birthday girl

so here is our girl: sweet and silly! we love her more than words can say.  she loves snuggley hugs, twinkle twinkle little star, pinwheels, balloons, dancing, swinging, patty-cake, and playing with her big brother's toys. 

big brother

so everyone has asked how elijah is adjusting to being a big brother and the answer is....

better than we ever imagined!  he just loves his sister.  he will introduce her to anyone and make sure they know she is HIS sister.  i think the only problem we have had so far is a little over enthusiasm.  and by that i mean too tight hugs and a little too much in-her-face talking (or maybe shouting).  but he is just so sweet about it, it's hard to correct him.  after some correcting, he does seem to be getting it, so that's good.  he sings to her, holds her, and wants to teach her sign language (right now) so she can talk to him.  in case you don't quite believe what a blessing we have had in zoe and in elijah's reaction to her, here's a picture and an elijah quote from this week that made me tear up:

(after they were "talking" and zoe gave him a big smile) "she loves me! i think she is the lovey-ist sister in the whole world.  i waited soooo long for God to bring her to me.  He made her just for us." amen sweet boy, amen. 

Zoe Grace

So, wow, it has been a year since the last post-sorry folks!  Will try to be a little better moving forward.  Several people have requested Zoe's story, so here it is:  

On March 4th, after 2.5 years of waiting, 1.5 years of being "approved and waiting", and a failed placement, we got THE phone call from our caseworker, Megan.  A little girl had been born that morning in Ft Worth (where our agency was located) and her mother wanted to place her for adoption.  The details were even stranger.  The birthmom went to the ER complaining of cramps.  The Drs asked is she could possibly be pregnant.  She said that it was possible, but not very.  They thought they were dealing with a miscarriage, but after some tests, realized that there was a baby on its way into the world.  Now, the official hospital paperwork has our daughter’s conception date in Jan 2013?!  Once the bmom realized she was going to have a baby, she said she just couldn’t do it, and the hospital called our adoption agency.  They got a caseworker over to her right away, assessed her dedication to placing the baby for adoption, and realized she wasn’t just panicking, but serious.  So they started gathering as much info as they could and told her they would get some profiles over for her to look at right away so she could choose a family.  She said she had no idea how to choose and that the agency should just choose one for her.  So we got the call!  Our caseworker called and told us the situation, asked us to consider it, but that she needed an answer very soon, because the baby needed a family before the mother signed her relinquishment paperwork (which in TX is at 48hrs after the baby is born).  

As a side note, since last June I have really felt the pressing need to be praying for our birthmom and baby, for their safety, protection, and growth for the baby. Specifically we have been praying a verse from Jeremiah (29:11), "For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." Now I know who I had been prompted to pray for, a mother who did not know she was pregnant and a baby not being noticed.  Most likely our baby girl was conceived in June-thanks God!  

After THE phone call we prayed hard, it was so soon after loosing the other baby (the failed placement), there were some birthmom medical issues to consider, and this baby had had no prenatal care.  At first, there was panic, the kind not from God.  As we continued to pray we realized God is bigger.  He is bigger than no prenatal care and bigger than any medical issue.  So we said yes.  Then we waited the longest 48hrs EVER, praying for the baby’s health and safety, and that we would know God’s will for our family.  After our "yes" the caseworker showed the bmom our profile and she was super excited about our family and that Zoe would have a big brother.  Her only concern was would I know what to do with the baby's hair (a valid concern, but I promise I'm researching it!).  We were thankful that she had the opportunity to see a little big about us. 

 On March 6^th, we headed to Fort Worth, still praying that the bmom word sign her relinquishment papers and cautiously excited that we would be coming home with a baby!  She also did not want to name the baby and was fine putting our name of choice on the birth certificate.  Late that night, after lots of paperwork, some happy tears, and probably thousands of phone calls and texts-including the "guess where I am and who I'm holding" ones to our parents and siblings, we were home with our sweet Zoe Grace. 

 The next day we went to preschool to pick up our son and introduce him to his sister.  He had stayed with a friend-we are so thankful to still have the Mezgers in our lives!-overnight so we could make the trip.  He was shy and hesitant about meeting her at first and then had two questions, 1) where will she sleep (the room next to yours that we just painted, in the crib you and daddy built) and 2)do we get to keep her forever.  Yes, sweet boy, forever and ever.  Since that moment, he will introduce her to anyone who will listen, “this is my little sister, zoe, and we love her.”  To add to the blessing of a new child in our family, our son has turned out to be the kindest, most protective big brother.  We are truly blessed with the family God wanted us to have. 

matching

someone realized that his new jammies match some undies he already owned and was SO excited.  he found the matching undies this morning and i assumed he wanted to wear them.  silly mommy, no. he found other undies to wear and then found paddington and asked that i help get "monster undies" onto the bear.  in defense of elijah's silliness, paddington has been wearing undies on and off since we started potty training.  as a side note, i am not crazy about the monster print in general (the undies came in a multi-pack and the jammies were the right size and less than a dollar at a thrift store).  looks like i'll be seeing the matched pair a lot, as excited as our little guy was.  anyways, he was too cute and he knew it. he even asked if i could take a picture of them together on the couch.  what mom with a new camera could turn down that opportunity?

adoption

so you may have wondered where we disappeared to.  well, we are doing our best to get a new kiddo, which has proven quite an undertaking.  also, we realized that our blog can be googled.  what?! you may be asking (i know we were).  that blog we created so as not to put all our private stories, info, and photos all over facebook or you tube is searchable?!  yep.  by. just. our. three. first. names.  we thought with the settings we chose it was totally private.  we're not sure if those setting ran out, or what.  christof has reset everything, but you can still find us.  just know if we suddenly disappear, we will be in contact about a new blog soon.  if anyone knows how to really, really make something private, please email me or christof.  thanks.

in other news, we are officially approved and waiting, which means as soon as our profile (scrapbook) is printed, we wait for a birthmom to choose us.  the wait-it could be 2 months, it could be 18, no one knows.   our case manager really liked our profile, except she said it needed a few more recent photos of just the two of us.  obviously she does not have kids as it is impossible to get grown-up pictures until your kids can take them ;).  so our good friend melissa took a night to come over and be our photographer.  thank you thank you, melissa, we know you had a million other things to do.

fun in the mud

it rained! in Austin!  .3in, but we'll take what we can get.  and, it was enough to make a small mud puddle in our backyard.  so after dinner we went outside to check it out, but couldn't resist jumping in.  he was SO dirty we hosed him off before he came in for a bath.  for more dirty toddler pictures, see the photos section.

elijah's wit continues

every once in a while elijah says something totally witty that just makes us laugh.  most currently this happened last night.  we have been trying to teach him his "whole name" and mommy and daddy's names.  i asked him what his name was and he said, "elijah hamm".  "what's daddy's name?" i asked. he replied, "christof hamm".  good, good.  "what's mommy's name?" i made the mistake of asking-and probably trying his answering patience. "mommy's name is emily turkey" followed but unstoppable giggles and snickers (both from the toddler and his daddy).  he is just too sassy and smart for his own good sometimes!