OK sorry for the late post… we have been VERY BUSY… to say the absolute least. I started back to work on Tuesday and the kids come on Monday. Our school is in the middle of a remodel so we have NO AIR. YEP you read it right…. NO AIR. I have big windows but who wants to open a window in the mid summer and we have had lots of rain lately and that just makes it swamp like. YUCK!!!! Anyways between getting my room ready oh and did I mention I have 24 students on my list. TWENTY FOUR!!!!! That is over the limit, the limit in 3rd grade is 22 BUT get this as a 3rd grade team (there are 4 of us that teach 3rd) we have to be over our limit for about a month before they will hire a new teacher. 2 of us are at 24, then Patti is at I think 22 or 23 (STILL AT THE LIMIT) and the new teacher is at 21. So the reason they make you wait is to make sure all of your students show up. I am almost certain one of my kids is NOT returning and at Meet the Teacher Night (YEP we had meet the teacher night with NO AIR) one of the moms told me that her son will only be here for the first 2 weeks. Let’s pray for a new teacher because even a class of 22 is large.

I am side stepping because this is FUNNY!!!!
During Meet the Teacher, we were all sweating… imagine about 16 people in my class, no air, dropping off supplies… the sweat was rolling off of everyone!!! Well, I was talking to one of my parents (did I mention that I have 9 siblings (I have had their brother or sister in the past) and 3 teacher kids) that I have had before and we were talking about her son well…. She was dripping with sweat and took both of her hands and wiped her face in an upward motion towards her forehead. OK imagine talking to her and she does this wipe the sweat thing and now where her eyebrows use to be are now smeared zig zagged lines of eyebrow pencil. She had wiped her eyebrows up her forehead. I was horrified… what do I say. I mean it looks like she put mascara on her eyelashes but continued it up her entire head. Her husband was with her so I kindly excused myself and left him with the duty to tell her about her missing ~ now spread up her forehead ~ eyebrows. All of my school family (close friends that work with me) think that story is hilarious… I agree. BLESS HER HEART!!!

OK now to what you are probably waiting for… OUR VISIT with the birth mom.
Let me back track. I must admit I had terrible thoughts of her being ogre like and maybe have a 6th grade level of education, thoughts of her not going to the dr. and maybe smoked… who knows… I am telling you I set my expectations real high. I was so amazingly surprised and relieved to have walked up to Olive Garden and not see Shrek’s wife. Her name is Jenna and she is so cute and tiny. I was so excited to see she was exactly the opposite of what I was expecting. Jenna is wonderful. She has brown hair and brown eyes and she is VERY PETITE. Needless to say she is perfect. I guess I didn't set my expectations high so I wouldn't be dissappointed BUT Jenna is a dream come true.

I will tell you now that I will leave some and probably most of the details out because it is not appropriate, nor do I feel comfortable, about telling all the details. Some things we will keep to ourselves… just because. Don’t feel left out I am going to share enough BUT for the privacy of Jenna and her family and Drew we feel this is best.

BACK TO THE MOMENT of relief. She is very petite and all baby. Will we met at Olive Garden, her choice. We brought Jan (our adoption social worker) and she brought her mom and her case worker, Melinda, who also works with our agency. It was a nice lunch and we talked a lot. Jenna’s mom sat by me and shared a family photo album. That was nice. The more we talked and shared the more I realized how truly blessed we are to have Jenna. Jenna is in her early 20s and is very articulate. She loves to read and write poetry. Jenna is what I like to call granola.. very earthy and natural. She loves animals and the #1 reason she picked us is because we love our dogs like they are our kids. #2 was I am a teacher and #3 was I love celebrating ALL holidays #4 we have a large family that celebrates with us. After Drew is born she plans on returning to college to pursue a degree in forensics. She is NO dummy. We just fell in love with her. She is very direct and very open and honest. After Olive Garden, we went back to the agency to talk some more and met her grandpa. Her mom and grandpa are so sweet and asked us a few questions. Jenna let me touch her belly and told me she would email me her ultrasound pictures. WHICH SHE DID!!! They really like the name we picked out and we are even invited into the delivery room. Our entire family is invited to the hospital. Jenna has been going to the dr. since the very beginning… she doesn’t do anything to harm herself or the baby and even cut out a lot of sugar because of a high sugar count at the beginning. Anyways ~ we talked a little more found out some real neat connections like where her family originates and we even share some family names (that was strange have about 3 names in common with same relationships) For example, if her uncle was a John my Uncle is also John.) (this is a part that we won’t go into detail BUT believe me it was really neat). Jan said when you meet the mother of your child you will know and this was a sign. Well I think that is about it. She goes to the dr. Tuesday and will probably be given an induction date for the next week. SOOOO who knows. All we know is that we have been truly blessed to have been given Jenna as our birth mom. We thank you ALL for your continued support and caring words. WE LOVE YOU ALL!!!! Who Knows our next post could be WE ARE PARENTS!!! Aghh that reminds me I still need to hang shelves and paint a dresser .. OK BYE!!!