Three in Tennessee

Coach Mark Richt is the leader of the Georgia Bulldogs football team. At home, he's the leader of a lifelong commitment of adoption. Makes it hard for a Vols fan to root against the Dogs...

As a celebration of Tatum's Adoption Day, some good friends Erik and Jana gave us an American Sweetgum tree (indigenous to the Smokeys). At the adoption party, they called it the "lawyer fee tree" and everyone tied contributions to our adoption fund to the branches. After the party, Erik helped me plant it *read: planted it for me*. What a wonderful gift and great story for Tatum!

On Father's Day, we got all decked out in our Cubs gear, fidgeted with our Cubs autographed baseball, and watched our favorite team beat the Jays. And then, I finally got some good pictures of Tatum by her tree. I think we'll take pictures by it every Father's Day, take notice of the growth in Tatum and her tree, and tell the story again.

To see all the pics, visit the gallery here.

Dorothy Bode is a mom and contributor to the Carolina Hope blog whom we've come to greatly admire. She was interviewed on NPR's Day to Day re: trans-racial adoption. Listen here.

It's official! The court now views Tatum like we have all along. Exciting, surreal, joyful, final.

It was a special day with Irma, Judge Young, Aaron, Sharon, Bryce, Cory, Melissa, Taylor, Katlin, Jenna, Cassie, Sharon, and Fowler! After court, we went to Cracker Barrel for brunch.

We went to Build-a-Bear to continue a very special tradition that was started by Tatum's birth-mother. The results: Wrigley Rabbit. She plays "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" in honor of the Cubs' 2008 home opener... also today. I'd say it's destiny, but that hasn't worked out too well in the past.

What a great day!

Well, we are rescheduled for next Monday, March 31. This might have all been for the best because Tatum isn't feeling well either. We thought is was just teething, but now we aren't so sure. So, we are calling the doctor as soon as they open today. Hopefully, the judge and Tatum will feel better soon. :)

I've been spending a lot of time reading from hope to reality, the blog of Carolina Hope Christian Adoption Agency. It was especially helpful while preparing for my recent sermon on the doctrine of adoption at the Vineyard. I've gotten so much out of it that I figured it was time to give them some link lovin'. Here are five reasons why I really, really like their blog:

• It's an incredible resource on the Theology of Adoption.
• Practical posts from adoptive parents - I especially like the posts regarding transracial adoption.
  
• Great links to other adoption-related sites like EllieDub.com and AdoptiveDads.org.
• The agency site features a photo that could be my little T in a few months. :) Adorable!
• They do not shy away from the gritty humanity of adoption. They live it and give the world a glimpse as divinity shows up.

Thank you Dan, Dorothy and Josh! You've made quite an impact on me in the past few weeks and are helping me be a better daddy to Tatum. Please keep the great posts coming!

Just returned home from Chicago... We had a wonderful trip! At 7 weeks, Tatum travels well - from the flights to the hotels, she's a regular globe-trotter.

Here's a quick run down of our trip:

• My seminar was very informative - met some great folks & got some equally great ideas.
  
• We visited Navy Pier and rode the famous ferris wheel.
• We put our hands in the hand prints at the Sports Authority Wall of Fame
• We visited family & friends in my home town of Pekin, IL and attended my aunt & uncle's 50th anniversary.
• Tatum's first swim... She LOVED it!
• Tatum's first public transit... the Blue Line on the "L" from O'Hare to Addison.
  
• Tatum's first Cubs game. She was amazing, and so were the Cubs! They beat the Pirates 8-0. Wrigley Field is beyond imagination. An electric play-off-like atmosphere for the last home game of the season.
• We stayed at some pretty amazing hotels. The Hyatt Regency and the O'Hare Hilton both exceeded our expectations.

Last, but not least, here are some photos:

Special thanks to Emily for capturing the most beautiful girl in the world!
I might be biased, but come on... seriously.

Happy Labor Day.

Tatum Elana Nicole

Click and event to read the details. Scroll back to the beginning of the story in May 2007. This is a work in progress... We'll continue to add events. Enjoy!

Yep, you read it right! 1 day to go!!!
We found out that our birth mom is scheduled to be induced tomorrow morning.
So next time you see me, I'll be the proud father of baby Tatum.
We'll be at the hospital all day,but we'll try to keep you updated.
Please pray for birth mom... I can't even imagine everything she'll experience in the next 24 hours.
Aside from salvation, she's about to give us the greatest gift we'll ever receive.
I'm more flabbergasted at that thought every moment.
I wonder if we'll sleep tonight...
Stay tuned. I'm sure the flurry will continue.

Ok... so there's a lot we haven't posted, and not a lot of time to post it in.
Last Saturday, July 28 the birth father signed paperwork to allow the adoption to go smoothly!!! This is a HUGE answer to prayer!

It feels great to "check this off the list." This not only helps with our peace of mind, but is also a big blessing to our birth mom. At some point, we'll tell the whole story. It is pretty amazing how God worked it all out.
Thank you for praying about this along with us.
So there you go, update flurry part 1: paperwork signed.

It's official - Teri and I are part of an adoption situation.
We've had a series of great meetings with a birth mom & family, and last night found out that she has chosen us as the adoptive family. What a privilege and honor!

The baby is due August 5, and there is still much to be accomplished. Here's how you can pray:

• Pray that the birth father signs his waiver!
• Pray for the health of the birth mom and baby
• Pray that God grants peace to the birth mom and her family
• Pray for all the little details
  

We feel extremely blessed and VERY excited. We know that God has led us to this point and are eager to see how He will work everything out. Thanks for your prayers!

Just what you always wanted: slides of us! Here are some of photos that we used for our adoption profile book. It starts with T, then me, then us together. It's just like a wedding reception. Sit back & enjoy... and sorry there's no cake.

We met with our adoption attorney this afternoon. Irma came highly recommended, both from adoptive families we've grown close with and from Bethany. And here's why she rocks: she is both extremely competent and endearing. Let me explain the rarity of this combination by illustrating the common alternatives:

• That super-strict third grade teacher. Everyone was scared to death, but you learned a lot that school year.
• That friendly auto mechanic whose easy manor puts you at ease as he misdiagnoses your out-of-balance tire as a bad transmission.

I'm just saying... it's not every day you find both. Which is why I'll say for a third time, "Irma rocks!"

Here is our first quilt for our future baby! Matt's mom, Linda, makes a quilt for every grandbaby. She's been working on it for a while and gave it to us when we were in Iowa. I picked out the colors and let Linda loose to do the rest. It's so nice and really well done.

As you can see by the pictures, "my assistants" were very excited to have a new blanket in the house. I don't know if anyone elses dogs are like this, but if there is a new blanket or something really soft around, they will find it.You should have seen them during the garage sale. Did we ever tell you about the time some of Matt's gym shorts fell out of the laundry basket? The dogs laid on those shorts for a week. We didn't have the heart to put away the shorts. The only reason Felicity is not in any of those pictures is because she was being very obedient and "stayed" off the quilt. :) Anyway, back to the quilt, I told Grandma that her granddogs would give it a little loving if I let them. After pictures, we put it up so the Sweet Tus will not think it's theirs. Maybe we should have her make granddog sized quilts?!?

said Bob Wiley, tethered to the mast.

If you've never seen What About Bob, go to Wal*Mart now. Don't bother renting it, it's a keeper.

Today, I'm blogging from our garage sale. I love homonyms. I won't deny it. We're raising money for the adoption and it has been a tremendous success! Our church family from the Vineyard and other friends all jumped on board and donated tons of great stuff for us to sell. We're planning to list some of the larger unsold items on ebay & craigslist. Be sure to check back here for links to some great items including:

• Smith machine & Pulley weight system
• Whirlpool Dishwasher
• Whirlpool Oven
• Maytag Washing Machine
  
• JenAir Cooktop
• Antique Mantle
• Much, much more!

Thanks to everyone who donated, helped with setup, and bought items. Every little bit helps & this was a big bit!

What has happened in the world since we last blogged...

• Jesus had another birthday.
• I had another birthday - the big twenty-ten (yes, I mean my 30th).
• The Colts won the Super Bowl!! Sorry, Matt and your Bears.
• The groundhog either saw his shadow or didn't?? I don't remember.
• Anna Nicole Smith...I'm slightly ashamed to say that I watched more of her old reality show than the average person should have seen.
  
• Baseball spring training began. Go Cubs!
• Blogger is now part of Google.
  
• March Madness is in full swing.
  
• Oh, and Roy found out that Jim and Pam kissed. I seriously thought he already knew about that. How did I not realize?!?
  

Anyway, here are some details to update you on our adoption situation and where we stand now.

Sorry, if it's a little heavy...

Ok...I promise that we have not fallen off the face of the earth. Many of you long distance friends & family might not believe me! I could hardly believe that it had been 3.5 months since we last blogged. So much has happened. Because of legal reasons we have not been able to share much so we just kind of gave up blogging. It would have been too hard not to spill the beans! :)

Many of you are aware that we were chosen by a birthmom in mid-December. We really enjoyed getting to know her and her family. We were there when the baby was born at the beginning of January, but because of so many legal issues with the birthdad she had to go to interim care through the adoption agency. After several long months of waiting for legal issues to be resolved we have conceded that we are not part of the scenario anymore. That's really all we can say right now. We really and truly feel at peace with what has happened. It is obviously sad and we are heartbroken, but because of our faith in the Lord - we believe that He has brought us through this and we will continue down the adoption road.

I know it's hard for people to know what to say to us, but we've just encouraged people to be themselves. Ask questions if you have them or just do whatever is comfortable. I would rather people know the facts (what facts we can share) and be praying for us. Life doesn't stop for any of us just because Matt and I are going through such an ordeal. It's much, much, much harder when people want to "protect" us by not sharing their lives with us. Matt and I are still "us" - that hasn't changed. In moments of deep pain, we still laugh and are ourselves. That's just us. That's how we do things. We have loved each other almost half our lives and that love runs very deep. Also, our faith in the Lord runs deep - it is our foundation - that's what we build our lives upon. The Lord has totally carried us through this journey so far and He will continue to carry us as we keep walking this road.

We've learned many things lately...one thing I know for sure is that we are definitely comfortable with open adoption. We thought we were and said we were, but now we know for sure. We really like the possibility of maintaining contact with our birthparents. It was very easy to love our bmom and her family. Not only was it easy, it was very natural. Sometimes having an open adoption can't happen - it just depends. Each adoption situation is unique. We'll just have to wait and see. Our profile will be back in the mix next week so we'll wait for another phone call.

We have had so many people praying for us - it's unbelievable. Our small group at church has been a great support system. We love them so much! They are family to us, which helps since we're so far away from ours. Thank you to everyone who has prayed for us, called us, sent cards and e-mail, spent time with us, etc...It is much appreciated.

On a much lighter note...

So for now, we'll begin blogging again and bore everyone with our dog stories and pictures. I'll also be anticipating the return of new The Office episodes in April. Go Jim and Pam!!!!!

Oh my word - I almost forgot about American Idol. One of our friends from church is really close friends with Phil Stacey - one of the Idol contestants. Like, they talk to him and tell him what to wear, how to do things, what not to do, etc...It's the closest we've been to knowing a contestant! This year I've tried to spread the love with the contestants. After the Chris Daughtry fiasco of last year when I came "this close" to never watching Idol again (seriously) I decided to dial it down a notch. So, I'm not hardcore into any one person (yet). I think Matt likes Melinda the best. I like Melinda, LaKisha, Jordin and Chris Sligh - not necessarily in that order. Out of those four I think that Jordin would end up selling the most records, but you just never know what will happen. Because it's not sweet, I will refrain from bashing the other peeps on the show who just really need to head home. We all know who they(he) are. :)

Ok, one more tv show comment...Rock star secret service agent, Aaron Pierce, made an appearance in last Monday's ep. of 24. He is my favorite 24 character, sorry Jack Bauer, but it's true. Matt is a little concerned, as it appears I have a teensy, tiny, little crush on Agent Pierce. I can't explain it. Sorry honey! :) I still fear they will kill him off...that might be the end of me. With all the craziness we've had in the last few months that might just send me over the edge!! LOL!

I am trying to be productive this weekend while Matt is in Chicago at a conference for church. He and a couple of guys went up there on Thursday and they'll return tomorrow night. He's been by Wrigley and ate at Chipotle in Wrigleyville. That reminds me that I need to see when the Cubs and Braves play so we can go see them again in Atlanta. We love traditions so we're hoping to make that an annual trip.

Today, I cleaned out our pond. Aside from being really gross and slimy it wasn't too difficult. You can clean just about anything with a Shop Vac! The only bad thing was I almost sucked up a frog. That was gross. He was fighting to not go up the vacuum hose. I shook him off and he hopped away with some slight bruising and a touch of post-traumatic stress disorder, but I think he'll be like new soon. In my defense...he was the same color as the yucky stuff at the bottom of the pond and I don't have great vision. My bad.

Well, that's it for now. Stayed tuned for future dog blogging.

I have been looking at the Bethany website ever since we e-mailed them our online info, which was only on Saturday. Anyway, I just checked and we are online!! I cracked up when I saw the picture of the girls (dogs). If you know us at all, you know that we love our dogs more that some people love their human families, so it is very funny to me to see the girls on the site. That picture was from a few months ago when we were letting Libby's beard grow out. She looks so itty bitty (yes, we say it like Mr. T).

Hopefully being online will help get our info out there for people to check out.

Our online info