Happy Birthday Sweet Little Mirian!!!!

Today Mirian turns two!!!!! What a complete and total Joy she has been for us!!!!!!! We love her so dearly! It was two years ago today that Russ got a speeding ticket on the way to the hospital. He even told the police officer that he was going to the hospital to adopt his new baby girl.

Newborn Mirian

Mirian on her first birthday

Mirian at 2

Mirian has a wonderful birth-mother. Her name is Kristine. Thank you Kristine for your completely selfless and loving act of providing us the opportunity to have and raise this sweet little girl!!!!

Mirian's personality is so wonderful!!!!! She absolutely LOVES kitties!!!!!! Her daddy would have preferred that she loves dogs (which she does) but she drops everything for a kitty. Her favorite movie is "Oliver and Company," because it is about a kitty. Mirian even sings along with the songs. In the car, she gets upset if we don't listen to kitty music (the "Oliver and Company soundtrack). Mirian loves babies! She has 3 baby dolls, but she could easily have a million more and be happy. She loves to change their diapers, push them in strollers and put them down for naps. she is a good little mama. Mirian also loves to read books. Her favorites are "Goodnight Moon" and any book with pictures of animals. She loves to point out the different animals and make their sounds. Mirian loves music and she loves to sing "The Itsy Bitsy Spider" and "Popcorn Popping on the Apricot Tree." It is so fun to watch her do the movements and say "Copcorn." Mirian is her mommy's big helper. She loves to help out with anything that she can around the house. Mirian loves to dance, and she sure knows how to shake her little bootie. It is adorable. Mirian loves to say prayers. She always remembers to fold her arms when we sit down to eat, and she always folds her arms when we are done reading scriptures. She is a good reminder to her mommy and daddy. But one of her mommy and daddy's favorite things about Mirian is that she loves to give kisses!!!!

Today Daddy made waffles with homemade blueberry syrup for Em and Mirian's birthday breakfast. As you'll see from the photos, Mirian LOVED it!!!!!!!


Happy Birthday Sweetheart!!! We love you!!!!

Visits with Kristine

Mirian's birth mother Kristine recently got married and then baptized. We were priveledged to attend both of the important events. Here is a picture Kristine and Mirian and also one of Mirian's half brother Michael holding Mirian from the wedding. Kristine is so wonderful and we love her to death.

Congratulations Kristine!!!!!!

Thanksgiving Thankful List

Our friend Audra did a Thankful Post on her blog today and I thought it would be a good idea to copy her idea and do one for me.

Too often we get so caught up in everything that is going on and forget to say thanks. So here is what I (Russell) am thankful for:

1. Emily: What a sweetheart she is!!! She loves me even though I am stubborn. She has the most beautiful smile and always brightens the mood wherever she goes. She supports me in everything I do from my obsession for the Seattle Mariners to my desire to live in fixer uppers and then sell them once they have no problems. She loves me everyday and every minute.
2. Mirian: What a blessing she is to us!!!! She is so precious. Her smile is much like Emily's, always brightening the room. She is so loveable and squeezable, and she doesn't get upset when I put her in Mariners clothes (fyi, the Mariners clothes are pink). I grew up with 8 boys in my family and so having a little girl in the home is a new experience for me, and I love every second of it.
3. Kristine: I am thankful for Kristine and for her generous gift. Without Kristine, we would not have Mirian in our lives. Kristine's love and trust mean the world to us. It is Kristine's faith in our Heavenly Father that in the end, made it all possible.
4. Mom and Dad Carlson: I am thankful for the won derful life lessons they have taught me. They have taught me that nothing in the world is worth losing integrity over. Their dedication to the gospel is tremendous and has not gone unnoticed. I love that they love each one of their boys regardless of what we have all done in the past. I love that they love each of our families.
5. Mom and Dad Carter: See List item #1. It's not often that a young man goes to meet his future in-laws and is welcomed like I was when I walked into their home. I feel their love everyday, it radiates through their actions and through Emily's. My father-in-law can fix or do ANYTHING. If he doesn't know how to do it already, give him 10 minutes and he will figure it out. My mother-in-law is so willing to to anything for her family and she loves EVERYONE and EVERYONE loves her.
6. The Gospel: The gospel of Jesus Christ has had such a tremendous impact in my life. Where would we be without it??? I am proud to be a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.
7. Siblings: I am grateful for both my siblings and Emily's. They truly know how to have a good time. I love them and enjoy spending time with them.
8. I am grateful for Alex and how much he likes to play baseball and scratch my back (this one was inserted because he started scratching my back while I was typing this. How could I not include it?????)
9. Finally I am grateful for our dear friends. I love how selfless my friends are. Always willing to help when I need it and always willing to share a good laugh and hear my stupid jokes.
   

Mirian's Story Part IV (4 of 5)

The email that arrived on March 19 was the answer to our MANY prayers and fasts. We had been waiting for this opportunity for about 2 1/2 years. The email was from Kristine. The email started as follows:

"I viewed your profile on the LDS Family Services site. I just recently started attending the LDS church in Othello, where I live with my boyfriend and my 4-year old daughter. I'm not a member of the church, but my boyfriend is and I really enjoy the church. We've met so many wonderful people and I love so much the focus on the family that the church provides. I've been talking with Carlos at the LDS Family Services, who told me he knows of you two."

So far so good right????

Kristine then told us in the email that she was 8 months pregnant with a baby girl who would be born soon via C-Section and was considering adoption. Before getting back together with her current boyfriend, Kristine was with another man (who was the father of her baby). Long story short, it would not have been good to have the baby's father in the baby's life. Kristine also mentioned in the email that she had been considering adoption since she found out she was pregnant.

Kristine mentioned that she was 39, and that she had a Bachelor's degree in Microbiology and also a Bachelor's degree in French. In addition to that, she also has a Master's degree in Food Science. She also mentioned that she had two children, an 18 year old boy Michael and a 4 year old girl Nicole. Not your typical birth mother right? Kristine was 150% honest and up front with all the details.

Finally in the email, Kristine wrote, "You seem like such a loving couple and one in which spirituality and the Lord is an important part of your life. I don't think I could ask for more from a set of prospective adoptive parents."
These two sentences meant the world to us!!!

Kristine wanted to meet and boy oh boy, so did we. We informed her that we could meet on the following Saturday, Sunday, or Wednesday. Kristine lived in Othello, WA (about 2 hours away from us) and offered to meet half way. She didn't know that we lived in Yakima. We received an email Saturday morning the 21st of March from Kristine letting us know we could meet that day. We quickly packed up enough stuff to go meet Kristine and then head to Spokane afterward and stay with our friends the Divis' (Audra Divis was adopted and has been helpful to us in understanding what things she has experienced in her life). We left as soon as we could. As you can imagine, we were a little excited . . . and nervous.

It was very difficult not to speed on the way to meet Kristine. We were so excited. We used my father's GPS (the GPS' name is Gracie). A couple of times, we had to decide if we believed Gracie.

We finally arrived at Kristine's home. We were VERY warmly greeted by Kristine and her boyfriend Dennis. Then came in Kristine's daughter Nicole, what a sweetheart. They welcomed us into their home. Our visit was wonderful. We talked about our families, our testimonies of the church, our jobs, our schooling, what we wanted for our children, etc. The spirit was present during our entire visit, we felt so good and comforted. We visited for a couple of hours. Towards the end of the visit, Kristine told us that she wanted to go ahead with the adoption with us as the birth parents. The answer to our prayers!!!!!!!!!!

Kristine told us she would like an open adoption. Throughout the adoption process, Emily and I had decided that we would prefer an open relationship with the birth mother for the first year and that then it would be closed. However, after meeting Kristine, and feeling the spirit during our visit, we felt it would be best for the baby to have Kristine in her life. We felt a trust with Kristine and knew that it would be best for everyone to have an open adoption.

As we mentioned previously, Kristine was 8 months pregnant. Since Russell was raised in a family of all boys and has no clue about pregnancy, birth, or girls, he assumed that there was one month left before the C-Section. However as Emily continues to remind him, when you are having a C-Section, things go by the doctor's judgment.

A week after receiving the first email from Kristine, we received another email from her that she was going to have the baby the following Thursday. Yep, we had a week to prepare (two weeks total from the first communication with Kristine).

To spare your eyes after reading this long story, Mirian's story has now become a five part story.

Mirian's Story Part III (3 of 4)

As Emily continued back at work, her energy levels only increased. The doctors and other fellow employees at Cascade Eye Center were so supportive and understanding of Emily's procedure and welcomed her back with open arms.

Once Emily was completely healthy (about a year later) we started back with the adoption. Unfortunately at that point, Brenda Brown (from LDS Family Services) had taken a job elsewhere. We were sorry to see her go. On the bright side, we were happy to meet her replacement Carlos Watkins, who maintained the positive experience and even brought in his own expertise. When we started meeting with Carlos, he informed us that during the time of Emily's cancer, the paperwork had been changed to online and that our hard copies of the paperwork were now no longer enough to get us approved. Hence, we had to redo our paperwork. Luckily it was saved on our computer so it became a lot of cut and paste . . . . A LOT. Once we finally finished our paperwork, it took about 2 months to officially approve us as potential adoptive parents (this time frame is completely normal, it didn't take 2 months because they had a hard time giving us the okay). Once we were approved, all we could do was wait and pray.

We were told that it could take anywhere between 3 months to 3 years. Obviously that wasn't a guarantee, but the point was that no one knows and it could take a while to have a child placed with us. The reason is that in the state of Washington (and probably other states too), the birth mother selects the adoptive parents. We feel that this is a wonderful thing. Too many times when thinking about adoption, we as a society think about the struggles of the potential adoptive parents (which can be challenging). We as a society rarely think about the struggles that a birth mother may also have gone through and how difficult a decision they will be making. By allowing the birth mother to choose the adoptive parents, it helps to comfort the birth mother through any struggles that she may be experiencing by knowing that her child will be well taken care of.

In January 2009, about 2 1/2 months after we had finally become "approved" as potential adoptive parents, we were notified that LDS Family Services was changing their website and that we had approximately one month to re-input all our data into the new website. So we had the wonderful opportunity of filling out our paperwork for the 3rd time. As you can imagine, we weren't excited about this task, however the website allowed for a more detailed search of potential adoptive parents and we were optimistic that this would help the birth mother of our future child to find us easier.

Once we had inputted the information into the new website, we were told that it would only be a couple of weeks before the website would be up and running. It could be accessed, but it was still a beta site at that point. The original but slightly more difficult to use website was still operational. After a few weeks we asked again and had been advised that the church wanted to look into the new site further and that it would still be a bit before the new site was up and running. We were a little discouraged as we knew Heavenly Father wanted us to adopt but the new site wasn't up and running and we felt this would limit our chances of being chosen. We continued to wait with as much patience as possible, but it was very difficult. While the new site was being delayed, we almost felt like we were starting our "waiting period" from the beginning and that nothing would happen at least until the new site was up. To this day, the new website still isn't up and running.

One of our favorite t.v. shows to watch is The Office on Thursday nights. On March 19, 2009, we were in the basement watching the weekly episode of The Office as Russ' phone began to vibrate. An email had just come in. As Russ read the email, he was silent as a mouse. Upon having read the email he handed the phone to Emily. Emily studied the email also in complete silence. After Emily read the email, we ran up stairs to the computer to make sure this email was real and to study it further.

Mirian's Story Part II (2 of 4)

As we met with Bishop Despain, we were excited and knew this was what the Lord had in store for us. We informed our parents that we had decided to start the process of adoption. We could hardly contain our excitement and had to keep reminding ourselves that this could take a long time. We started out meeting with Brenda Brown who worked with LDS Family Services. She was so wonderful and helpful and supportive. After our visit with Brenda, we realized that there was A LOT of paperwork in order to be approved as potential adoptive parents. What a better place to start than at the beginning right??!!

We prayerfully and diligently worked on our paperwork. We wrote our "letter to the birthparent" and answered the questionnaires. We filled out paper after paper. Finally as we finished all our paperwork, we had a few final tasks in order to be approved. As part of the approval process, we were required to get physicals to submit with our paperwork. Russ met with Doctor Brandt and Emily met with Shannon Neer (Dr. Ryder's physicians assistant). Emily informed Shannon that there had been a history of Thyroid issues in her family. As Shannon checked Emily, she found a lump in her Thyroid and determined it would be necessary to test further. After further testing, it was determined that Emily had Thyroid Cancer. This of course would delay the adoption paperwork.

After discussing the cancer with Endocrinologist, Dr. Gary Treece in Yakima, Emily received on offer from Dr. Lyle Hunt in Paradise to do the surgery. Dr. Hunt was Emily's former Bishop and a good family friend. We felt more comfortable with someone who knew Emily for such a long time and was interested in her as a person and child of God and not just a patient, so we took Dr. Hunt up on his offer. Just after New Years, we flew down to California in preparation for the surgery.

On January 5, 2007, Emily successfully had her thyroid removed. After 3 days in the hospital, she was released and went back to her parents' home to recover for a week. Emily felt pretty good, considering she had just been through surgery. She couldn't hold her head up straight or turn her head from side to side, and she didn't have a lot of energy, but she was in good spirits.

After being pampered by Mom and Dad, Russ, and Jeff, we finally had to go back home to Yakima. As part of the cancer treatment, Emily couldn't take any thyroid hormones, until her body had been completely depleated of the hormones. At that point, she would need to undergo Radioactive Iodine Therapy. Slightly more than a month passed leading up to the Radioactive Iodine Therapy. It was very tough. Emily had no energy and just felt crummy. Work (Cascade Eye Center) was very loving and supportive of her. They let her come in and work whenever she felt like she could make it, but they knew she couldn't be there all day every day.

Finally, Emily's levels were low enough that she could undergo therapy. Emily had to swallow a little blue pill that was radioactive. Then she had to be quarantined for a whole week. Emily's mom came from California to help out. It was really hard for Emily to be quarantined. She was locked up in the basement, in a room that didn't have a ceiling or any windows. She couldn't go anywhere or do anything. She was miserable. The only entertainment she had for that week was a tv, dvd player, books, and magazines. She wasn't quite sure if it was day or night sometimes because she couldn't even see outside. The worst part was that she could hear her mom and Russ laughing and playing upstairs, while Emily was suffering away in the basement (can you tell she is bitter about this?)

After the week of quarantine, Dr. Treece finally got Emily started on Thyroid medicine and she has been feeling good ever since. She went back to work right away and nothing has been able to keep her down.

Mirian's Story Part I (Four Parts to this Story)

As we have gone through the process of adoption with Mirian, we have been blessed to no end. We want to share with you the wonderful story of how sweet little Mirian came into our lives.

We were married on August 4, 2001. We have both always wanted to have children once we were married. Approximately 7 months after we were married, we decided that it was time for us to begin trying to have children. After some time, we realized that we may not be able to have kids on our own and decided to pursue other methods. We discussed different options and nothing in particular jumped out to us as "the way to start a family". By this time, we had received much love, support, and advice from family and friends. Then one day we were visiting with Emily's family in California and we were sitting in Ward Conference. The speaker quoted Elder Bednar saying that one way we receive answers to our prayers is that the spirit will "bring all things to our remembrance." The light turned on in Emily's head and on the flight home from California, Emily turned on the light in Russell's head. Many of our family and friends who had offered advice had mentioned how they had known someone who had adopted and how wonderful the experience was. These memories of adoption started to flow into our minds like a river flowing into the Ocean. We knew then that the Lord wanted us to prepare ourselves for adoption.

Our First Blog Post. Aren't We Special??????

Due to numerous requests for info/photos (mostly just photos though, and mostly just photos of Mirian, our newly adopted sweet little precious girl) we have started this blog. Since we are new to this, we are just going to post some photos of Mirian and check comments. As time goes on, our mentors Olivia and Kristal, will help us to make the ULTIMATE blog around . . . . and yes, there will be the occasional post about the Seattle Mariners, we will try to keep it to the minimum.