This should come as no surprise

I'm sure it comes as no surprise that I haven't blogged since October 12. We have been just a little bit busy.

Our first family photo.

The tiniest and most wonderful creature came into our lives on October 30, 2012.  To say we will never be the same is the biggest understatement of the century.  We are forever changed, forever grateful and forever in love with our Talbot.

We are getting our stride in terms of routine, so I'll be back to posting regularly soon.  I plan to fill up our little corner of the interwebs with Talbot goodness (of course), craftiness, adventures in cooking and the general silliness you've come to expect from me.

Talk to you soon!

Much love, 

Annie 

Photographic-Miracle-Worker

Here’s a cool story for you. So this sweet girl, Anna, was in my life group at church for several years.  You can’t imagine how incredibly talented she is– maker of jewelry & clothing, she paints, she draws AND she’s a crackin’ photographer to boot - creativity abounds!  Well, as sweet girls tend to do, she went and grew into a wonderful young person.  She’s in her junior year at O’More College of Design (fancy, huh!) pursuing her degree in fashion design and making the world just a little bit more pretty every day.  Naturally, when the time came for KB & I to have our pictures taken for our adoption profile our sweet Anna happily obliged. 

To see some of Anna’s work go HERE.  To say hello to our photographic-miracle-worker go HERE.  We love you, Anna!

Much love, 

Annie & KB

Say what you mean to say

KB and I have been attending an adoptive parent’s class at our agency the past few weeks.  It’s been so wonderful to connect with other couples who are on the same journey to parenthood.  It may be difficult to believe or understand this but, at times in this process we’ve felt alone. Very alone.  Hear me – that’s not meant to be a poor reflection on the amazing love and support our friends and family continually pour out to us. It simply is what it is.  This class has been such an answer to prayer. The families we’ve met all have similar hopes and fears.  Many have been through incredibly difficult circumstances in their pursuit of parenthood. It’s an honor to sit shoulder to shoulder with them each week – the walking wounded.  What a beautiful reminder of how our can God bring joy out of pain! 

We’ve been learning a lot – some information is new and some is a reinforcement of things we’ve read, heard, etc.  One specific topic that’s stood out to me is language.  Positive Adoption Language is a tool we’ve been given to help clear up common misconceptions about adoption.  I know what you’re thinking: good grief, MORE PC language!  I agree that we are inundated with mountains of ‘best practices’ when it comes to how we converse.  Yes, at times it’s really annoying.  We all want to speak without fear that we will be misunderstood, misinterpreted, labeled as close-minded or worse.   

Like it or not, the words we choose can have a huge effect on others. Personally, I think it has most significance where children are concerned. We are all guilty of speaking without thinking (I might have a gold medal in this event).  With a little education, I believe a few minor changes can be made in our language choices that will be hugely beneficial.  Check out this list, y’all.  Who would want anyone to refer to their child, or any child, using the terms on the right? NO ONE.

Positive Language	Negative Language
Birthparent	Real parent
Biological parent	Natural parent
Birth child	Own child
Born to unmarried parents	Illegitimate
Terminate parental rights	Give up
Make an adoption plan	Give away
To parent	To keep
Biological or birthfather	Real father
Parent	Adoptive parent
Child placed for adoption	An unwanted child
Court termination	Child taken away
Child with special needs	Handicapped child
Was adopted	Is adopted

*For a more extensive list, check out the Adoptive Families Magazine website, they have a great PDF with additional info.

A few of these terms are specifically ‘post adoption’.  For example: we are currently potential adoptive parents, but once we adopt we will be parents, period.  What a beautiful word - parents!  

Much love, 

Annie & KB

Prayer & Shakespeare

Since we made our big announcement, many of you have been asking how you can help us during this process.  Here are a few ways you can get involved:

1. Pray - I've said it before and I'll say it again - prayer is truly one of the most valuable gifts you can give us.  We have walked with friends on their adoption journey and now that we are finding our way on this road I can absolutely confirm that prayer is a tremendous gift.  We are so humbled and grateful when hear you’ve prayed for us.

Specifically, please pray for:

Strength & Patience

Pray that the Lord will strengthen our hearts for whatever lies ahead. Help us to know that even through delays and disappointments, the right time & child are out there.

Wisdom & Discernment

So that we may have confirmation of the decisions we will need to make.

The Birth Family

Pray for protection.  Pray for the choices they are making.  Pray that they too will have confirmation and peace in the decisions they are making.

2.  Listen - This is going to sound border-line crazy, so bear with me. There's a chance that one of YOU could know a woman/couple who needs an adoption plan for their baby.  I know that sounds unbelievable, but you wouldn't believe the amazing stories, GOD sized stories.  My sweet friend Lindsey was approached in the grocery store by a friend of hers who heard she was thinking about adoption, and happened to know a young woman who was looking for a couple to adopt her child.  Stories like Lindsey's are the tip of the iceberg.  Maybe you know of a situation you think we need to hear about - who knows what God might do...  Keep your ears peeled!

3. Give - A lot of folks aren't comfortable with adoption fundraising. As my friend Sam says, it's the co-sleeping/breast feeding issue of the adoptive world.  Boy is she right.  Who among us likes to ask for help? Here's what I know - God has given us the desire to adopt.  We trust him that this is the way he wants to grow our family - and our trust in him extends to our finances too.  Already in this process we've been blown away with how our own money has seemed to stretch a little further (which is a whole post in itself). That said, we are planning a fundraiser later in the winter (more details to come later) and we are accepting all donations though the Rock Bridge Foundation at our church, Brentwood Baptist.

If you'd like to contribute, you can do so online - be sure to choose 'adoption' under the designation dropdown and then email

bfowler@brentwoodbaptist.com, give her your name and tell her your contribution is for the Barnett family adoption fund.  We will only see names of people who have donated, not amounts. If you’re concerned with some part of this process, please let us or Bryce know and we will make sure your donation was processed correctly.  All donations are tax deductible.

You can also mail a check with a note that says "Barnett family adoption fund" to:

Brentwood Baptist Church
Rock Bridge Foundation
Attn: Bryce Fowler
7777 Concord Road
Brentwood, TN 37027

You’ve no idea what your involvement means to us.  Kindness, in any form, is never small and certainly doesn’t go unnoticed by us.  So in closing, I’ll put my theatre degree to work and borrow these words from Shakespeare.  I think he says it best, ‘I can no other answer make, but thanks, and thanks.’

Much love, 

Annie & KB

Dear Baby Barnett

This is what kind of Mom I plan to be… just wanted to get it out there now so it’s not a shock later.  Just remember: no matter what your Dad says, Mom’s the coolest.

Much love, 

Mom

Thank you!

Wow.  Just wow.  We are ever so grateful and humbled by the awesomely supportive and positive response we’ve received over the past 24 hours – high school & college friends, church friends and family, old friends and new, we TRULY thank you from the bottom of our hearts.  

Our cup runneth over.

Much love, 

Annie & KB

BIG news!

Many of you know that we’ve been hoping for a family of our own for quite a while now and have faced some complications along the way. We are so happy to announce that we have decided to adopt a baby!

We’ve completed our homestudy and are waiting for a birthmother to choose us to be her baby’s family.  Most likely we will bring our baby home from the hospital – although depending on the baby’s birth state we may have to stay for a week or so while the paperwork between our two states is finalized.

Our adoption will be semi-open at the very least, meaning that the birthmother will choose us and we will keep in touch through letters and photos after placement.  There’s no official ‘timeline’ in terms of a waiting period or when we can expect to bring our baby home – we could be chosen next week or it could take a year or so for the right birthmother to come along.  In the meantime, your prayers and support mean everything to us.  We are so thrilled to grow our family to three (or four?!?)We just can’t wait to introduce you all to baby Barnett.

Much love, 

Annie & KB