Cute Idea

I often read a blog called All You Who Hope, by a Catholic mother of two little ones (one was adopted). Her adoption story is pretty awesome (you can find it on the top tool bar on her page). Anyways, she recently posted about making books for each of her kids. Each book tells the story of their arrival and has pictures of them as babies and with family. I love making stuff like this and plan on definitely following her lead on this one. She even found a place where you can design your own board book. How awesome is that? Here's a link to her post:  Baby Books

I just had to share.

Makes Me Smile

I'm a speech pathologist and work with mostly preschoolers and kindergarteners. So I have my fair share of hilarious moments from day to day. Today though, it's a simple story and one that just plain old puts a smile on my face. I'll be the first to admit, I have a few favorite kids I work with. Well today, one of them made my heart melt. He had just come back into the room from playing on the play ground. I was working on something across the room, and I heard him call my name and say, "I love you". These kids may not be mine, but boy do I love them.

Chaplet of Divine Mercy

During Lent, I began praying the Chaplet of Divine Mercy every day. The more I prayed it, I found myself becoming more and more content with the wait. One day, I was talking to someone at work about the adoption process and found myself telling her that I was doing well with the wait and that I was pretty content. I just remember thinking, Did those words just come out of my mouth??? And then I realized that it was the truth. I had finally found peace, knowing that God has a plan for our family.

Here is a link to the prayer: Chaplet of Divine Mercy

I particularly like the closing prayer:

Eternal God, in whom mercy is endless, and the treasury of compassion inexhaustible, look kindly upon us, and increase Your mercy in us,that in difficult moments we might not despair, nor become despondent, but with great confidence, submit ourselves to Your holy will, which is Love and Mercy itself.


It is my daily reminder that God has a plan for me, and that it is going to be (and is) wonderful! It helps me to do what is hardest, trusting in His plan and letting go. Let go, and let God!


The Divine Mercy Novena began on Good Friday. You can learn more about it and find the daily prayers here: Divine Mercy Novena

This Sunday is the Feast of Divine Mercy. Find out more about it here: Feast of Divine Mercy

If you don't already pray the Chaplet, I can't encourage you enough to do so daily. This prayer is so incredibly powerful! It is easy to pray, not to mention quick (you can pray it on your way to work even). Relevant Radio (950am in Chicago, Relevant Radio) prays the Chaplet of Divine Mercy Daily at 3pm (central time). If you can listen to the radio at that time, it's pretty awesome. They take calls for intentions, and they have shared stories of countless answered prayers. It is such a powerful prayer! On Relevant Radio, they finish the prayer reciting the following, and so I will close this post with it as well.

Jesus I trust in you. Jesus I trust in you. Jesus I trust in you.

(St. John's at University of Illinois)

Looking Forward to the Little Joys in Life

When we were writing our adoption profile to present to birth parents at our agency, I kept finding myself imagining the beautiful moments our family has to look forward to. Of course I have imagined about a million times what it might feel like meeting our child for the first time and those first few steps through the door at home on that incredible day (whenever it may be). What I find myself thinking about most, though, are those little moments in time that I may have taken advantage of if we had not experienced this journey of waiting.

I can't wait for the moment that we feel like we can let down our guard and choose a name. For years before we even got married, we talked about baby names (even if they were Bert and Ernie for our future twins). But it's not so easy talking about names, when you have no idea when or if that day is going to come when you have a child to give that name to. So naming this baby... can't wait for it! 

I look forward to seeing the big cheesy grin I know Dan will have on his face the first time he dresses our baby up in some ridiculous outfit, the hilarious comments he will surely have about dirty diapers, and of course that look of pride I know he will have when he introduces our son or daughter to our families. I can't wait for our first Sunday mass together as a family of three, holding our baby close and thanking God for our incredible blessing! Crazy as it may sound, I can't wait to wake up in the middle of the night those first few times (I'm not completely nuts- I know that after the first couple nights I'll regret ever thinking that!) I look forward to chasing little feet across the house, holding little hands on walks around the block, and dancing around the living room. I can't wait to be woken up by a little one jumping into bed with us on a lazy Saturday morning, ready to get the day started. Coming from someone who LOVES to sleep in, I look forward to the day that I no longer have the option.

I could list about a million things I think about every day, but I think you get the picture. As difficult as this wait is sometimes (ahem, most of the time), I have been blessed. God blessed us with this wait. He has prepared my heart and increased my faith. I am ready to soak up every last little moment, BUT I have also realized that I need to do the same now. It's that second part that I struggle with all the time. I want to keep fast forwarding to that moment when our two becomes three, but today is important too. There's a reason that we are waiting. So I better not let this time just pass me by. In the end, God has a beautiful little one for us. When? I don't know. But I'm ready for that incredible moment!

(I promise not to be so mushy on every post, but a girl has to dream a little. Some people deal with stress with chocolate, others with exercise... I daydream)