Our story

Recently, our pastor asked Rusty and I if we would be willing to make a short video to share our adoption story with the church. We were honored, but overwhelmed at the idea of trying to condense A LOT of material into a 4 minute clip. 

It is impossible, in 4 minutes or even 4 hours, to adequately describe our journey: the pain that I walk through daily as a birthmother that longs to be a part of her son's life, the fear and pain that we walked through during our fertility treatments and how that affected our marriage, our grief in losing 5 babies and the dream of having a biological child, how miraculously God led us to choose adoption, the devastation we felt with our failed placement, the overwhelming  JOY that we have experienced with the greatest blessings that we could imagine- our two sons, Ben and Joe...and much, much more. 

But, we did our best and this is the video that we shared with our congregation:

Adoption Video 

Yes, there is so much more to our story that we did not get to share, but to me the most exciting part is the "much more" to our story that we do not even know yet. I believe that God is still working in our family and that there is more story to be told. Just as our past has been - I am sure that it will not all be easy or fun. But, if there is one thing that I know now, more than ever, it is that God is faithful and He will provide. 

His plan is perfect. And because of that truth, our hope endures. 

Navarre Beach

In June, we went to Navarre Beach Florida with my family. I grew up going to this beach every year with my parents, when my mom was still alive. I have pictures of us together on this beach and the only video that I have of her is on this beach. Though the town has changed and grown so much, it is still such a special place for me, filled with fond memories. I am happy to be able to make my boys there now, as well!

Woolley, Party of 4!

On July 5th, we finalized our adoption of Joe! Though changing his name does not change our feelings for him, it is nice to have it finalized and be able to move forward as a legally recognized family of four!

No way!

It hasn't really been since April that I wrote a blog post, has it? I knew I hadn't posted in a while, but that is plain ridiculous. I always have good intentions to start blogging again, but somehow I manage to forget to sit down and do it. It's so much easier to just put things on Facebook and feel like I can keep the ones that are interested updated. But I want to do it for my boys, to have this record of this time in their lives.

So, here is an attempt to get caught up, with more posts to follow and a renewed sense of commitment to blog regularly. But who knows...

In April, the Shell Houston Open was held at our golf club. It's a fun time of year to be a member at Redstone and we always enjoy getting to go to the tournament and the member events. Our other favorite part is getting to see friend Jonathan when he comes to play in the tournament. We were sad that his family didn't get to come with him this year, but still enjoyed getting to spend some time with him. He let Ben play a few holes of the tournament course with him during the practice rounds and it was a lot of fun. 

On the last day of the tournament, one of the cameras picked up Ben swinging his club at the course and it ended up on ESPN sports center, The Golf Chanel and in the tournament's closing credits on NBC. We had no idea and it was pretty fun to be watching tv and see Ben show up! 

The boys are growing quickly and time seems to be passing so much faster with Joe than it did with Ben:

Ben is a great big brother and is really sweet to Joe (most of the time!):

In May, I celebrated my 33rd birthday. Rusty surprised me with a visit from my mom's sister, Dixie who lives in Atlanta! We had a wonderful visit and the boys really enjoyed getting to spend some time with their Mimi D:

Ben and Mimi drinking their morning hot tea:

Ben liked to help Mimi D work:

Dixie made my birthday cake with my grandmother's special chocolate fudge icing recipe. And she taught me how to make one of my mom's favorite dishes while she was here as well. It is so neat to have that connection to learn about my mom, even though I never got a chance to learn those things from her before she passed away.

Birthday dinner at The Tasting Room:

Mother's Day was special this year because we participated in our church's baby dedication Sunday. We stood before our family and our congregation and committed to raise Joe to know the Lord. 

I have to admit, it was a bit bittersweet. You know Mother's Day is a day full of emotion for me. And baby dedication Sunday used to be so hard for me. Especially when it was on Mother's Day. I always hated it when churches did that and made a point not to be there. But, here we stood with our little family and while praising Him for this gift and the honor to stand there, my heart was hurting for those that were sitting in their seats, hurting. A place where I will never forget. 

Grandpa (my dad) and Joe:

And because it is so blazing hot outside, we have done LOTS of this:

And that is all I have in me for one day. But it is a start!