Still Waiting..............................................

Erik Here: 
Yup that's right! We are still waiting to be matched. Keep those prayers coming.

Home Study APPROVED!!!!!

Our official approved home study came in the mail today!! This means that on our profile it will no longer say "Home Study in Progress" and we have been approved by the State of Wisconsin (and anyone else who cares) to adopt. This was the last official step before we could "officially" bring a baby home. Fingers crossed!!

Baby Shower, September 11, 2011

Click here to view these pictures larger

Thank you to everyone who made our baby shower a success. It was perfect and beyond anything I ever could have imagined. Thanks also to those who couldn't make it but sent such thoughtful gifts. Now all we really need is the baby!! 

A place to sit and a new slideshow

Yay!! We have our rocking chair/glider. It's very nice and comfy, and we have both spent time rocking in it already. Thank you Mom and Spence for your wonderful gift!

This was the chair before...my oh my did I have a time putting it together!! But with a little patience and a lot of luck....TA DA...

One beautiful chair ready for rocking. If you're in the area you should stop by and try it out!!

On another note our Media Department has made a slideshow that is view-able on YouTube and our profile page. I have included the YouTube link here so that everyone can see it. It's a compilation of pictures we sent to them and text from our Dear Birthmother letter. Enjoy.
Erik and Melanie on YouTube

New Stuff...Now all we need is the baby

We are very fortunate to have so many good friends and family. We are already getting ready for baby, just in case he or she decides to arrive unannounced! Our theme is Winnie the Pooh for the Baby's room. I (Melanie) saved (or my mom did!) several items from my room when I was small: lamp, switch plate, pictures and a music box. These are the basis for the new room. With some brand new add ins it is really starting to come together!

Thanks to Mom and Dad (Judy and Frank) we have a crib with super cute Winnie the Pooh bedding. As my mom said, "All you need is the baby!" The crib converts to a toddler daybed and then to a full so we are set for many years. THANK YOU!!

When little babies grow up Erik and Melanie get their car seat!! Thanks to our very good friends Joey and Cherissa we have a car seat to use when we are in California. The twins are growing so fast and they graciously gave us this beautiful seat when we were back for a visit. This is great because now we won't have to bring one on the plane every time we travel back and forth. THANK YOU!!

Ok, so I know what my fellow Niner fans are thinking...but it was just so cute I had to buy it!! (Just shows how much I really love Erik!) I'm sure our child will grow up very confused as to what teams to root for, but at least we all agree that we love sports.

Up and Running

Our other three website profiles are up! This completes the next phase. Birthmothers can now access our profiles from four websites and gain more insight to us and our plan for adoption. We really now just sit back and wait. The average wait time to be matched, for Adoption Network Law Center, is four months. This means that it could be soon that we are matched with a birthmother. Depending on how far along she is, will determine when we welcome our little one home. There will be lots more details to tell after we are matched, but that's all for now. Enjoy!!

http://courageouschoice.com/album.php?id=8193

http://www.adoptionspacebook.com/view_photos.html?id=8193

http://www.theadoptionfoundation.com/adoption-unplanned-pregnancy-waiting-families-profile.html?id=8193&action=photos

Moving Forward

Our next set of pictures is in and they have been approved. We should be up online on three additional websites by the end of next week! This will allow more birth mothers to potentially see us and make a match. The links to those sites will be posted here as soon as we get them.
Our current profile has 180 hits for the month of July. I am thinking that this is largely due to the fact that we have shown just about everyone we know our profile! August should give us a better picture of how many people that we don't know are looking at us.
Our home study is nearly complete. It's just the last few bits of paper that are taking the longest. We hope to have everything turned in by the time we leave for California next week.
As soon as everything is in and we are fully up online it will just be a waiting game (which we are very good at!).