I need a new blog name... :-)

Well, it's been quite a few months.  A LOT has happened.  You ready!?  It may sound a 'bit' jumbled.

We finished all of our adoption paperwork & home studies at the end of October and took off the next day for a trip to Hawaii - just me and Josh.  Our thought process was 'Who knows when baby #2 will come, so we might as well get away now just in case.'  We had a very relaxing time in Kauai - mostly hanging out by the pool.  When we got home we realized that it was time to put our cat to sleep.  She was refusing to eat/drink since before we left for Kauai and there's not a whole lot you can do for a cat who won't eat/drink (unless you want to shell out tons of $$ to find get tests done that may or may not tell you anything.)  Sushi cat has been missed, but we think she is much happier now that she's not suffering.  November: Shortly after that I found a rash on one side of my body and it freaked me out.  Did I have shingles again!??  Dr said yes. What, am I 80 or something!? So, I was bummed, Josh was bummed and gearing up for a business trip and Natalie was just excited to have us home.  Went back to a different dr for a second opinion - she says 'not shingles'.  Well, that was a fun roller coaster of emotions...  Josh heads off to Charleston for a few days and has a bit of a rough time getting back home.  He finally makes it home around midnight and we get to spend the weekend together.  Ahhh, time to settle in again.

Monday morning Josh leaves for work.  Just a regular day for us.  Natalie and I were doing some sort of project together, being lazy in our pj's and I get a call from Josh (who had only been gone for 30 min or so.)  The conversation went a bit like this: S-'Hi.  What's up?'  J-'Well...are you sitting down?' S-'No.  Why?' J-'You should sit down.'  S-'What?  Why, what's wrong?'  J- 'Just sit down.  Trust me.'  S-'Ok I'm sitting.'  J- 'I just got a call from (our social worker).  She said there's a little boy that was born on Friday...and we have 30 min to decide yes or no.' S- 'Wait.  What?  Are you serious?'  J- 'Yep. And we would need to get to the hospital as soon as possible.' (It is around a 6 hr drive.)  We go for it!  Just like that.  One min we're hanging out at home in our pj's and settling in to work on a Monday - the next we're throwing clothes in a bag and driving to pick up our new baby boy!  My parents take Natalie for a few days and we start driving.  Our conversation went a bit like this: 'What is happening!?  I guess we need a name!  We don't have any boy clothes.  What is happening?  This is so bizarre.  Um, we have a baby boy!'  <We had been warned that it could take a long time..but it could also happen really fast.  We were told not to set up the crib and dresser because it would be really hard to walk by it every day - especially if the process took a long time. So, basically we had nothing ready.>  <Oh and Thanksgiving was supposed to be at our house this year - just a few days away.>  We get to the hospital, meet up with the social worker and she walks us in to meet our little boy.  It was all surreal.  Amazing and surreal.  Here are a few details:
-We named him Gavin.
-We were able to meet with his birth mom and I think it was essential for all of us.  I have nothing but love and respect for her.  She carried little Gavin for 9 months and without her I wouldn't have a son.
-We were discharged from the hospital the day before Thanksgiving -aka the busiest travel day in the US.  Our 6 hour drive took 10 hours!  G was a phenomenal traveler.  Only cried 10 min the whole drive.
-Natalie was the first person we told about G.  She was so excited to be a big sister and cleared out her bottom drawer so that he could have space for his clothes.  :-)  She was very ready to meet 'her baby'.
-Thanksgiving was still at our house, but we didn't have to cook a thing.  Friends and family took charge and cooked everything!  We got to spend time loving on and getting to new this new little guy of ours.  It was amazing!

I know I'm leaving a whole lot out, but I'm sure I'll get to all that later.  For now just know that we now have a 6 month old little guy who is loved by friends and family.  We should get a court date soon and then we will legally be his parents!  We are VERY excited.  Josh, Natalie and I all feel that our family is now complete.  :-)

Thanks for all the prayers and support over the last year!  (From the beginning of the process to when we met Gavin was 6 months.  That is just unheard of!!)  I'm not sure if I'm aloud to post pics of him yet, so for now I will add pics where you can't see his face.

Our two munchkins.

Heading home.

Helping daddy feed Gavin.

Trying to figure out where sister went.  He LOVES his big sister!