Change

This whole "age of reason" thing is swooping Gianna up like a big tidal wave, overtaking every part of her. All of a sudden she's forming syllogisms on a daily basis, her vocabulary has soared to a new level, she shed the training wheels on her bike and has her first loose tooth.

All at once. Too fast, too fast.

Her new argumentative approach is kind of funny though. For instance, when I told her I was the parent and not the child she retorted, "But you ARE a child....a child of God." Or when I remarked that peanut butter is not a treat she argued, "It's a treat for people in third world countries."

Yes it is, sweetheart.

I knew this change was coming, but no one told me it comes all at once. I feel like her former little self is drifting away at sea and a new child is emerging from the water. A rebirth of sorts. It's sad and scary and happy and beautiful all at once.

Good neighbors share....

....but great neighbors let you borrow their best power tools! Mr. Ed loaned me this for a whole week. His garage is like a mini Home Depot. I think we'll make his family some serious cookies tomorrow!

Dear Birthmother,

We are so grateful you are considering us in your search for a loving home for your child. We know this is perhaps the most difficult decision you have ever been faced with. There is no doubt in our minds that planning the future of your child in someone else’s home is one of the most selfless and loving decisions a mother can make for her child. Few words are adequate to describe the beauty of what you are about to do. We hope that by reading our profile, your courage, hope, trust and tremendous love for your baby will find their fulfillment in us.

We are Patrick and Kristen. We’re both 35 years old and have been happily married for over twelve years. Our marriage is truly a beautiful and rare thing - strong, stable and full of love for God and each other. From the moment we married we dreamed of having a family, and though our infertility had been painful for us in the early years, it’s very hardship undergone together in love, fortified our marriage and brought us even closer than we already were. We embrace those years and wouldn’t trade them for anything, because they made us who we are today - who God wanted us to become.

We are also grateful for our inability to conceive because it gave us the very thing we had hoped for - our family. Our dreams for children were realized with the adoption of our first child, Gianna, in 2003, and our daughter Madeleine in 2005. The girls are now six and four, and like their parents joyfully await the arrival of a new baby in the home. If you choose us to be the parents of your precious child, that little one will be poured over and doted upon with love...and lots of it!

About Kristen

Kristen is one of the most loving, generous and happy people I’ve ever known. Her perpetual smile lights up a room and everyone who enters it. She is the first one people go to when they need an ear, and those who come to her inevitably walk away more joyful, and grateful for their own gifts. Kristen lives joyfully. She "stops and smells the roses" at every turn and is an endlessly grateful woman. She has a passionate love for God’s beautiful creation - in nature, in people, - and that love inspires her to create beauty all around her. In her spare time she designs and sews children’s clothing, captures God’s artistry in photographs, tends her garden, and even makes her own accent furniture for the home. But her greatest joy is in the time she devotes to her family. Her love for being a stay-at-home-mom and her passion for life are most evident in our children, who readily "stop and smell the roses" with her. Like Kristen, they are quick to remark on the beauty of a day, a flower’s loveliness or the detail of a butterfly’s wings. Kristen hopes to share the same awe and wonder with a new baby.

About Patrick

Patrick is the great love of my life, and my best friend. He is the most genuine and loyal man I’ve ever known, and he loves his family to great depths. I always tell people that in our twelve years of marriage I’ve never nagged him about anything, because he already accomplishes everything a wife and a family could hope for. As an attorney, Patrick provides for our family and makes it easy for us to enjoy life. He is a hard worker, but when he plays he really plays. His reasonable hours at the office afford him the time to be with his family for dinner on weekdays and for lots of fun on weekends. Patrick has a lot of personal interests - reading, running, soccer and football to name a few - but his family always comes first, and not merely out of duty but because he loves being with us! Patrick has always been a great man and a fantastic husband, but since he first became a father I’ve watched him transform into the most tremendous dad. Loving, attentive and playful, he has his daughters laughing and begging for more every time he flips them in the air or offers a piggyback ride, and he captivates them with his grand bedtime tales. Patrick lights up their world, and I can’t wait to see him do the same with another baby.

Faith and Family Life

We have a lot of fun together, and we think enjoying each other’s company makes for a great marriage and family life. We make sure to do something fun together every weekend as a family, such as bike-riding, hiking, going on a picnic, or spending a day at the beach. During the summertime we savor many meals at the ocean - breakfasts, lunches, dinners - even on weekdays. We love swimming and spending time by the water.

With our wonderful extended family nearby, we gather for holidays, birthdays and other special occasions as well as just getting together for a weekend of fun. Kristen loves preparing holiday feasts for everyone to enjoy. Our family is strong and shares the same faith and commitment to God and solid family values that we do. And of course they are immensely excited for us to bring a new baby into the home, especially our nieces and nephews who eagerly await a new cousin to play with!

Our Hopes for the Future and Our Promise to You

We are so excited to expand our family through the miracle of adoption. We believe God has called us to this vocation, and has a special baby in mind just for us. Should you choose us as adoptive parents for your child, we promise to love and care for him or her unconditionally. We’ll do everything in our power to provide your child a beautiful, happy life and a joyous childhood, filled with faith, family, friends, solid values and love. We feel honored you are considering us as adoptive parents for your child. Please know that you are in our thoughts and prayers as you make this tremendous decision.

Back to the Laundry Pile

Just so you know, for me life isn't all bouquets of flowers, smiling children and happy Mother's Days (though I'm so thankful for the faculty of memory, whereby I can recall such images whenever I like). Today was spent playing laundry catch-up and cleaning toilets, breaking up fights and consoling hurt feelings, and last but not least, visiting the radiation lab to see if the battery Gianna swallowed last week could be located. Now, I can choose to remember the number of times I've searched for said swallowed object in the last six days (Stop here. Think about that for a minute.) Or, I can choose to remember these poppies....


....or these wildflowers....


....and kissing my husband among them (no pic for that one, dear friends) this past weekend. With memory and imagination (along with prayer and offering, of course) the mundane can be transformed into beauty. I speak from experience here, because my laundry pile turned into a Shakespeare Garden today. Go ahead, try it. :)

One of My Favorite Days of the Year

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Enjoy it! Happy Mother's Day!!

An Early Reader

Okay, not exactly. We're in the car yesterday when Madeleine starts shouting, "Google, Google!". I wonder what all the commotion is, and then I see this....


Gianna goes on to explain, "Yeah, that's where you go to search for things on the computer. It's an engine that answers all your questions."

At this moment I realize these girls will never know how to use a card catalog and suddenly, I'm feeling very old. :)

Mission Accomplished

Yesterday I came up with the most brilliant idea ever. I needed to clean the shower, but my darling Madeleine wouldn't get herself out so I could do the job (she takes her shower time seriously). So I handed her half a lemon sprinkled with baking soda and white vinegar. I think she must have scrubbed for half-an-hour, and furiously. She was singing the whole time.

Today my shower is cleaner than it ever has been. At least a 4x4 section of it. Next time I think I'll give her a step stool.

Will You Come Along?

As you know, I've been hoping for another baby for some time now. Two years ago I thought we'd be on track with an adoption agency to bring a new life into our family. I'd researched every local agency, charting their success statistics, costs, etc., praying all the while to be led to the right one for us. When the final choice was made, I was confronted with a setback. We never did meet with that agency. About six months later was another setback, and then another. At least that's what I thought these were....hindrances, to fulfilling my desire for another child, to growing our family.

It didn't take long for me to realize that our setbacks were really graces in disguise. Thankfully Faith and experience showed me early on that if it were my Father's will that we should have another baby, it would be accomplished. Therefore I knew that those imediments to our adoption proceeding were actually gifts, from Him - to prevent me from selfishness, to teach me obedience, even to love obedience, and most surprisingly to grow our family (in a more important way than in number).

One day in the hopefully near future I'll write more about all this. I think sometimes it serves us well to reveal our situations in the midst of experiencing them, and other times it is better to hold off until the end when we have a fuller grasp on what was to be learned. For now, I just want to share that we have indeed begun the official adoption process. We're taking lots of pictures, filling out paperwork, getting our fingerprint clearances and home study done. I'm writing our "Dear Birthmother" letter this week, and as soon as it is finished I'll post it here. At first I wasn't sure I should publish the details of this new adoption venture, but I figure anything I really want to keep private I still can, while sharing some of the excitement and hope with you. So I hope in the next few months or so, you'll be willing to go through this with us. I can't promise a perfectly smooth ride, nor even a baby in our arms at the end, but I can promise God will accomplish everything for us we need.

A Rose is a Rose...

....or is it something else? This week my Moonstone gave me this. Do you see it??


I feel so loved. :)

St. Joseph Talks on Audio

I just learned most of the St. Joseph talks I mentioned below can be heard here. The abbey has yet to upload the last four talks, but keep an eye out for them. Father Charles describes quite interestingly in his conference on "St. Joseph and a Happy Death", how of all men our Lord's foster father suffered a most "un-happy death". I won't say more. Then in Father Sebastian's remarkable "St. Joseph and the Glory of Heaven", he makes a striking point on the importance of fatherhood - that if there were ever a child that did not need an earthly father it would have been Jesus, who not only had a sinless Mother, but also His Father in heaven. Yet God saw that Our Lord did have an earthly father, his foster-father Saint Joseph. A great lesson for today's climate in which so many are willing to say that fathers are unnecessary.

So if you want to listen along, go, enjoy. Hopefully the last talks will be posted soon.

Hillside Strolls with Saint Joseph and Those I Love Most

Each night we were able to attend the St. Joseph talks at the abbey, we had a little time beforehand to eat a light meal and walk along the beautiful hillside grounds. The lighting was just perfect for photographs. I know I inundate this blog with far too many pictures for anyone's interest, but one day this for me will serve as my photo album as well as a journal, so I use it to that end. I know you understand, but I do appreciate your bearing with me. :)

Happy Feast today, friends!

(last photo courtesy Gianna L., new resident photographer)