"OK, Let's Adopt..."

It was July 23, 2007, as we sat down to dinner at Maria's Italian Kitchen.  Maria's has always been one of my favorite places..and the conversation Jon and I were about to have is engrained in my mind and heart.

As I dipped my rosemary bread in the oil, Jon said "I've been doing a lot of thinking and ok, let's adopt."  I sat there shocked and had to curtail my excitement to avoid choking!  For two months leading up to this dinner date, I figured my chances of being a mom were over.  It had been a tough road for us getting to that point....moving from the "let's try to have kids" to "let's go the the doctor's" to "when do we stop this rollercoaster of infertility treatments" to "let's look at adoption" to "I'm not sure adoption for us" to the moment of officially moving forward with those simple, yet meaningful words, "ok, let's adopt."

I thank Jon daily (usually just in my heart and prayers) for agreeing to move forward with our adoption journey but there is someone I haven't thanked publicly:  Jon's mom, Tracey, aka Nana.  Jon had a heart to heart with his mom (unbeknownst to me) and she gave him not only motherly advice, but a woman's perspective.  Sure, we could have lived a life of travel, spontaneous dates, healthier bank accounts, etc. -- but Nana provided insight that only a woman could.  I'm not certain of what was exactly said but whatever it was, I thank you, Nana, from the bottom of my heart.  And I know Jon thanks you, too!

Nana and her "Girl Friday"
 (nickname since Kristina stays over on Friday nights while we go to work on Saturday).

Fast forward one year later:  July 23, 2008

After finding an agency and getting our homestudy completed, one year later to the day when Jon said "let's adopt," we received a referral for an 18 month old little girl.  The next day on July 24th, we accepted the referral and started making our plans to travel to Russia to meet our soon-to-be daugher, Kristina.

The first photo we saw of Kristina...hmm, not sure why she doesn't like Spiderman!!

Fast forward 3 years later:  July 24, 2011

So, for those of you who know how sentimental I am....where do you think we went to dinner this last week?  Yep -- Maria's!  It was Kristina's first time and she did quite well until towards the end when her 4 y.o. ansiness started to set in.  Oh, no...we're becoming "those parents" with the kid who won't listen!!!  It was a "family date" and Jon and I just looked at each other -- no more quiet dates for us...

Kristina at Maria's Italian Kitchen, while she was still calm.
"The table" we sat at 3 years ago is directly next to Kristina in the background.

BONUS:  Recent random shots of our dream come true!!!

Kristina fell asleep when crawling into daddy's "Barcalounger"

 

Kristina and Barley-Q the Mishka (bear).  Kristina created this bear for Quinlan, our newest friend who just came home from Russia.  Congrats, Chris and Quinlan!!



When hearing the music sample player,
Kristina broke out into dance in the middle of the grocery store!

I love this photo of Kristina in her school's sandbox.
With the amount of sand in her shoes each day, I'm surprised there is any sand left at school!