many of you are wondering, or have asked, or have wanted to ask, how things are going. though i realize the most frequently asked question is “do we know the baby’s gender?”

well, we don’t. we’re going old-fashioned and waiting for the big (well tiny) reveal on the birth day. though it wasn’t our choice. Birthmom had a 3-d ultrasound last week. all of us were excited to know what the baby’s gender is, as well as finding out how baby is growing. to our dismay and great laughter, baby star decided to be “shy” or “stubborn”, depending on who you ask. little baby refused to move for the ultrasound tech. little legs were hiding those revealing parts. and little fists covered baby’s face so we didn’t even get a good facial rendering. our baby already has great personality!

so we still don’t know what we’re having! oh well. we’ll learn soon enough.

oh, and our due date has changed. they moved the date to January 17th. that’s 2 weeks later than originally expected. many people are telling us she could still deliver on the 4th and not to hold out for the 17th. but a full 2 week change is a sizable shift, so we’re planning for a mid-January birth now and not an early one. let’s hope we can get out there before baby makes an appearance!

so that’s the update. we have 4 more weeks to go! continue praying for our birthmom’s health, baby’s health and that all things will work out accordingly.

oh, and we will have a Welcome Baby Party on Saturday, February 13th. we love presents! but we’d also love for many of our friends & family to join us that day to meet & greet our new little star!!!

Waiting to adopt has been a much longer process than anything we’ve ever experienced. It’s not that we’re impatient, or that we think things should happen when we say so. But there is not a real, tangible way to prepare oneself for The Wait. And after 1 year, 3 months, and 18 days since we started the official adoption process, we finally have something to report.

Before we get into all that, we just want to thank EVERYONE who has prayed for us, supported us, donated to our adoption fund, and continued to encourage us during this journey. We know so many of you want us to be parents and we appreciate your love and kindness.

On January 4, 2010, we should be welcoming baby Star into our family. Due dates are not set in stone, so we could easily become parents before or after this date, but at this point, it’s the best guess. We’ve been selected by a wonderful birthmother who wants to place her baby in a loving home with great family & friend support. In the few weeks that we’ve been getting to know our birthmother, we have developed a good basis for friendship and for a relationship that will last a lifetime.

So in 75 days (2 months and 14 days), we’ll be traveling out to Nevada to meet and greet our baby. Though at this point, we can’t even make solid travel plans. The planner in me is quite apprehensive, but the relaxed me knows it will be fine. That everything will work out accordingly.

When we travel, we will have to spend 10-14 days out in Nevada while we wait for all the legal paperwork to be swapped and approved between Indiana and Nevada. Interstate adoptions can be complicated, but we trust and believe that our adoption professionals know what they’re doing and will be make sure all the paperwork is done correctly and efficiently. We’ll be in a town where we know absolutely no one but our birthmother and in a hotel room that will definitely feel like a cage after a week. But we’ll be bonding with our baby (and have free wi-fi), so that should make the time pass by quickly.

Please continue to pray for us, for our baby, for our birthmother and for the rest of our journey.