It's time to renew our adoption application. Every year we have to fill out a bunch of paperwork, resubmit an application and meet with our social worker in order to remain eligible to be on the waiting list. People are always surprised at how much goes into the adoption process. It's an amazing experience but its not for the faint of heart! Luckily we don't have to pay the fee again, that's just a one time deal.

Erik and I kind of struggled this year. We have had such a wonderful experience with Kade's adoption. Our dreams have literally come true in Kade and we couldn't ask for a better birth family. Our fear is that, if we get chosen, the next adoption won't be as amazing. Do we really want to push our luck? Anyone that knows our story knows that luck was not on our side when it came to building our family!

What if our next birth mom doesn't want any involvement? How do we explain that to a child when his/her big brother has such a great birth family? What if we bring a baby home and the birth mom changes her mind and takes the baby back? How do we explain that to a very bright 2 year old who doesn't forget a thing? There are a lot of unknowns and anyone who knows us knows that we are PLANNERS! :-)

On the other hand, I would feel guilty if Kade grew up without a sibling. I know being an only child is not the end of the world but coming from families with brothers and sisters I can't imagine not having a sibling. And, I'm not going to lie, I wouldn't mind a daughter :-) Of course I'd be over the moon if I got another son too! I always planned on having 3 kids (2 boys and a girl). Ha ha ha, that just makes me laugh now! What is that saying? You want to make God laugh, just tell him your plans?

So, in the end, we've decided to give it the ol' college try for 1 more year. If we get chosen that would be wonderful!, amazing!, fantastic! And if we don't get chosen that would be fine too because Kade has fulfilled our dreams and filled our hearts with more love than we ever thought possible.

Here's a bunch of random pictures. I had to include a picture from the Historic Snowfall of May 2nd. When I wrote last weeks blog I had no idea what we were in for! And I'm including a picture of our latest "toy" :-)