Birthday Aftermath and Wedded Bliss

Wow.  You all know how to make a birthday girl so so happy!  Not only did I have a very happy birthday thanks to the sweet cards, texts, FB messages, but you all really rallied around and gave my parents a match challenge!  I'm tallying the official numbers and will be sharing those soon, but THANK YOU all. You are helping us get closer to our dream and in the process, we are connecting with people all over through infertility, adoption, family and love.

And, by the way, my birthday was awesome!  A dear dear friend's wedding was on the 15th and Mr. A and I have been planning on attending this wedding for almost 6 months.  It was so nice to watch 2 people so in love recite vows in front of friends and family.  This was a Scottish Highland ceremony and it really just looked like an out-take from deleted scenes from Braveheart... snow on the ground, tartans (plaids) everywhere, and my friends even did the "handfast" ceremony in their ceremony.  Basically, the plaids from the two clans are entwined over the couples joined hands as they recite vows- this is where the term "tying the knot" comes from.

The beautiful bride, my friend Laura, has been through the longest of long distance relationships- he's been in Scotland while she's been in Canada and it was so amazing to see them come together in marriage!  As I watched my sweet friend marry her husband, I thought back to the last time we'd seen each other.  This would be 3 years ago at another wedding and she had just started seeing her man (coincidentally who is also a Mr. A!).  She was so giddy with excitement, so eager for us to meet him, and really just looking forward to what that next step with him looked like.  I remember that they would text/chat and he even sent her flowers during that weekend and the snippets of their budding relationship even at it's beginning stages was so amazing to witness!

In a way, and through all of your support, I feel a bit like my friend when it comes to our baby.  Excited, giddy, waiting anxiously for the day we can be together, anxious for you to meet him or her and desperate to jump to that next step.  Now, while I don't have a child yet to hold or love, it's your communications, your notes of encouragement and your financial support that is getting me through this time.  You keep me excited, you strengthen me when I start to falter or worry, and your confidence in this path Mr. A and I are on is so unshakable- I really draw on your strength.  THANK YOU ALL.  This blog and the response to it has been a bit of a rock for me.  I know we have a long road ahead, and I promise not every post will be so centered on us and our journey, but I have to tell you all what it means to me to have you along with me- I can't thank you enough.

And... for fun and because they are so pretty- here's a pic of the newly married couple!  Congrats Laura and Mr. Scottish A!

If you would like to pray, share or invest in our adoption journey, please do so here:
www.youcaring.com/carradoptionfund