an Academic Coach at Texas Christian University in Ft. Worth. They offered me the position last Wednesday and I started the next day.  I work Mondays and Wednesdays and rotate Fridays with another Coach.  It really is the perfect schedule for me and it's ideal for when our little one comes home. I've already been meeting with students and have a calendar full of meetings this week.  I work with students who may be struggling to meet a GPA requirement, have disabilities, need help getting organized, are new students, etc. We work on study skills, organization, etc. I really enjoy the job so far and have been able to use a lot of my previous experiences from USI and Ivy Tech.  The people I work with are great too, which is always a bonus. 

David is still working hard at UTA. Now that orientations are over with he's focusing on other aspects of his job such as working with commuter students and more "in office" things. Yesterday was Six Flags day for UTA, which was fun. However, I am officially giving up roller coaster rides! I used to be able to ride them without a problem.  Now, that is not the case. I'm blaming age! The older I get the more nauseated I feel. I learned my lesson the hard way yesterday. I should have taken the puke on the Batman ride as a sign not to go on the ride. Someone had vomited all over our seats right before we got on the ride. The ride had to be shut down temporarily before we could get on it. 

We finally got all of the boxes unpacked and our spare bedrooms now look decent (at least you can walk in them).  I'll try to post pictures of our pink/purple/flower room as I know several of you have been anxious to see what it looks like.

Until then,
Amanda

It's a Boy!

We finally got matched with a beautiful baby boy!  After a whirlwind of paperwork, we are excited to let everyone know that we officially accepted the referral of a sweet baby boy named ShiHyeon.  We got a mountain of acceptance paperwork to complete and I'm happy to say I got all of it turned around and overnighted back to our agency in 24 hours!!!  The first thing everyone wants to know is, "When does he get to come home?" Our hope is that he is home by the end of 2013 and before his second birthday.  The second is, "What is his name going to be?" No, we don't plan on keeping his birth name and really don't have a clue as to what his new name will be. We've been tossing around a few names here and there, but after seeing pictures of him, all of those names went out the window. They just didn't fit. So, we are open to any suggestions! I've gotten a few lists of names, which have been great and entertaining at times too!

I must share with you about the moment when I got "the call." I was a bit in shock.  I was already so overwhelmed with moving, being surrounded by mountains of boxes, that I almost panicked when our agency called; my brain can only handle one life changing event at a  time!! :)  Despite the shock, reality quickly set in that I am now a mama!  Even though I took the call, David and I opened the e-mail with photos and other information together, over the phone.  It's a crazy feeling to immediately fall in love with a photo, but I did and knew at that moment, he was my baby!  I didn't care what his paperwork said.  I knew it was meant to be and this little guy was destined to be part of our family.

Thankfully, he is a very healthy 6 month old!  His birth mother provided a lot of information about herself and the birth father, which we are thankful to have.  He was full-term and born without any complications.  He has grown steadily over the past few months and according to the doctor is happy and healthy.  He does go to the doctor each month for a check-up, but we don't always receive updates every month.  We get to request two updates throughout our process and should automatically receive an update on his first birthday.  Sometimes, updates may come at random (which I'm hoping there will be a a lot of), but I've prepared myself to not receive as many updates as I'd like to.

He has been with the same foster family ever since he was 2 days old.  We did receive a photo of his foster mother (who is married and has two children of her own).  It's nice to know a little about his "family" and that he has one-on-one care and attention.

Obviously, we are over joyed and in a bit of shock still!  You wait so long to get matched that when it happens, it almost doesn't seem real. I wish we hadn't moved quite yet and were still in Indiana to celebrate with everyone, but we are happy to celebrate with everyone over Facebook and email.  We appreciate everyone's prayers and support and ask that you continue to keep us in your prayers throughout the duration of this process.  We will be sure to share any updates we receive and of course photos!

Hugs and love,
Amanda (and David)

PS: We will be hosting a Thirty One fundraiser in September! Stay tuned for more details.

We have arrived!

We made it safely to Mansfield, Texas after a long, long trip. We had some issues with our U-Haul. The breaks started smoking, which set a sensor off. We waited 2 hours for roadside assistance to come check everything out. Once they gave us the go ahead, we finally made it to our hotel outside Little Rock at 2am. Thankfully, the second half of our trip was uneventful and David did really well driving our 26 foot U-Haul in the Dallas traffic.

The dogs did pretty well too. Frank did get stung by something and had a swollen ear for a few days, but otherwise they did really well. They have been catching up on sleep and enjoying their new backyard.

When we arrived at our new house we were very thankful to have 10 students waiting for us. The drive itself was so exhausting so we were both very thankful to have help unloading the truck. Luckily, everything made it in one piece too. We are so, so thankful to everyone who helped us pack up in Indiana and those who helped us unload in Texas. We don't know what we would have done without you.

David's been working hard at UTA, which leaves the unpacking to me. I've got the kitchen set up and how to start working on our bedroom today. I made my first venture out to do some shopping today. Arlington is so overwhelming compared to Evansville. I hate not knowing where anything is, but I suppose I'll learn overtime. In the mean time, I'm very thankful for my Homer Simpson GPS!

I miss everyone. It's been pretty lonely these past few days. At least I have Frank and Annie :)

Amanda