It's been ages since I last wrote! I started writing my diary to help me deal with my stress, but now that my dream of becoming a mother has been realized, I have no need to keep writing.

Yes, I am still a mother! My little girl turned 6 months today. She is the sweetest little girl. She is happy and content almost all the time. She laughs and smiles and cuddles. I don't know what I'd do without her anymore.

The adoption process has been going smoothly. It really tested our patience to wait for the birthparents' rights to be terminated in court. The court date was first set for early October, but then the a few days before court we found out that birthgrandmother was unable to come that day, so the date was rescheduled for October 25. The birthgrandmother had to come because the birthmom was under 18. The birthmother did go to court on October 25 and terminated her parental rights. The birthfather was aware of his daughter, but chose not to do anything, so his rights were also terminated. That same day my mom flew in to visit for ten days. We were able to have our baby baptized while she was here. While my mom was here we filled out paperwork to petition the court to adopt our little girl. We got word from our social worker a few weeks later that the judge had signed our papers, so we could now throw out all the restrictions we had been living with the last three months. We could leave the state, have anyone babysit, and we could go away on overnight trips without notifying the agency.

We flew to Seattle to visit my mom and sister for Christmas. Our little girl had just turned five months old. Many people warned me that she might have trouble with ear pain from the pressure changes, and to have her suck something. I decided to see how she would do without anything, and she was fine! She loved the plane, and especially liked to look out the window when we were landing. She was well-behaved, and people sitting near us commented on how quiet she was. Her only bad episode of crying and vomiting (which she does when she cries so hard that she gags herself) on the airplane happened when I was changing her diaper after her disposable diaper leaked all over me. I had packed along my cloth diapers in suitcases and only used disposables the days we traveled. After that leakage episode my husband was really convinced that our choice to use cloth is the right one!

Since we brought my baby girl home I have been dropping off monthly update letters and photos at the agency. They send or give them to the birthmother. She has not written back, although she has been given the opportunity. I did talk to her social worker a couple months ago and she told me that the birthmother liked getting my letters and pictures. She gave me a photo of the birthmom and her mother on the day they went to court. She also told me that the birthmother was having a hard time because she often has to care for her sister's baby. Imagine placing your child for adoption and then having to care for your sister's child which is the same age (5 days younger) as the child you relinquished. That would be tough!

On January 30 we have the first of two visits from our social worker that will happen during the "6 month supervisory period" before our adoption is finalized in court. We are also in the process of getting our foster care license renewed, so the foster care person for infant adoption is also doing her home visit at the same time. The foster care person is actually the social worker for our child's birthmother, so I'm hoping she'll give me an update on how the birthmom is doing. It's probably not appropriate for me to ask questions, but I'm hoping she'll volunteer some information. We are renewing the foster care license because as soon as our current adoption is finalized we plan to get started this summer on our next infant adoption.

Besides caring for my baby, washing her clothes and diapers, knitting and sewing things for her, and doing other household chores, I've been going to a ladies Bible study, and helping with the church's girls' club.

I do have a new interest, which just began in the last week, and I'll tell you about it now. It's called Miracle Diapers, and it's an organization that assists needy families by providing them with diapers. I met with the woman who last month started a branch in Michigan, and I have decided to offer my knitting and sewing talents and whatever else I can offer. I'm very excited about it and eager to see this new branch of the organization get up and running. Do you have old diapers you want to get rid of? Help out someone in need and donate them to Miracle Diapers!