This is getting a little real people!

Courtney invited us to Roosevelt to go to her doctors appointment and work out some of the details of the open adoption. Adoption is such a nerve racking process, and as adoptive parents we seem to become invisible. The birth parent is the focal point, which is fine, but the sensation of have no control is the worst (especially for me)! The appointment went well. We were all a little uncomfortable and awkward. It's a surreal situation, knowing that you are going to be raising the child in her...but Court is such an amazing, strong, intelligent, meticulous, shy girl. The doctor barely acknowledged Casey or me and that was our first clue that this is a truly small town and everyone has got Courtney's back and does not much trust outsiders. After hearing the heart beat we headed across the street and got a tour of the hospital. The charge nurse gave us a tour and reminded us not so subtly that Courtney and by extension the nursing staff was running this show. Courtney and her grandparents (who she lives with) knew EVERYONE! Both her grandparents volunteer at the hospital, so when I say everyone, I mean it. It was unreal. After that we went out to eat and settled on some of the outstanding issues. It was so nice having our two social workers there with us. They did a great job mediating it all. We agreed to one visit a year, and that we would communicate through Facebook. So we would create an account for the baby and Courtney would be her only friend. Here's to hoping it works... We also agreed that Courtney would call when she went into labor since it's such a long drive for all of us to get to Roosevelt. We talked about names. I really think she wanted to have more of a say in the name, but her Grandma seemed to reign her in, "It's their child and they can name it whatever they want, right?" We are really vacillating between three names; Courtney Lynne (Courtney we have loved forever but it might be a little weird to name her after the birthmother. Lynne is both of our sister's middle names. Although spelled Lyne and Lynn so we combined them), Jenna Rose (We just like Jenna. And Rose short for Roosevelt. We also found out it is Courtney's Grandma's middle name, so that might be nice.), and Ainsley Kate (We have loved Ainsley ever since there was a character named that on West Wing and Kate after me.) It was a good visit and this thing is starting to feel a little more real! Below is a ultrasound picture that Courtney emailed us, and a picture of the sunset on our drive home from the visit.

Ni hao...China!!!

September 18-30, 2009

Casey and I joined our dear friends Joe and Wendy Dallimore along with Wendy's mother, Kathleen, who were traveling to China to pick up the newest addition to their darling family, Phoebe Josephine Dallimore. It was a long time in coming and we couldn't have been more honored to support them in China. Casey could only join us for a couple of days, but we made the most of the time we had. We didn't get a whole lot of time in the major cities and didn't see a lot of the typical tourist stuff, but what we did see was beautiful. It is a gorgeous country with kind hearted people. We traveled to Guangzhou, Wenzhou, and Hangzhou. Phoebe is an amazing, stunning girl and we are so happy to have her join the Dallimore family!

Other than filling out paperwork at every government office in China, we mostly...shopped. Let's be honest, it's what I do best.

The pearl factory was AMAZING. Store after store of pearls, bracelets, beads, turquoise, etc.

The must have potty shot. I think I have one from 3 different continents now.

Some of my favorite things in China were the signs. i.e. Please don't bring your suitcase bombs on the subway (good to know. I was going to bring mine and then saw the sign), how many of you have seen Mexican in Chinese?, and "Unwind yourself now"...I think it got a little lost in translation.

And my personal favorite..."The child amuses the area."

I am NOT a fan of Asian cuisine...so I came prepared with a suitcase full of food.

I really did attempt to be adventurous with my food...see I tried rice and dragon fruit.

I did not however try the disgusting flavored chips, stinky-ass fish, or salted pig legs...I have to draw the line somewhere.

The jade sculptures there were unreal!

We all tried to dress in red, white and blue for the citizenship swearing in ceremony at the US Consulate in Hangzhou. Kathleen and I were roommates for the trip and had a such a great time together! She is an wonderful person and I was so glad to get to know her a little better.

On our way to Hong Kong: 9 suitcases + 1 toddler + 1 stroller and only 4 adults = stressful craziness

We didn't get much time in Hong Kong. We just needed to get over there because that is where we needed to fly out of. However, Hong Kong was the highlight of MY trip because it is where I found out that the birthmother we had been meeting with had chosen us to adopt her little girl!!! My darling husband informed me over the phone after a 20 minute conversation about flight availability with a "Oh by the way, Courtney chose us." Click! That's right...he hung up on me. After some foul language I called him back and had a cry-fest. God bless the Airport Marriott in Hong Kong, you will always hold a special place in my heart.

The best part...A new family united!

Camping at Carlsbad

This year I was lucky enough to have my niece Maile, and my cousin's daughter Brianna join me for camping at the beach. Maile and Bri joined me in St. George and then we drove to San Diego, stopping to do school shopping at all the outlet stores along the way. They got hats airbrushed with their names. My cousin Nathan and his friend Sal also came up to the beach for a couple of days...and all of a sudden I was in charge of 4 teenagers...yikes! It was a great time.

11 years

For our anniversary this year, I joined Casey in St. Petersburg, FL where he was attending an HR conference at the Don Cesar Resort. It was such a great trip! The sand and water were like nothing I had ever experienced before. We had some great meals, including a stop at the fabulous Waffle House on the way out of town. This may be one of my all time favorite trips!

Casey's Walk-about

One morning, Casey decided to go for a hike...36 hours later he was life flighted off the side of Pine Valley Mountain...Casey went for a hike before he was scheduled to pick me up from the airport flying home from San Diego. When he was late picking me up from the airport and didn't return my emails, I knew there was a problem. My boss and dear friend, Stuart Breinholt came and picked me up and we drove up to the trail head where we found Casey's car. After getting an email from Casey telling me he was fine, but lost and out of water and the battery on his phone was dying (not a good situation in St. George in July), we called the sheriff who in turn called search and rescue. They headed out around 10 pm which was about 15 hours after Case had started his hike. The next morning Casey was finally able to get a call out to 911 when he saw the S&R helicopter flying over head. (He had been have a problem with his signal) Luckily, Washington County has a service where they can track the GPS in your phone if you call. Even with the S&R hikers only being 1/2 a mile from where Casey was it took them over 2 hours to get him because the terrain was so bad. The helicopter was dropping water bottles to him but they were exploding on impact. The helicopter they were using didn't have a powerful enough engine to land in the winds and get stabilized and back out safely. So they had to fly a helicopter up from Page, Arizona.

I must say, I remained pretty dang calm through all this. Mostly through the help of two of my most favorite people, Liisa Frei and Stuart Breinholt. The reception was not great up on the mountain, so S&R had me come home so that if Casey called it would be able to get through. (He did call a couple of times but they kept dropping. It at least let me know he was still alright.) Stuart, and Liisa and Nick stayed up on the mountain to pass on any news to me. Then they came with me to the hospital. Thank goodness for their support.

By the time the helicopter got Casey to the hospital he had been out of water for 24 hours and because of the enzymes his muscles were releasing his kidneys were shutting down. He had to stay in the hospital over night while they had to IV's going with fluids. It was a pretty intense 2 days. Which ended up on the front page of the local paper. (Pretty sure Casey would rather have not been found then have it end up in the paper). So glad to have him home and safe!!!!