iPhone

William finally got his iphone!!!! So after months, and months...and months of hearing about all the magical things that the iPhone can do, William now has it.

I was telling him about the long lines, and having to sleep overnight in front of an apple store to get one, but he ended up walking into the mall and getting his phone in about 15 minutes last night. He had already programed everything on his apple laptop, so all he had to do was plug in the phone and download everything. So within about 20 minutes he was calling people and telling everyone that they were talking on his new phone.

That night after William was done testing every feature on the phone, William gave me a quick seminar of all the cool features it has. In the end, all I grasped was that it is a touch pad, my picture will show up when I call him, it has a quick link to YOUTUBE, he can check his e-mail, play music and movies...and I AM NEVER EVER TO TOUCH IT. (Joke - I can touch it, but I probably won't. LOL)

I am amazed that the directions for the iphone are still in the box, and that William just naturally knows how to do all of this "technical" stuff.

I on the other hand still cant work our TV remote control when William is out of town!!!

Best,
JOHN

New York was a blast!!!!

As William mentioned in one of the earlier blog entrys, William took me to New York city for my birthday this year. It was so much fun!! We walked all over the city, and ate at some many great places. My favorite was a new restaurant called PUBLIC (www.public-nyc.com). It is in the Soho area of the city, and if there ever was a perfect restaurant this is it. The theme is something between that of a public library meets a community prep school. I LOVED IT. We had brunch there, and I could have stayed all day. (check out more of the pictures on their website)

We saw the play Spring Awakening (www.springawakening.com). This play has now become my favorite musical. I didn't think any play could beat RENT, but this is it. This musical has won 8 tony awards and won best musical. The music was written by Duncan Shiek. He had a hit about 5 years ago called "Barely Breathing." I have still been following him, and buying his later albums. I think he performs some really great songs. I could definitely hear his voice throughout the musical. I will let you discover the musical on their website if you wish, but I am telling you...find a way too see this musical!!!

William and I had a great time with my parents. We arrived on Thursday, and they arrived on Friday. It was my mother's first time visiting New York city. Amoung other things, we took a few great, long walks through central park (which was right near our hotel). Obviously, we have adoption and "baby on the mind," and we started counting the Bugaboos (www.bugaboo.com) and other strollers in the park. I counted around 35 in about 30 minutes. Lots of color combos and we saw one with a tiny umbrella for the kids. By the way, Bugaboo has a new stroller out called Bugaboo Bee. It is a collapsible stroller, easy for in and out of the car. Although we love our stroller, I'm still very interested to see how we manage to get it in and out of the car. William and I cant wait until we adopt, and get to take our little one to a park, just have a lazy day of playing, smiling, and laughing!

Speaking of being outside, the weather was perfect while we were there. The last time we were in the city in June it was quite hot, but this year it was great. About 70-80 degrees with a nice breeze. My parents really seemed to enjoy themselves. My mother loved the park. She also thought Times Square was amazing with all the people. Times square is the quintesential picture of the hustle and bustle that is New York City.

OK, so here is my funny "dad in NY story." My dad wanted to show my mother the Trump Tower....here goes...

Upon arriving at the Trump Tower William is the first to walk into the revolving doors...so William has pushed the glass revolving doors and the whole things starts to move. William is then inside the glass revolving door and still pushing forward so he can exit. What is supposed to happen next, is the next person in line waits for the next section of the door to come around and then he gets in and pushes the glass as the whole thing revolves. The first person then exits...you all know the drill. SO, my dad was standing too close to the back of William. (I am behind my dad) My dad gets wedged into the revolving door, half way in with William, and half way into the next revolving area he should have been in. So, we have William, and the people coming out of the building pushing the door, and my dad is getting more and more wedged in the door. I am behind my dad wondering how this has happened? The only thing I can think to do is push my dad forward into Williams revolving area, for fear that if William and the others keeps pushing they will end up crushing my dad. After pushing my dad forward he smacks into the back of William, who gets freaked out because he then gets pushed up against the glass wondering why my dad is in the same revolving space that he is. Then I go through the revolving doors like normal laughing my head off. William is still dazed and has no idea what just happened. My dad acts like that is his usual way of entering revolving doors. I then gave a 5 minute lecture to my mom and dad about how revolving doors work, and that you have to wait for person in front of you to get moving / out, before you can enter. For the rest of the trip William decided to avoid revolving doors as much as possible.


Here is the picture of the revolving door. Mr. Trump is lucky, if not for my lighting fast reflexes he could have been sued!!!

We had an amazing time, and it was the perfect birthday present from William.

Best,
JOHN

A trip to New England.

It had been a little while since I had made it home, so I took a trip back to New England and visited with family and friends. First, I flew into Cape Cod, Massachusets where I got to see A LOT of my family. I actually got to see some of my aunts who I hadn't seen in over a year. Needless to say, it was great to see them. They all asked about how the adoption process was going. They all seemed surprised that we're still searching for a birthmother, but I assured them that when our time comes it will come. Hopefully sooner than later!

After the Cape I went on to visit some family friends in New Hampshire. I also hadn't seen them for sometime. I first met them whe I was attending boarding school in Dublin (www.dublinschool.org). One of my close school friends was a girl by the name of Sierra, and over time I essentially adopted her entire family as my own. After college I actually moved back to New Hampshire and lived with them for a little while. I got a job, and spent the rest of my time as a mentor to Sierra's little brother (Jesse). For years I have called Jesse "my psuedo little brother." He, and his other sister Sasha, have really grown up so much over the last few years. I'm so proud of them both!

After New Hampshire I drove to Maine to visit with my parents. My Dad and stepmother still live on an a little island off the coast of Maine. It's always great to see them, and the island is such a neat place. There are only 600 year round residents! There are no big grocery stores - just a couple of local markets, and a restaurant that's part of an Inn. This time of year all the summer people come to the island. This increases the population to about 2000, which drives my parents crazy. They really like the pace fo the island, so when the "summer people" come and try to, in some cases litterally, speed things up they get pretty annoyed.

I was there most of the week, and it was pretty low key. We did take my dad's boat our for a quick trip around some of the surrounding islands, and then over to the main land to grab a bite to eat. Not only do I enjoy being on the boat, but seeing my dad - who LOVES being on boats - enjoy himself is great too. Basically, when he's on the boat he's happy no matter what's going on. I can't wait until we have a baby and he, or she, is old enough to go on the boat. Here's a picture of my dad and I in the yard.

Visiting my mom and stepfather was also great. They are both doing well and staying busy with one thing or another. A couple years ago my mother started volunteering for a group that supports gay youth in the MidCoast Maine area. She really enjoys it, and is now the group counselor. She invited me to their weekly group meeting. I was REALLY impressed by the youth members that were there. At this particular meeting there was a radio host there interviewing my mother and the youth about some of the challenges of being a young GLBT person in rural Maine. Everyone did a great job, but I was particularly impressed with how well spoken the youth members were. It was clear that they had put a lot of thought in to the world around them, and what needs to be done so people can accept people for who they are. I have no doubt that they will be leaders wherever they end up!

My mom's house was the last stop on my trip. John wasn't able to join me on this trip - so at this point I was really ready to get home and see him (and the rest of my Atlanta friends and family). It's always fun to travel and see friends and family - but it's also always great to get back home!

Thanks for reading!
~W

G-diaper update

For those of you who have read most of the blog you are familiar with the G-diaper (www.gdiapers.com). For those of you that aren't, I'd encourage you to read the blog, BUT essentially they are diapers that are a cross between a cloth diaper and disposable diaper. I'm happy to report that Gdiaper recently expanded it's product line to include diapers that are not only solid colors, but also diapers that have pretty patterns (such as girly girl swirl, and Gone Hawaiian). Needless to say - when our baby comes he, or she, will have more then just solid colors to wear.

~W

NYC Here we come... again

Just wanted to put a few updates on our blog. William and I are meeting my parents in NYC in June!!!! We cant wait. We are going to take them to a broadway show, do some eating and soome shopping!!!! Very exciting. William and I are going to be there for four days, and my parents are going to join us for the last two. It's the first time my mom has been there and we're very excited to show her all the exciting places that we love. We're going to see the broadway show Spring Awakening (www.springawakening.com). It's recieved great reviews and the music was written by Duncan Sheik.

My parents also report that they have been baby sitting my cousin baby Cambell recently, and my mother told me that of all things she loves to play with the tupperware. William says that when he was a baby he used to love to play with rocks... so I guess flashy toys don't always win!

~JOHN

Modern baby furniture??? Maybe not this modern...

Along the same lines as yesterdays post - today's search for baby furniture brought me to an interesting furniture maker from the Netherlands called Piet Hein Eek (www.pietheineek.com). PHE uses reclaimed wood for all of their furniture pieces. They hand select each piece of wood to make original one of a kind furniture. I usually think that time consuming, hand made goods are better then most but I'm not sure this time. When I showed these pictures to a couple of my our friends the first thing out of their mouth was "splinters."

I guess I can appreciate the aesthetic value of these unique pieces, but I don't think we'll be buying these pieces for our future child.

JOHN

Gold Stroller

Since we've been in the adoption process (currently we're searching for a birthmother) I've become accustomed to keeping an eye out for interesting baby items. I figure, if we buy a baby item here or there... it can't hurt. I had heard about this baby stroller made by Mamas and Papas from a friend of mine. It is a limited edition all gold stroller. There was only ten of these made, and I think Stella McCartney and Gwen Stafani each have them. I was worried about showing this to William, as I figured I would then be highly encouraged to track down the remaining eight strollers and buy one. Luckily, he didn’t think it was quite as cool as I did! Plus, we already have an amazing stroller... so I guess we don't need two.

JOHN

Nike+

Among the many, great gifts that I received this holiday season my favorite was the Nike + iTunes set (http://www.nikeplus.com/). The set included a pair of Nike+ sneakers, the Nike+ sensor kit, and a new iPod Nano (www.apple.com/ipodnano). I've had an iPod for sometime, but the Nike+ system only works on the Nano, so John had to get me another one for it all to work. For those of you who are not familiar with the Nike+ system it's a really interesting system that sends information from your shoes (as you run / walk / or both) to your Nano. The iPod then tracks all the information - how fast, far, often, etc that you run. This is interesting enough, but the best part is that all that information is loaded in to the Nike+ website where it charts all of your activity. The website also has features which allow you to set and track goals, meet other runners, and challenge the runners you meet to contests/races that are instantly tracked by the website. Needless to say that I have become completely obsessed with this. I have joined about five different challenges, and am happy to say that I am in the first or second place in three of them, and in the top five of the other two. I check the website constantly (that might be a little of an exaggeration) to see my standing in the races. I have also managed to run almost every day since I received Nike+ as a gift. So... with any luck when we finally adopt our baby I'll not only be able to set a good example (exercise is a good thing - LOL) but I'll also be a little bit healthier too!

~W

Picture of John

I thought I'd share this picture of John... I love it. I took this picture the other night while he was waiting for me to get ready to go to dinner with some friends. I got a new camera for Christmas, so anytime I see a shot that I think looks good I snap it. I think this picture is very "modelesque." Yes, he looks a little serious... but I think that adds to its feel. LOL

~W

Interesting Christmas gift - a better future

Every holiday season I face the same daunting task: buying gifts for people who already have everything they want (or are just really picky - LOL). Normally John is one of the more difficult people to buy for, but he was very easy this year. He's been looking at a specific piece of Gucci luggage (www.gucci.com) for about a month now - so this year he was the easiest to buy for. For some reason, this holiday season, I couldn't settle on the perfect gift for my stepmother, Susan. Just like the rest of our family, Susan is an amazing person. Intelligent, kind, caring, and thoughtful are just a few of the adjectives I would use to describe her. She reads quite a bit so I thought perhaps a good book would be the best choice, but that I realized that with the quantity of books she reads my chances of sending her a book she hasn't read are fairly low. In the past I've sent various gift baskets with various edible goodies, but for the last few years they have taken to going on a 20 plus day cruise in January... so I figured if I sent food there was a high risk that it would spoil while my parents were traveling. She speaks highly of the various spa treatments on the cruise line (www.princess.com) so I did entertain the idea of purchasing an on-board credit for them... but that became a little bit of a logistical nightmare, so that idea was cancelled as well.

Then, it finally came to me. I should point out that part of her amazing persona is her passion for politics and environmental causes. I to my favorite online search engine (www.dogpile.com) and typed in the simple phrase "save the rain forest." I was happy to find about seven sites that boasted the opportunity to "save the rain forest, by paying to preserve one acre at a time." I looked through the various sites, and then double checked a few other sites to ensure that I wasn't buying into a scam. I finally settled on purchasing an acre in Susan's honor from the STARO (Save The Amazon Rainforest Organization). I picked STARO (www.staro.com) because it appeared to me to be much more personal then the other organizations.

So, I purchased an acre of rain forest for her. I think she'll like it... and I feel like my gift is a little more special then the other things I might have given her. Whether you buy into the global warming issue or not - I've always believed that it just can't be a good thing to cut down all the trees! Plus, you get a neat full color certificate.

Thanks for reading!

~W

Busy.. still here.. still searching... Happy Holidays!

Here it is a couple days before Christmas, and I haven't even written a blog about Thanksgiving yet!! So, I guess I should start this blog by appologizing to everyone who reads this. I will try my best not to let so much time pass between posts.

It's turned out that in addition to seeing lots of old friends and family that live a far, this is a great time to spread the word of our search for a birthmother. Over the last three weeks I've been to what seems like hundreds (although I'm sure it's probably more like five or six) holiday parties. It's been so great to see people who I haven't had the chance to see in such a long time - plus meet lots of new people who've come into our circle of friends and co-workers throughout the last year. I think over the last couple of weeks I have talked to about 50 new people about our want to adopt. I continue to be happily surprised with how much support people have in our adoption search. People always seem genuinely interested in the steps we've taken so far. Our website (www.kinnanepetersen.com) has had a lot of traffic lately - so I think the people we've been talking to recently have been taking the time to review our website. The more people that know the better. Adoption is a truly amazing thing - and the thought that one of the people we just met might being a person that ends up referring us to a possible birthmother is really exciting!

Anyway, I have to get out and do some last minute holiday shopping. I'll try and write more soon. In case we don't talk to you before - HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!!!

~W

A trip to New York city

As many of you know John and I LOVE New York city. So, when my company decided to have a departmental summit in Times Square John and I decided to extend my stay by a few days and get in some good shopping and some great dining. It's been a few months since either of us had been there so we were excited to see some of the new shops and restaurants we'd read about. My summit was a one a half day event. We arrived on Wednesday and the summit finished at about 5 pm. John wasn't due to arrive in the city until the next morning, so knowing that John doesn't love most Asian food, a couple of my friends and I arranged to go to Tao (www.taorestaurant.com). Tao was great, and in retrospect I think John would have really enjoyed it as well. The environment was almost surreal - very modern, great lighting, and a giant Buddha in the middle of the room with a water fountain at it's base. One of the center tables had a giant glass top which was held up with a tub full of water, rose petals, and floating candles. Needless to say it was extremely beautiful. The food was good too - we had a sampling of sushi and various other Asian dishes. The sushi was among the best I've ever had.

On Thursday John took a mid morning flight and spent most of the day shopping by himself. The summit wasn't due to end until 3:00 pm, and par the usual it ran a little over. By four o'clock I finally made it out of the summit and made my way to the W Hotel Union Square (www.whotels.com) - where John and I were spending the rest of the weekend. I really enjoy most of the W Hotels. They have a very modern feel, nice bathrooms, and great service. Anyway, we checked in to our room and about two minutes later John's cousin's wife, Jessica called us. Jessica was in the city for an interview so we got to meet up with her. We didn't finalize our plans until about a week before the summit, so Jessica didn't have a chance to change her flight, but she did have just enough time to meet with us for about an hour. It was great to see her! She said that her interview had gone pretty well, and as it turns out the company made the right decision, because about three days later we got a call saying she'd got the job (congratulations!!!!). Naturally, a lot of our discussion involved our plans to adopt. Everyone, including Jessica, is curious as to how are search is going. We can't wait for the day that we can tell her (and everyone else) that we're matched and going to have a baby in the house soon!

Thursday night John and I went to Craft (www.craftrestaurant.com). My friend John-Paul had read about it. It was decent, but not great. They had somehow misplaced our reservation, but since we were eating fairly early they we're able to fit us in. The food was pleasant, and the environment was nice - but I have to admit that we probably won't go there again. Not only was it over priced (which is to be expected of a lot of NYC restaurants) but the service really was lacking. If the food had been amazing it might have made up for it. Alas, the food was just good and didn't make up for there inability to provide friendly service. It was very close to our hotel... which was a definite plus.

John had managed to get to most of SOHO on Thursday so we spent much of Friday shopping on 5th Ave, or Madison Ave. It was great. Not only are the shops great, but it's amazing to see the thousands of people that are there. If you haven't been to NYC before then you might not really be aware of what the term "melting pot" means. You figure out what it means very quickly in NYC. The people on the streets of NYC are from everywhere. Every state, every city, every country.

At some point on Friday I started to realize that I was coming down with a cold. I should make a point of saying that I NEVER get sick. I really, don't. I mean, yes I get the occasional upset stomach from eating the wrong thing... but I really don't get colds, or the flu, or anything like that. In fact, I've never even had a headache... although I'm told that I'm not missing anything. Anyway, since I never get sick I'm acutely aware when my body isn't working the way it should. Being that it was cold, and I was in the middle of million people on the streets of New York, I should have told John that I wasn't feeling well, and gone back to the hotel to rest. Well, I didn't. I was having too much fun in the city, and decided that it was just the beginning of cold and I'd be fine.

Friday night we went to see a off Broadway musical called The Evil Dead (www.evildeadthemusical.net). For those of you that are 80's film buffs you've probably heard of this before. It was a not so great movie about a man and his friends who discover a book that releases deadly spirits into the world that they later decided to turn in to a musical comedy. It ended up being very funny. Before the show we ended up going to dinner at this great, little, hole in the wall, French restaurant called Chez Napoleon (www.cheznapoleon.com). It had maybe eight tables. When we walked in most of the tables were empty, and the French bar tender asked if we had a reservation. We said "no", and he rolled his eyes. He asked us if we had a show to go to and after we said "yes" he rolled his eyes again and said he could probably fit us in. He showed us to a small table next to the door. John had decided that he wanted pasta, and this being a true French restaurant there wasn't a pasta dish to be found. He ended up ordering the Cornish hen, and I had duck l'orange. I loved it, and John found it acceptable. The entire staff was French, so that added to the authenticity.

When we woke up Saturday morning, I new I was very sick. Even though I had slept the entire night I felt exhausted - BUT being that we were in New York city I rallied and John and I went to breakfast at The Mercer Kitchen (www.mercerhotel.com). The Mercer Kitchen is the restaurant in the Mercer hotel. John went there once several years ago.... and we've made it a point to have breakfast there every time we've gone to NYC together. We essentially order everything on the menu - and leave completely stuffed. It's SO good! Unfortunately, by the end of breakfast I was exhausted... but again I managed to continue on with only a little complaining. We spent the rest of the day shopping in SOHO.

Saturday evening we flew back to Atlanta. My friend John-Paul from work was on the same flight, so it was fun to hear about his time in the city. He's spent a considerable amount of time in New York, so he has several friends who live there. It was great to hear his stories of the city - he always manages to have an exciting time. By this time my cold had taken over.. and I managed to spend the next several days in bed recovering. I guess, I've learned my lesson.

John and I have made many plans of trips with our future child. Although this trip was more of shopping and eating trip, there are so many great museums in the city. The last time we were in NYC we spent half the day in the Museum of Modern Art (www.moma.org). The city has so much to show children! I think there are literally 6 children's museums in Manhattan alone. It goes without saying that we won't be without fun, educational, places to take our child.

~W

John's best friend's wedding

On October 12th John and I flew to Omaha to attend Josh & Katie's wedding. John was the best man which proved to be lots of fun because we were invited to all the fun stuff that's only for the wedding party and close relatives (rehearsal dinner, breakfast, etc). The wedding was beautiful... and fun. So many great people. When I say "great" I mean "GREAT!" Ever single person I met was genuine, honest, and caring. I think it speaks volumes to the kind of people Josh and Katie are. Birds of a feather flock together - and clearly this wedding party was no exception.

Although I feel as though I've known Josh and Katie for years, it was actually the first time that I'd had the chance to meet them in person. I've heard so many "Josh" stories that at times I forget that he wasn't at my college. LOL The night we arrived was Katie's bachelorette party, so we invited Josh to have dinner with us and John's parents. It was a nice, little, Italian restaurant called Vivace (www.vivaceomaha.com). Being that it was two days before his wedding, I assumed that he'd be a little nervous - but he was not the nervous groom. He was clearly completely confident in his decision to marry Katie.

I met Katie the next night at the wedding rehearsal. I had seen pictures of her from their college years, and John has always described her as beautiful, but she was truly stunning. Again, I guess I assumed that like most brides to be that I've known she'd be running around the church like a mad woman... clearly frazzled and and the verge of a nervous break down. Well, not Katie. She was dressed wonderfully, completely poised, and although she clearly had a check list of things she need to accomplish, she went from task to task with a smile on her face and appeared to do it all without the standard panicked sense of urgency you might expect. As you might imagine we didn't get a lot of time to talk until the rehearsal dinner. They had the reception dinner at another great Italian restaurant called Lo Sole Mio (www.losolemio.com). The food was very good. Although I can't remember what it was called, I had a chicken and pasta dish that was very good... and the portions we're huge. My plate alone could have served at least three people! Anyway, during the rehearsal dinner I had the chance to talk to Katie - as I expected she was an intelligent, thoughtful person.

It was abundantly clear that Josh and Katie were perfect together. Which is a good thing since they have been dating for something like 15 years. Essentially, every speech had some sort of crack at how they had been together for a "long, long, long" time. When you think about it, they have actually dated almost twice as long as the average marriage lasts these days. I think many people would be envious of a relationship that has so much love and passion that 15 years into it they still have the want to celebrate their love for eachother.

The wedding went off without a hitch (or at least if there were any issues I couldn't tell). John had been a little nervous about the speech he had to give, but he proved to be a great orator as his speech was received very well. He didn't trip over any of his words - and most importantly, people laughed when they were supposed to!

The rest of the weekend involved us meeting up with what ended up being essentially all of his Omaha family and friends. Among others we got the chance to see his cousin Matt run, and qualify for state. I was very impressed. On Sunday, before we returned to Atlanta his parents had his grandparents, uncles, aunts, cousins and second cousins over. There must have been twenty people. I think everyone had a blast. Two of John's cousins Max & Scout had everyone playing this timed game where you have to try and put as many plastic shapes into their respective holes as possible before the time runs out. It was great to see almost everyone participating and competing. Scout (the youngest person playing the game) holds the record at 14 pieces placed within the given time. Yet another example of how age doesn't always hold an advantage!

As you might imagine, through out the weekend there was lots of discussion about our want to adopt and our respective search for a birthmother. John's parents are doing a good job networking. I think every member of the family asked us how our search is going and offered to continue to help. I was also surprised by how many of the people at the wedding asked us about adoption. Word really does spread quickly (plus, we always bring it up if people don't ask - LOL). It's great to know that we have so much support in John's home town. The number of babies and toddlers that were present at the wedding was really amazing. Of course, John and I had to make sure that we introduced ourselves to all of them!!! So much fun!

~W

A BIG thank you

If you've read other posts in our blog, or visited our adoption website (www.kinnanepetersen.com) you may have noticed that the open adoption process involves a "search" for a birthmother. One of the most important ways that we are "searching" for our birthmother is through our friends and family. The IAC (www.adoptionhelp.org) tells us that over 10% of birthmother matches come from knowing someone that knows someone who is considering placing their child. A story we hear over and over again is about a couple who had been waiting several years to match with a birthmother. They were just about to give up on the process when their hair dresser - who they had previously told they were looking to adopt - called them and said that "one of her clients daughters was considering adoption" and that she'd "like to give their names to her." Well, you guessed it - about two weeks later they matched with their hairdresser's client's daughter. At first I assumed this was a once in a life time event, but it turns out things like that happen quite often. Last month four perspective adoptive parents at our agency matched because of a "network referral" - aka an adoptive couple who knows someone, who knows someone who is considering placing their child.

So, at the suggestion of the IAC we A) told everyone - and I mean everyone - we know that we're trying to adopt, and b) we try to keep everyone up to date by sending emails (about once a month) reminding them that we are still trying to adopt and that if they hear anything to please let us know.

At this point you might be wondering why I titled this entry as "a BIG thank you." Well, I chose that title because in the months that we've been searching for a birthmother it's become even more clear that our friends and family are among the most caring, and amazing people on the planet. I had expected that our adoption plans would be accepted well with our family and friends. I had expected that they would keep their ears and eyes open for birthmothers. I never expected the extent that so many of them would go to help spread the word. From what I gather it looks like our original adoption announcement (that we sent out to about 50 people) has now been forwarded to over 1000 people. From talking to our mothers it sounds like they haven't had a conversation in the last four months that hasn't involved at least a small discussion about how their son and his partner are looking for a birthmother.

The list goes on and on - so many of our friends have done so many great things to help spread the word, and further our efforts to find the perfect birthmother. There is one friend who has truly gone above and beyond. Our friend Bridget, who I first met in high school, constantly amazes me with her willingness to do so many amazing things. Not only was she the first person to forward our email on to others, but later she amazed us by regularly sending out an announcement on her MySpace page to all of her 124 linked friends asking them to look for potential birthmothers. Recently she actually started a web group called "William and John should be daddies." If that wasn't enough, when we actually went to the web page to see what was going on with our newly inaugurated group we discovered that it already had 57 members!

The fact that everyone, and Bridget especially, has done so much to help us makes us so proud. It's amazing for us to get so much proof that our friends and family not only think we'll make great parents, but also care enough to help us in our search for a birthmother.

THANK YOU TO EVERYONE FOR HELPING US!!! We know that with your help we'll have the family we've dreamed of very soon!

~W

Traditions

A recent conversation that I had lead me to think about some of the traditions that we'd like to have in our new family. Many of the traditions that come to mind involve some kind of holiday. Growing up Christmas had lots of traditions - and we hope to continue at least some of them with our future child.

The Christmas traditions started in the beginning of December. Every year my mom would purchase an advent calendar - one of those "count down to Christmas" calendars with little doors that open. Every night, after dinner, my mother would take the calendar off the wall and I would carefully open the door to see what was behind it. Most of the time the little door would reveal little pieces of chocolate shaped like Christmas trees, presents, etc. I loved it! Occasionally, I'd try and convince my mom to let me open up other days as well. I guess she new that opening up other days would ruin the fun because - as I recall - I can't remember her ever letting me open up an extra day.

One Christmas tradition I don't think we'll be able to continue (at least not in Atlanta) involved picking the Christmas tree. As I think I've mentioned before, I grew up in a rural part of Maine, and my back yard was literally acres, and acres of Christmas trees. Every year my parents and I would put on our snow suits and trek out into the woods to find the perfect tree. When I say perfect, I mean perfect. It usually took hours. I'm probably exaggerating, but as a child it sometimes felt like we walked miles. We'd spot a tree that looked good. Make a mental not of it, and then move on to see if we could find a better one. Then, when we'd seen so many trees we could hardly remember the first we'd decided - as a group - which tree was the best. We'd hike back to the chosen tree (through the snow) and my dad would cut down the tree. Then we would all work together to carry the tree back to the house. This was often a difficult task because not only we're we usually fairly far from the house, but we were also trekking through a foot of snow. After we got the tree into the house, and onto it's stand, we'd all sit down and have a nice, warm cup of hot chocolate. Unfortunately, I don't think we'll be able to recreate this tradition in Atlanta. First - no snow. Second - I doubt that the city of Atlanta would appreciate us cutting down trees in the park. hahaha

Perhaps one of our favorite traditions is the actual decoration of the Christmas tree. Later the same night that we cut down the tree we'd all work together to decorate the tree. All of our Christmas decorations were kept in an ancient, wooden box. Every year, my mom would un-pack the box one ornament at a time. A lot of the ornaments actually doubled as family heirlooms, and as such would have stories that went along with them. My mom would re-tell the story of how this ornament had been made by my great grandmother, and this ornament had been purchased for my first Christmas, etc, etc. John and I both look forward to decorating the tree with our future child... we can't wait!

There are lots of other traditions we're looking forward to continuing, many of which don't involve holidays - having pancake breakfasts as a family, etc - but the holiday season certainly brings back lots of memories... and lots of hope for the traditions we hope to start soon!!

~W