Meet the Teacher Night

Tonight was a very successful meet the teacher night. Mr. Murray and I had a packed house of eager sixth graders ready to become middle schoolers. Covered lots of information and met lots of people. I won't remember their names on Wednesday but I catch on pretty quickly.

Busy Weekend!

This weekend flew by! Friday night, I visited with my friend Angela who is having her baby Thursday. (pictures coming soon of new baby) Saturday started out kind of rough. I have a piano that was at my aunt and uncles house which needed to be moved to my house. It is a wall piano that is very heavy! I lined up five guys and a trailer to move the piano Saturday morning at 9:00 am. Luckily, the move went very smoothly. We only had one small cut on an arm which only required a small band-aid. The piano is now in my dining room ready to be played. I haven't tried to play yet to see if I remember how. Hopefully, it will be like riding a bicycle, it will just magically come back to me!

Saturday evening, my husband grilled wonderful cheeseburgers on the Big Green Egg. For those of you who don't know about the Big Green Eggs, they are the Mac Daddy of all grills! My husband worships his grills, they are his precious treasures which he adores. We have a large one and a small one that sit in their own cooking table.



Scott and Angela came over Saturday night and ate with us. We watched the Bristol Nascar race and just hung out at the house. Good times!

Sunday, Bryan and I went to Babies R Us and registered for some things. Honestly, we now have no idea what we registered for but we assume that they will be things that will help us with the baby. It was fun but a little overwhelming because there is so much stuff! How could something so small require so much stuff!

Ashley, a friend of mine from work, gave us a cute bassinet that we also went to pick up today. Roxy tried it out and loves it!



Finally, my dad and Bryan wanted to take out my dad's new boat. So the three of us loaded up and hung out on the lake for a couple of hours this evening. Mom stayed home because she wasn't feeling well. Hopefully, she will make the next trip because it was a lot of fun!

Comment problems

Some people have mentioned to me that they were having a hard time posting comments on my blog. I looked at my settings and I think I fixed the problem. Hopefully, you should be able to comment on my blog now. Thanks!

First Day Back and Good Reading!

Today was my first day back to work after a quick summer break. It seems that the longer I have been teaching, the faster my summers go by. Today went pretty smoothly, meetings and workshops all day. We have a lot of new teachers on the sixth grade hallway, so that involves getting to know new people. Luckily, my team is staying the same. I am on a two man team where I teach Language Arts and Science while my teammate teaches Math and Social Studies. We have been together for three years now so things are pretty easy. My room is pretty much together and somewhat organized. We did receive a surprise today. Our PTSA gave all the teachers a $50 Walmart gift card to us for teacher supplies. That was AWESOME! I feel like I always spend a fortune at the beginning of a school year so that will definitely help. All in all, good first day back!

I heard from my case worker today Michelle, she sent Bryan and I some books and resources that we could read while we are waiting. I wanted to share those with you just in case anyone else is interested.

You Can Adopt by Susan Caughman and Isolde Motley

Focus on the Family's Handbook on Thriving as an Adoptive Family by David Sanford (CAS now gives these out at their conferences so you may already have this, but if not, it has some good real-life stories, etc.)

Raising Adopted Children by Lois Melina


Adoptive Families magazine posts their prior issues and recommended/reader favorite articles on their website, and they have a list of books chosen by their editors as ones they recommend. (www.adoptivefamilies.com/books.php)


The Happiest Baby on the Block is a good book to learn about ways to comfort your baby (crying can be very stressful for everyone!). You'll feel more confident once you bring the baby home.

Thanks again Michelle for the wonderful resources!

A New Look and a Fresh Start!

I AM BACK!!! I started this blog so that people could follow along with us through our adoption but I got a little lazy. Sorry! I want to catch everyone up and hopefully continue my blog with regular updates. A lot of things have happened since my last post so I am just going to make a list.

Adoption:
Completed home study
Met with agency for finalization of paperwork
On the website as official waiting family!!! (check us out at christianadopt.org)
Waiting on the phone to ring....

Our life:
Completed my 8th year of teaching.
Traveled back and forth to the beach all summer with family and friends. I love Oak Island!
Completed some work outside of our old/new house (concrete, painting trim, flowerbeds, etc..)
Going back to work.

Check out my new look! I have been keeping up with some different bloggers through the adoption agency website and I just loved their backgrounds. I got a little creative and changed mine. I think it is super cute!

I plan on blogging more now because I feel like it will help me through this waiting time. So far waiting has not been that bad but I am very anxious. I really wonder everyday what God has in store for us. We know that he has our baby out there somewhere we just can't wait to see what he blesses us with. Everynight I pray for God to guide us through this process and to keep our birthmother safe and healthy. I always think that someone out there is carrying our child and I hope she is taking care of herself and the baby.

Also, I am super excited about my friend Angela who is preparing to have her first baby next Thursday. It is going to be a baby boy and his name will be Braeden Luke. We spoke last night and she is nervous and excited! She has been trying to have a baby for six years now and she is finally getting her little miracle. I am so excited for Scott and Angela and they are going to be wonderful parents!

Before I go, I have to share with everyone my latest purchases. I couldn't resist these super cute onsies and bibs. I found them at the beach this past week and figured they would be good for a boy or a girl. I finally feel like it is ok for me to buy baby things. Baby Pruitt could be here anyday!!!

Busy Times!!!

A lot has happened since my last post.

First, Bryan and I finished our home study. Michelle came to the house and stayed for about two hours. She inspected the house and interviewed us one more time together. Michelle now has to type up a report which will be about 15-20 pages. She allows us to view this report before sending it to the agency. Once the agency has it, we have one more meeting at the agency with Doris. Doris is the agency's director. During this meeting, we will review for the last time what we want and will be open to accepting. Then we are just waiting until God finds us the perfect baby.

This weekend, Bryan and I attended an adoption conference in Charlotte. The agency has two a year, one in the spring and in the fall. We got to hear a birthmother's side of the story which was very interesting. Also, we learned more about bonding with our adopted child. The best part of the conference was hearing first hand stories of adoption. We got to hear from four different couples who had adopted and how much they enjoyed the process. Each story was different and very emotional. The conference was very informative and it is something that Bryan and I will attend yearly.

The adoption become very real this weekend. Some parts of it are a little overwhelming and confusing but we know that we are going to receive the perfect child. I just hope that it happens very soon! Talk to you soon!

Meeting with Case Worker

Bryan and I met with our adoption case worker last week in Gastonia. Her name is Michelle and she lives in Huntersville. Being a case worker is just part-time for her. She works a full time job. She was very nice and answered a lot of our initial questions. She did give us homework though! We had to do some reading and complete a checklist. Tomorrow we are meeting with her individually to discuss our homework. Michelle is then coming to our house on March 4 for our home visit. This is where she will visit our home and make sure the baby will have a safe place to live. Once that is complete, she will write up a big report (15-20 pages) that includes detailed information about our lives and submit it to the agency. Bryan and I will then go to the agency for a final meeting. We will then be waiting for the phone to ring!

My mom and I went shopping this weekend and we found a crib, dresser, and chair for the nursery. We found it at Buy Buy Baby in Charlotte. Great store!!! It is beautiful and I can't wait to put it together! Bryan and I went to pick it up today. I will post pictures soon of the nursery!

Please keep us in your prayers! God has been wonderful to us so far and we are so grateful for everything he has blessed us with. We know that he will bless us with a little baby very soon!