The Best Birthday

We are extremely excited to announce that we have been chosen by a wonderful young woman named Kaitlin to be the adoptive parents of her baby.  We exchanged e-mail for a couple of weeks before we were able to meet in person.  We looked forward to each e-mail as if we were children waiting for Santa to come.  Yet, on the other hand we wanted our responses to be Pulitzer prize worthy so we were nervous too.  From the first e-mail we could tell that Kaitlin was a unique individual.  She was very articulate in her writing and easy to get to know.  When we met in person, we immediately felt welcomed by her and her entire family.  After getting to know each other a little better over lunch we returned home.  Amy was able to meet up with Kaitlin and her family again for some ice cream which was a lot of fun.  A couple of weeks later we were invited to meet with Kaitlin and her family at the LDS office.  They had requested to meet on the 20th (Amy's birthday) which was extremely thoughtful of them.  Unfortunately, I was out of town with work so we met the next day.  Amy is counting the 21st as her new "honorary" birthday.  When they came in the room they had what was basically a miniature hot air balloon.  It was so huge it wouldn't even fit in our car (okay, it's a Beetle so that doesn't mean much).  Tied to the bottom of the balloon was a box filled with baby stuff.  Before we opened that gift Kaitlin asked us to read a letter she had written us.  As Amy and I both read the letter, strong emotions came over the both of us as we read that Kaitlin had put "dibbs" on us to adopt her child.  The feeling in the room is one that I can't really explain, nor will ever forget.  For the next hour we talked and got to know each other better.  It was fun to hear what stood out about us and why Kaitlin picked us.  We look forward to getting to know Kaitlin even better as well as welcoming her and her family into our lives.  It's hard to describe this whole experience but we can say it has lifted our spirits and given us hope.  We are truly blessed.  We love you Kaitlin!!!

Family Party

Here are a few pics from when Jared's sister was in town and one of the other sisters graciously agreed to host.  The hostess claims she had a hidden agenda to get help putting up their new basketball standard but her husband managed it before anyone could get there.  It is always fun to have the old folk, the tiny tots, and the yet to join the family all together to talk and laugh.

  Some of the kids here aren't family, it seems that in their neighborhood one house is as good as the next one to hang out.  We didn't mind these little party crashers at all!  It looks like a very child friendly place to live.  And then there were popsicles.  It seems like these things have been around since the ice age (pun intended). 

There is always someone interested in a pickup game.  There are plenty of tall people on one side of the family so this bodes well in a competitive game.  Then again, if you're playing against 8 year olds, it's more about having a good time.  Someday Jared's side of the family really wants to create a volleyball team to enter tournament play.  It would require some travel since so many of the players live a good distance from each other, two in Utah, one in Colorado, one in Arizona and one in Idaho.