March happenings

We FINALLY watched "Frozen" this weekend with our best friends, the Ash's, who are having their first baby REALLY SOON!!! I LOVED the movie! Over the years we (and my mom!) have purchased Disney blu-rays as they're released for our movie collection for the future little ones. I think Frozen will be a family favorite. I loved how the Elsa and Ana didn't need a prince to be ok! The positive message of sisterhood was very admirable. "Tangled" still is our favorite newer Disney movie, but Frozen is in close 2nd!

Random pic from Saturday night at the falls in Idaho Falls before dinner.

Last week, I was invited to attend a St. Patty's Day dinner at one of my 1st graders house. When he first invited me, I was a little hesitant because I'd never been invited to a student's house before! But they made me feel so comfortable.The food was absolutely delicious. The student who invited me over, Coleman, is an angel! He has the sweetest demeanor, and I wish I could clone his personality into all of my students! :) The St. Patty's dinner will forever be my favorite teaching memory. 

How cute was the table setting?!

Coleman and me! Love him!

The next day, was St. Patrick's Day at school. The "naughty leprechaun" trashed our room before the students arrived in the morning. It was pretty hilarious seeing their reactions to all the naughty things the "leprechaun"did. It was a nice change of routine toilet papering the desks, throwing supplies everywhere, and putting desks on top of tables. ;)

Chaos...

We have been watching a lot of March Madness basketball this week!!! Matt and I had Syracuse going all the way in our brackets. :( They were beat early in the tournament and our chance to win the $1 billion dollars was ruined. Maybe next year! :) I also made a tournament bracket with my 1st grade class, and they picked Texas to win. I love their Texas PRIDE lol!

Questions from birthmoms

Have you ever wondered what questions a birthmom asks when she contacts us?

These are the top questions...

How old are you guys? 

Matt is 27 and Rachel is 24. 

How long have you been married?

We have been married for over 5 years. Yes, we were young when we got married, but we KNEW we wanted to spend the rest of our lives together seriously from our 2nd date!

What hobbies do you both enjoy?

Photography, golf, basketball, football, playing games, watching sports, and spending time with friends and family

How did you guys come to the decision of adoption?

We have had many positive conversations about adoption as far back as when we first started dating. We have always discussed that adoption would be apart of our plan and our future family. After struggling with infertility for 4 years, we decided that adoption would be a new, amazing step to take!

Do you have any family members or close friends who are adopted?

YES! Matt's father is adopted as well as our sister-in-law.

What ethnicity is Rachel?

Rachel is half African American and half Caucasian.

What do you two do for a living?

Matt is an accountant and Rach is a 1st grade teacher & photographer.

What is your parenting style?

Most importantly we believe in always building our child's self esteem. The way we speak your children becomes their inner voice! We also believe positive communication and being a consistent role model are imperative, so they can grow up and continue those good habits with their own future families.

Do your families support your adoption plan?

Absolutely YES! They are our number 1 advocates for our adoption and have done nothing but support us 110% through this process.

Are you interested in an open or closed adoption?

Depending on what you are comfortable with, we are open to sending pictures, updates, and a yearly visit. 

2014 so far (our adoption journey)

I miss my long hair. And summer.

I'm not really sure what I'm trying to say in this post so hopefully it comes out okay. :)

2014 has been a little bit crazyy and hard so far.

We have had a few adoptions that didn't quite work out.

Adoption #1, the birthmom was receiving a lot of family pressure to keep the baby. That would be so hard.

Adoption #2 was SO perfect buttt the super sweet birthmom lived in a state where we could not use our agency, and the adoption was going to require a lot of upfront fees that we weren't financially comfortable with.

Adoption #3 Birthfather didn't agree with the adoption.

I can not even imagine deciding the future of your unborn child, and we are so honored that these strong women even considered us as match for their baby. A family recently left a comment on this post that reflects my thoughts exactly:
  "It's hard for those who haven't adopted to understand the bonding you experience when you are chosen as an adoptive family. Suddenly you are fiercely bonded with a baby that hasn't been born and you haven't even held. "

Something I want to add to that is the bonding you feel with a birthmom who is putting all of her trust in YOU. How amazingly cool is that?

Adoption is such a roller coaster of the highest highs and lowest lows. It's so difficult not to get your hopes up about possibly getting a baby! I have done a lot better with not letting my emotions get the best of me so I don't wind up getting hurt. Again and again. 

This all sounds really depressing, but we are definitely ok and optimistic because we KNOW the right baby is out there for us. We know that God's hand is in everything. And we know this will ALL be worth it once this sweet baby is in our arms. I have learned that I have to let go of the control and literally let Jesus take the wheel.

Our adoption homestudy expires in September (5,651 pieces of paper work and adoption trainings you have to complete to be approved to adopt), so we are really hoping to adopt before then! 

Snow Day

There's nothing like getting a call at 5:45 AM saying that school is cancelled due to -25 degree temperatures! The only people who get more excited about snow days than students are TEACHERS! 

This week hasn't been the easiest, so I definitely welcomed the day off.

For reasons we aren't sure of, our birth mom we were matched with last month decided to not continue with the adoption process. We can not even imagine what it's like to decide the future of your unborn child, and we wish her nothing but the best. Matt and I were very sad, to say the least, but we have been reassured that when one door closes another amazing one will open. 

We have prayed for peace, and have felt God's love calm and touch us. We are optimistic about moving forward and finding the baby who's right for us. So many friends and family have reached out to help us this week, whether it was bring us cookies, a card, and comforting words. Matt and I have felt SO loved this week, and we are blessed to be surrounded by amazing, thoughtful people. 

We are over the moon excited to become parents, and we hope our dream will come true soon! :)

We are so stoked at the adventures coming soon. But for now, we will continue to be parents to this crazy pup. #chiweeniesforlife

Christmas 2013!

Christmas 2013 was a blast. We spent Christmas with the Taylor family on the 23rd. The whole family went to Smitty's for a breakfast dinner, then headed over to Tami and Larry's to open presents. 

Sadie and Briggs!

Cree and Mikey

Christmas is so much more fun with little kiddos running around. We are STOKED to have our first Christmas with our little guy this year!

 Cree gave me a nice make-up brush kit.

Tami and Lar, just the day before, got back from a 2 week cruise through the Panama Canal. She was darker than Cree!

Matt's amazing XS Christmas sweater. 

We got Briggs his first golf set!

Matt and his little brosef

All the Taylor kids spent the night at the parent's house. Christmas Eve, we flew down to Texas!

Our first stop was my Grandparent's house for a delicious Mexican feast.

My Uncle Joe and Uncle Bob. They are THE best dressed men I know!

Love them!

Dave and his Cowboys!

Matt, my Uncle Kev, and Grandpapa. Matt and G-pa had matching shirts!

My dad picked us up from my Grandparent's and we spent Christmas Eve and Christmas morning with him and my sister, Taelor. My dad surprised us with an I-pad mini for Christmas! The night was spent watching Taelor play Grand Theft Auto, I played on the I-pad, Matt played Castle Clash, and my dad downloaded music while I played him a variety of 1D songs and secretly filmed his reactions to the songs. Hilarious! 

Dad and sis

Christmas afternoon was spent at my mom's and Daves. Of course, we had our traditional Mexican food lunch! 

Michael and his intrusive camera.

We celebrated Uncle John's 50th b-day, too!

Lisa, Dev, and Michael

It was Edy's (my aunt) idea for us all to wear tacky Christmas outfits. I think Gavin, the black snowman, won the most creative prize. Edy wanted him to wear white sweatpants, too, but Gavin wasn't havin it. 

This kid can solve a rubix cube in 50 seconds!

Our White Elephant gift was the Top/Bottom towel. It's so you don't dry your face with the part you dried your bum. :)

Wits and Wagers!!!

Granny's new treadmill...

...because the kid in the green Minnie v-neck broke her old one running on it like a mad child.

Ha!

LOVE MY CRAZY FAMILY!

My mom is a really good photographer.

Edy and I styling Matt's hair to look like Harry Styles from One Direction.

And then Edy snapping a picture. Or maybe 7.

But the lighting wasn't perfect, so we did ten more. Matt secretly liked it. :)

Lily and her Minnie dress. 

Then it was time to open gifts from my parents. They hooked it up like normal!!!

Where are you, Dave?!

My favorite gift of all was in the box. My mom put almost all of our home videos on DVD's!!! I LOVE to watch old home videos, and have been begging her to put them on DVD's for years! She put a LOT of work into that gift! Matt loved watching the same video 5 times. ;)

A couple days after Christmas, our friends from Idaho, Ali and Marilee (who recently moved to Texas) came to Houston! We took them to Pappadeux's, our fav place to eat! My cousin, Lisa, is the manager there, and hooked us up!

Later that night, we all snuck in to the Texans practice dome! The door was open, lights were on, and not a soul in sight. The only ball we found was a soccer ball, so we played around for a little and explored the rest of the compound.

We also tried to sneak into the Dynamo stadium, but they lock their doors over there.

And to top it all off, I took my sweet friend Sarah's engagements. I LOVE her and her entire family!!! We have been buds since 5th grade, and I love that she hasn't changed! I also get to shoot her wedding August!!! :)