Face to Face

Today was an amazing day that Dan and I will remember forever. Remember those sweet people I posted about a month ago? We got to meet them today! It was awesome! We found out about a week ago that we'd be able to meet them and I'd been looking forward to it all week. Last night, I was so full of anxiety. I asked Dan to give me a blessing so I would be able to calm down. It worked wonders. :) Thank goodness for the priesthood. I did pretty well this morning - I was able to keep myself distracted. But as the afternoon crept up on me and we were driving to Salem, it hit me all over again. As we sat in the parking lot of the Olive Garden, I thought I was going to pass out. As soon as I saw them and we met, I calmed down. I was right - they are the sweetest, nicest, most selfless people. I loved talking with them - for 3 hours. There are so many similarities. I loved every second of it. Our caseworkers were there for the first half which was really nice and helpful. And then it was nice to relax a little bit more and talk for a while longer. I so look forward to meeting with them again and getting to know them better!

Family Temple Session

Dan and I had an amazing experience today. We planned a time for our families to go to the temple and do an endowment session with soon-to-be-our birth parents in mind. It was a suggestion from LDSFS and I LOVED the idea. So most of my family was able to meet in either the Portland, Oregon or Jordan River, Utah temples at 1:00 PST. Dan's mom went this morning because she didn't get the message in time - good thing because the St. Louis temple didn't even have a session at the right time!

I've been feeling the adversary lately trying so hard to work against us! Yesterday, Dan's work offered him two tickets to two of March Madness' NCAA basketball games for today (I'm not sure exactly what it's called...), which is great, except the first game started right when we'd be in our temple session. But Dan didn't fall for that one! Well, actually he went to the temple and then went late to the games. :) Than, we had a rough morning getting ready to leave for the temple. Lost keys, had to get gas, contention, etc. I felt so frustrated because I've been so excited about this temple trip, and it so easily could have been ruined.

We actually ended up being early to the temple and it was great! I've never felt the spirit so strongly as I did today. I thought about our adoption and our sweet birth parents the entire time and I feel so good and excited about it. Every time I thought about my family sacrificing their time, sitting in the temple in Utah for us, for our birth parents, for our future baby, I felt my heart swell until it felt like it was going to burst out of my chest. I was so emotional - it was absolutely amazing! I know I keep saying this, but I still cannot get over how supportive and involved our families are! We are so blessed!