2011 In Review

My favorite two boys

Can it really be six months since I last updated the blog? 2011 was a great year for us, and we’re looking forward to 2012 even more! Here are just a few of our highlights of the last six months…

Almost immediately after the last post, we received a wonderful surprise in the form of a positive pregnancy test! Due to some of my health issues and a scare at eight weeks, I was considered a high risk for a miscarriage so we kept our news quiet until we were safely into the second trimester. We are expecting our little miracle sometime at the end of March, and A is so excited to be a big brother!

He's going to be such a great big brother!

God’s provision has been so evident at every stage of this pregnancy. Once we made it to the second trimester, I was referred to a high risk OB practice that had me going for weekly sonograms for six weeks (and now twice monthly sonograms). While the many, many doctor’s appointments have been a bit of a hassle, it has also been a blessing to see the baby healthy and growing. None of the doctor’s anticipated problems have occurred, and we’re praying for a healthy baby.

Other than the usual first trimester nausea and fatigue issues, this has been a great pregnancy! I want to fully appreciate just how much God has blessed us by allowing us to have this baby and experience being pregnant, so I try to keep any whining in check on the days when I’m not feeling so great! The biggest challenge for me has been realizing that my body can’t keep up with my previous expectations for what I could get done in a day, and to slow down before I overdo it.

Our adoption and foster care plans are currently postponed since we can only handle one family addition at a time; but we believe that God has called us to adopt again and know that at some point post-baby we will begin to pursue those again. Our agency allows concurrent family planning now with Ethiopia due to the slow downs; but we finally came to realize that we could not manage the emotional roller coaster of a paper pregnancy alongside this pregnancy; and that we would need some time to adjust to being a family of four before we became a family of five.

Ethiopia is never far from our thoughts and prayers, though; and we know that the day will come when we will jump right back into paperchasing! M bought me a necklace for our 11^th wedding anniversary this year with a compass and the coordinates for Addis Ababa on it. It’s a constant reminder of our son’s country of birth and the children who are waiting for families there.

A has been such a blessing to us, and the older he gets the more we have a little window into his incredible mind. Apart from the occasional tantrums, two has been my favorite age and I fully expect to enjoy year three. The conversations that we have with our little chatterbox are usually hilarious, but often poignant as we learn just how much he thinks about everything. Adults often learn to filter, but with our three year old we enjoy his stream-of-consciousness chattering that tells us everything and anything going through his head. I’ll be a little sad when he learns to filter!

Right now, my focus as a mom is to try to enjoy these last few months of just my little boy and I before the baby arrives. We have so much fun together, and I’ll definitely miss our days of just the two of us. We’re excited about meeting the newest addition to our family in 2012 and seeing what God has in store for us!