The first post...

So this is it; a new blog about our family, the journey we are about to take, and someday about our new addition. 
Where do I start?   Perhaps from the beginning...

I always knew that motherhood was in my future. As a little girl I played with dolls and practiced my nurturing skills. For many years, the only thing I knew for sure was that I was going to be a mom.  

When I was about 20 I met a man who had a daughter and I instantly fell in love with his little girl.  I ended up marrying that guy and becoming a custodial step-parent to her.  I was a parent 24/7 except for every other weekend when she would visit her mom.   During that time, I tried to get pregnant and over the course of about 7 months I realized that it wasn't going to happen for me.  
Shortly after that realization, my marriage dissolved and unfortunately, so did my title as "step-mom".     I may not be in her life anymore, but I am forever thankful for the wonderful learning opportunity that she provided me and I will always love her.

And here I am, married for the second time in my young life.  This time to a man I know will be with me through the test of time.  We have realized what love and marriage is all about and we are truly partners in life.   Once again, I'm a step-mom, but this time to two older boys.  Coming into a house full of boys was an adjustment, but I now know that my role in their lives is just as important now as it would have been had they been much younger.    

Before getting married last year, we decided that we did in fact want to add to our family.  I knew that I needed the opportunity for a child to call me "mom" instead of by my first name. For some reason, I long for that title.   For us, adoption was going to be the way that we would build our family.    So here we are.

We went to two informational meetings, attended a "family building conference" to learn more about adoption, talked to our families, and last week we made the commitment by sending in our application for services to our chosen agency.

Today we received our first large packet of paperwork.  It's my first clue as to what is to come with this Adoption Study or Home Study and let me tell you; it's daunting....