One year ago yesterday, Milo joined our family:



He was so tiny, and was shivering because of the San Francisco fog. Now, he’s twice as big, and ready for prime time—his debut in the Wienernationals.



The regional qualifier was at the Alameda County Fair, over the hills in Pleasanton. We picked little Milo up from Livermore, which isn’t too much further, so the trip was a little like a return to his roots. Only we had our game faces on, and were ready to race:



(Wait, we were supposed to be having fun—let’s do that again …)



So here’s how it works: There’s a race course …


The dogs go into the starting boxes …



They pull the gate …





And one dog takes off like a shot, while the other seven stumble around in confusion, like this:



We’d been practicing at home, luring Milo with bits of cheese. We weren’t intimidated. We walked Milo around to let him size up the competition:



But mostly, he just made friends.



Heather took him up into the stands for a better view of the action.



And then the time came for heat #9—Milo’s race. The tension was so high, that even wiener-man couldn’t take the pressure.



Since we were both actively involved in the race, I don’t have pictures of Milo running. But as soon as they opened the gate, he turned around and tried to go right back to Heather. She nudged him out again, and he took off like a rocket, blasting past the pack, and closing in on the wirehair that was in the lead. For a split second, we thought he was a contender. And so did the crowd. They started to cheer, and so Milo ran straight for his adoring public, off the race course and into the ranks of the disqualified. Not that we cared.



His race run, Heather and I decided to celebrate with some ice cream.



I don’t know what goes into that chocolate shell that hardens, but it never stops being cool.

Milo, seeing the ice cream, finally found his focus.




Save some of that concentration for next year, buddy …

Yesterday we received a letter in the mail from our agency,Adoption Connection letting us know that ourhomestudy is complete, and we have been approved to become adoptive parents. We had completed all of our social work visits quite a while ago, and just had a few odds and ends of paperwork to turn in recently. But I didn’t realize we would receive such a “formal” letter in the mail. Everyone we’ve worked with at the agency has been so friendly, supportive and, well….. informal. It was just kind of funny to receive this letter, signed by the two co-founders of the agency, declaring us official.

                                 
Yesterday my coworker Jason and his wife Katie gave birth to a baby girl, Audrey.  Katie, the trooper, went through 30 hours of labor!  Whew!  We are so excited for them.  In celebration I made lovely pink cupcakes to bring to work.  Unfortunately Jason is with his family (of course), and had to miss out on them. 

We got a notice today that our Parent Profile is up on Adoption Connection’s website (our agency).  It’s an abreviated web version of our “Dear Birthmother Letter” that we gave them to send to potential birthparents.  Now everything is up and running.  This makes me so excited!  I can hardly stand it

Last week, our friend Betsyspread the news about our adoption plans. If you’re linking here from her blog, hello!

Soon after, Heather received an email from a friend of a friend of a friend named Rachelle. We were so happy to hear from her. Just like us, adoption is part of her extended family. And just like us, adoption became part of her personal story, too. She has adopted aunts and uncles and nieces and nephews, and is a birth mom herself. She was kind enough to share some of her story with us, and agreed to let us post it here:

when i found out i was pregnant, i knew what i was going to do. i don’t even think i ever thought that i was going to keep noah–that is his name. from my own family experience, i knew that there was a family waiting for noah. i’m not gonna lie, i don’t think that all birth moms have the same experience. i never once changed my mind or even thought twice about it and even now i don’t wonder what my life would be like if i would have kept him. i can’t think that because i get to see him with his family and every picture and email confirms that sometimes this is how families have to be made.

Noah’s adoptive parents had already adopted two other kids before the met Rachelle. She told us:

i am grateful that they had been through this process before. they have very open adoptions with the other kids’ birth moms and with me, as well. i actually email the other two birth moms, too. we have our own little “extended family.” i get an email almost every week and another email that is just pictures just as often. the kids know who we all are and they know their adoption stories. (my brother and his wife and my sister and her husband also have very open relationships with their birth moms–and my sister had an open relationship with the boy she placed, who is now 13.) i was glad to read that you are willing to have an open adoption. i think that it has helped me with healing just to know where noah is and what he is doing and about him in general. i am at peace with my decision because i can actually see that it was the right one.

We are truly inspired by the strength of women like Rachelle, and were touched by her story. Strength like hers is what will allow us to be parents. That’s a tremendous gift. Rachelle—thanks for sharing. We’re looking forward to building our “extended family,” too.

Tomorrow we leave for Salt Lake City.  Alex’s brother Chris is getting married on Thursday!  We haven’t seen his family since January, so we are looking forward to spending time with them, and celebrating withChris and Amanda.  The wedding is in Logan, Utah (90 min. north of SLC) on Thursday, and the reception is in SLC on Friday.  Here is one of their engagement pictures…. I’m sure we’ll post more pictures after the big day.