***Special Alert***

Our girl is here! The baby we have been growing in our hearts for the past four years has finally made her way to our waiting arms. We can hold her and kiss her and we cannot believe she is real, and she is ours. We have dreamed of these moments for such a long time and I can honestly say that reality is better then anything we ever imagined it could be. She is 7 lbs, 15 oz of magic. As I type this, our Lily is lying next to me, peacefully snoozing, swaddled into a baby burrito. Tears stream down my face because I just can’t believe how lucky we are to be her mom and dad.

Just as I was leaving work on Monday afternoon, I got the call that will forever change our lives. We had to get to California ASAP, a baby in California had already been born and her birthmother had picked us to be her parents! I called Corey and woke him from deep slumber (he had stayed awake all night fishing with a friend). I told him the news and we immediately started making plans to leave town for 2-4 weeks. I called some wonderful friends from our adoption group and they sprung to action. As I ran in circles at the house, my mind in a blur trying to think what to pack, they were calling airlines, printing information sheets, emailing us lists of “do not forget” items, and shopping for cat food and baby necessities. They even came over to the house that night for a quick swaddling lesson and pep talk that we desperately needed. They brought in bags of amazing things they had purchased for our little girl. Other wonderful friends of ours provided us with a car seat, pack and play, essential supplies for our trip, along with a ride to the airport (at 4 am), thanks Jeremy!!! It is hard to put into words, what the kindness of our friends has meant to us through all of this. We would not be here without them. Other than this little group of friends, no one knew of our trip and potential baby, not even our family. We had bee through so many disappointments, we couldn’t bring ourselves to tell them unless we knew it was a “done deal”.

After roughly 15 hours of travel, we arrived at the hospital. At first, Lil’s birthmom (we’ll call her J) wasn’t sure if she wanted to meet us, as she was very emotional and thought it might be easier to keep a distance. To our surprise and delight, she changed her mind. We were able to meet J and her mom C. We were able to tell them how much the gift that they were giving us truly meant. We were able to tell them that Lil will always know about them and the amazing gift she is. It was very hard for J and C, since they loved Lily so much. C told us that in the beginning, she had some reservations about the adoption plan, but after we walked through the door, the way we looked at our beautiful baby girl, then looked at each other, she knew that we were supposed to be Lily’s parents. We talked about contact and, to our delight, J and C are looking forward to future contact – phone calls, pictures, updates and visits! What a lucky little girl Lily will be to have so many people that love her so dearly!

Lily was discharged from the hospital yesterday and we made our way to the hotel as a family. We are marveling in her every coo and every poo. Corey is a fantastic daddy! So attentive and loving. As I watch him with her, it makes me love him even more than I thought possible. He is on cloud 10, as am I.

The hardest thing for us is knowing that our friends at home are still waiting for their babies to come. We want so badly for their wait to be over, too. Those of you who have been doing an amazing job networking for us, please do not stop! Our friends need your help. Eunice and Matt are the perfect mix of warmth and humor, their baby is going to have the gift of laughter and joy in their home. Doug and Peter are going to give their child a life full of music and fun. They are going to make truly amazing dads, we can't wait for the day they can bring home their bundle of joy! Heather and Phillippe’s baby will have culture and style and, most importantly, know how to have a good time! They can't wait to get their very own boy or girl to love and cherish. Nissy and Jim (who don't quite have their website done yet) are going to teach a child about the world, and give their lucky little boy or girl all the love that a child will ever need. They will also instill their love of books, it's what brought them together in the first place! Please remember our friends and if you do hear about someone wanting to make an adoption plan, please give them this information.

Now for the pictures!

Leaving the hospital, our fist trip as a family!


Skin to skin contact


Nose to nose


Brook and Lil


our little flower bud


The spread


See 'yall soon!


That is all for now. We are going to change hotel rooms so we can have better access to the internet. That means more pictures to come! We can’t wait to get home so Lily can meet her huge circle of family and friends! Hope to see you all very soon ☺

Love,
Brook

Showing off

I've been doing more and more spinning. I am especially fascinated with the process of going all the way from raw wool (or other fiber) to finished yarn. I have been playing around with raw alpaca fiber I purchased from a farm in the next town. Before that, I had been spinning prepared wool "roving" from local sources.

Here is the photo of the finished alpaca yarn that I made. I washed the fiber, dyed it (with KoolAid - Orange and Fruit Punch for a peachy mix), combed it, and spun it on my drop spindle. I wish you could feel it. It is really soft.



This is some that I spun with wool from a producer located just about a mile from where we used to live up north. We didn't know them when we lived up there, but I wish I had. This wool comes from a sheep with a funny name: California Variegated Mutant, or CVM for short. The wool is very spongy and squishy. I love it.