Happily Ever After

We had the best time on our cruise! When we woke up on the last day of the cruise (Saturday April 27th) the ship had arrived back at Port Canaveral in Florida. We got our bags ready, went to breakfast and turned our cell phones back on. We had received a few texts and phone calls from our caseworker, Lisa. We had an appointment with her for our updated home study so we didn't think anything of the phone calls. I called her back immediately and then realized that it was 5am on a Saturday in Utah. About an hour later she called back. We had just got off the ship and were in the terminal waiting for our shuttle back to the hotel. She had asked me if I was with Kurt. When I told her yes she asked if I would put her on speaker phone. I told her that we were in a noisy terminal and she would be hard to hear. She told me that she really wanted me to put her on speaker phone. Begrudgingly, I did it. She then told us that she was glad we went on a cruise because we won't have the opportunity to do that in a while since we are going to parents soon. I couldn't believe it! We both sat there with the cell phone to our ears and cried while she told us more details. We were going to have a baby GIRL and she is due July 25th. That is 3 months away. Whoa!!! When we got off the phone-Kurt and I hugged and cried! I then realized that people were looking at us. But at the time I was in my own happy world and I didn't even care. So here we are receiving the best news in the world and we are stuck in Florida for one more day. I wanted to tell everyone immediately but with little information and haven't been in contact with our birth mom yet, we were cautious. We took the shuttle back to the hotel and I remember that I would tear up at every thought I had. We were finally getting a baby! It all seemed so unreal. Lisa had told us that our birth mom, Meladie, would be emailing us soon. I checked my phone every 20 minutes waiting for that email. We had so many questions. It was 10 days later that we received an email. That was a long 10 days. But after learning more about Meladie we understood her life more and how busy she is. She works full time and has 2 young kids. Her first email to us was so sweet! My favorite part of the email said this....."Thanks again for letting me pick you to raise this precious little spirit". Each time I read that I get goosebumps. I can't even imagine the courage that it takes to choose adoption. We feel so honored and blessed that she chose us. We would not be able to raise our family without women like Meladie. Amazing! Our first face to face meeting with her was on May 29th. Until that time we continued to email back and forth to get to know each other better. We were nervous for the face to face meeting, but felt that it went better than we could ever imagine. We felt a connection with Meladie and got to meet her brother, neices and nephews and her 2 kids that same day. Her kids are adorable. Big, beautiful brown eyes! So cute! Now that we are in the middle of June, we have been working on getting the baby's room ready. We are (mostly) ready. I think as ready as we're going to be. The changing table is set up, clothes washed, diaper bag packed for the road trip back home from the hopsital (about 3 hours) and bottles washed. We are ready! We have been waiting 5 long years and with the difficult journey with infertility, surgeries, disappointment every month with no pregnancy, sadness and many, many emotions we are finally going to bring our angel home! This is a very special experience for us and continue to pray that everything works out as planned. We are so grateful for Meladie and are very impressed with her. She is a very strong-willed, independent, easy going person. She has been very considerate of our feelings during this process and is easy to get along with. We are lucky to have such a wonderful birth mom.

Bahamas

We had the most amazing vacation! It was fabulous and beautiful. We had a great time.
Sorry for the long post. There are so many pictures that I want to share...but hard to choose which ones.

The first day on the ship. It was slightly overwhelming because it is so big. Plus I only had 3 hours of sleep the night before. It was kind of a long, slow day but we had a ton of fun the rest of the days.

Kurt caught this awesome fish called a parrot fish. It looks so tropical. It was the biggest one caught on the boat.

 The sunsets and sunrises were absolutely amazing!!!!

This was one of my favorite pictures. It looks like a postcard. The water was so beautiful.

On this vacation we went bottom fishing, swam with dolphins, went snorkeling and hung out on the beautiful beaches. The cruise ship has amazing food (and you can eat whenever you want, including room service), fun shows and a lot of entertainment. This was our first cruise and I would highly recommend a cruise as a vacation. It was so relaxing and fun!




 

Home Sweet Home

It's been a while since I posted, but not much has been happening around here in this cold spring weather. Kurt has been working out of town and Jodi has been recovering from surgery and trying to take care of the house while Kurt has been gone.

Since we moved into our house 7 years ago we have been putting the hay for our horse in the garage. Because hay needs to stay dry, the garage was our best option at the time. Well time went by and we never did anything about it.....until now. Hay is very dusty and messy, therefore it sticks to our shoes, gets in my car and tracks into the house. We have an attached shed on the back of our garage and we are finally making renovations to the shed to store the hay so that it is protected from the weather. I could not be happier to get the hay out of the garage. Kurt has also built shelves into the garage to better organize our space. I love to organize! Kurt is so handy and had shelves built in a matter of hours. I love that about him. We also had a very large tree removed from the yard because the roots were taking over and causing problems. It was a huge tree and made a huge mess. I love spring because it gives me the motivation to make the yard look nice. The snow melts, the tulips and daffodils are starting to bloom and we begin to plant our garden. It has been a cold Spring, but before we know it it is going to be too hot to be outside.

We have 6 days until our cruise, but who's counting, right? :) I am very excited for 80+ degree weather, swimming on beautiful white sandy beaches and food, food, food!!!! It is going to be a great vacation and after several weeks (he was home on weekends) away from Kurt, it will be nice to spend some good, quality time with each other.

Baby Davis

My sister (who is also one of my best friends) had her first baby. He was born February 21st. He was 5 days late and made a wonderful welcome into the world. He is cute! We don't know where this red hair comes from, but it has to be in the family.......somewhere down the line.

 
















What a cute boy!!! He definitely looks like his daddy.

 

10 YEARS!!!

I can't believe that tomorrow Kurt and I will be celebrating our 10th wedding anniversary. It really has gone by pretty fast; I guess that just goes to show how much fun we're having :) Not everything about marriage is sunshine and rainbows, but it's been a great journey to adjust to each other's life styles, work through problems and fall further and further in love with each other. Kurt is a wonderful person and I love him very much. I feel very lucky to be his wife!! Within the last 3 months we have 3 friends who have decided to divorce. It makes me very sad to think about the sadness and struggles that these friends (and their children) are having to endure. I have realized how very grateful I am for Kurt and for the relationship that we do have. Reading articles that state the negative affects of infertility on marriages is eye opening. Our infertility journey has only brought Kurt and I closer together and I am so grateful for that. Kurt is very understanding, patient and sensitive to the ups and downs of the emotions that infertility can cause. I could not have chosen a better husband to spend the rest of my life with and grow old with. He is absolutely amazing!! Happy Anniversary Kurt!

Blessings

I got bad news from my doctor last week....another surgery for me. I have a cyst caused by my endometriosis on my ovary which has doubled in size since December. In order to "save" the ovary, surgery is necessary. This makes for #4. I was pretty upset when the doctor revealed the bad news, but have been overcome by so many blessings in the last few days. 1) I have a wonderful husband who is very supportive and understanding. I could not ask for a better guy! I love him so much. 2) We have awesome family and friends who truly care about us and would do anything for us. 3) I'm grateful for modern medicine. Being that this is surgery #4 I know pretty much exactly what to expect. The surgeries are done laprascopically and only take 4-5 days to recover from. Aside from the incision pain, they aren't too bad. 5) I'm grateful for my health. Despite the struggles that I do have, it could definitely be worse. We have a friend who is going through chemo right now and I realized that my problems are minimal when looking at the grand scheme of things. 6) Kurt has a good job that offers awesome benefits. Comparative to others, our insurance is really good with small deductibles and co-pays. I'm blessed to have these little reminders in my life that bring me happiness and joy when I'm feeling down.

Snow Snow Go Away! Vacation here we come......

It has felt like a very long winter. This year we've had tons of snow. One of the biggest winters in probably the last 6 or 7 years. It doesn't seem like the snow will melt until May because it's piled so high. I often find myself daydreaming for warm, sunny weather when I can lay in a pool and relax. Those days seem far away, but will come soon enough! Kurt and I are celebrating our 10 year anniversary next month and are going on a cruise to the Bahamas. We are very excited. We almost went to the Bahamas on our honeymoon and it will be our first cruise (which I've always wanted to do), so it's going to be a special trip for us. I've always dreamed of swimming with dolphins so I will be able to check off 3 things from my bucket list in just one trip. Kurt is playing in a hockey tournament next month in Vegas and is very excited about that. My best friend from high school lives in Vegas and we are staying with her and her husband. Kurt plays hockey and I get to spend some time with a close friend; the perfect trip for both of us :) Check back for pictures from our trips to come......