Birthday Boy and the Year Ahead

Birthday Boy modeling his new shirt!

In case you missed my announcement on Facebook – today is Todd’s birthday! We had a nice dinner this evening followed by some astronaut ice cream sandwich.  I guess you're never too old for...freeze dried ice cream.  We are planning to take a short little getaway this weekend to continue our celebration, but I will take this opportunity to wish him the happiest of birthdays and let him know I’m so glad he was born! I’m thinking we’ll have something for you from the birthday boy himself soon!

In other news, I have recently discovered a blog that many of you probably already know about (and have known about for months and months –and yet somehow never thought to tell me about it!): Single Dad Laughing. 

I love this blog. I think that guy has one of the biggest, best hearts on the internets. But – I’m not actually going to write all about my superfandom today. Instead, I’m simply going to take a page out of his book. His January 1, 2012 post was written futuristically as if he was a year in the future looking back over the year we still have ahead. It’s an exercise in positive thinking and, to quote him:

"I'm a big believer in positive thinking making great things happen.  I am a believer in thinking about the future as if it is already the past, and what that does for each of us."

Well, how can you go wrong with that kind of thinking?  So - I decided to give it a whirl.  I'm a few days late, but the year still stretches out before us, so here are the highlights of the year ahead (typed in purple because it's from the future):

I think it might be safe to say that 2012 was the best year ever.  First and foremost, our family went from a family of two to a family of three - finally!  We were chosen as adoptive parents and welcomed our newest addition with open arms and joyful hearts.  What a wild ride that has been , but we never could have imagined how much we'd love being parents.  In 2011, I couldn't imagine what life would be like once I was a mom.  Now I can't imagine what life was like before I was a mom.  Truly, this is one of the greatest gifts we have ever been given.

We continue to work on building our relationship with our child's birthparents.  We are committed to hammering out a relationship that fits us all comfortably, and I think we've made tremendous strides towards that goal.  We're so thankful for these relationships and the gift their existence provides our child.  We are so awed and grateful for the love our child's birthparents have for our child and know that this child is going to grow up knowing more love than he/she knows what to do with!  We know that like any other relationship in our lives, this one is going to take some work, but we could not have asked for better people to share this journey with.

In other great news, I finally (FINALLY) earned my bachelor's degree in 2012!  We had a huge celebration with all of our friends and family.  People are still talking about it.  That's because we really know how to throw a party. :)  I can't remember a time when I was so proud of myself and excited for my future.  I, obviously, took the long road to getting this degree, but I cannot imagine that I'd have been nearly as excited about this accomplishment at 22 as I am at 35.

2012 also marked the end of Todd's unemployment streak.  He was offered a job that he was excited about and has been happily employed ever since.  This has taken a tremendous weight off our shoulders and allowed us to breathe a little easier.  We know that without the job offer, Todd would have made an incredible stay-at-home dad, but his employment opens up more opportunities for us and puts us on the right track for our future.  We are most grateful that he actually enjoys this job and comes home happy at the end of the day, rather than worn out. 

On the heels of a year like this, I'm more excited than ever to see what 2013 brings!  It's launching from a solid foundation, so I know there are still plenty of good things ahead!