Welcome Kaitlyn Elizabeth Smith

On August 25th at 10:36am little Kaitlyn was born.   She weighed 9 lbs 12 oz and was 21 inches long!  She had a head full of black hair and the biggest checks ever!  She is absolutely beautiful and we love her to pieces!

This is Kaitlyn with her birthmom Ashley and her birthdad Deon!  They are amazing people and we love them so much!  They also love little Kaitlyn sooooooooooooooooo much!

 Noah loves being a big brother!  Kaitlyn is so lucky to have him for a brother.  He is so good with her.  He feeds her, burps her, gets her to sleep, and helps us out so much!

 Daddy always tries to act so tough but when it comes to Kaitlyn his heart is melted.   He loves her so much and would do anything for his little girl!

I am absolutely in love with sweet Kaitlyn.  Our family has waited so long for her to come to our family and now that she is here we are in heaven.  We love her so much and can't get enough of her sweet face.  Heavenly Father has truly blessed our family with this very sweet little girl!

 Coming home from the hospital!  I love her little outfit!  She is gonna be dressed to impress all the time!  She is too cute!

 Sweet Kaitlyn with her birthparents Ashley and Deon!

After making everything final, we decided to go get something to eat to lighten the mood!  I know it was a very hard day for Ashley and Deon so we wanted to make it a little easier and what better way to do that then to go get some great food!   This is my favorite picture!

Miracles do happen

As most of you know, we have been blessed so much within the past week!  I want to share our families experience this past week.  Last Thursday we got a text that our little baby was going to come via c-section on Saturday August 25th.  Chris had just gotten home on Wednesday from BOLC and our movers came on Thursday and Friday.  After the movers left on Friday we headed out to Las Vegas where our baby girl was going to be born.  We had a super fun trip.  We ended up staying in a pretty sketchy area for the night so we decided while we waited in the waiting room for our daughter to be born we would find a new hotel to stay in.  

We got to the hospital at about 7:45am so that we could meet Ashley and Deon in person before they went back for the c-section.  We had an instant connection with both of them.  I had been forming an amazing relationship with Ashley for 2 months by email so seeing her in person was amazing.  Meeting Deon was just as amazing.  They are both just great people and we love them so much.  So we found a super nice resort hotel to stay at for super duper cheap!  We ended up getting it for $27 a night and it is crazy awesome!  So nice and in a good area.

We sat in the waiting room eating snacks and watching spongebob squarepants.  We were having so much fun and the waiting didn't seem too long!  Then we got the word......baby is here and both mom and baby are doing great!  YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ashley was great.  She signed papers right away so that we could go in the nursery to see little Kaitlyn while she was in recovery.  We saw Kaitlyn come into the nursery.  (it was hard to miss her since she was 9 lbs 12 oz)  Chris and I both immediately started crying.  There was the little girl we had waited for for so long right in front of us and just absolutely perfect.  We watched her through the glass for almost 3 hours before we could hold her.  She was perfect and so sweet and we just fell in love with her.  Noah was so excited and couldn't wait to hold her too.  He has waited so long to be a big brother and now his dream came true.

They finally brought Ashley up to the 3rd floor and gave her a room.  We were able to go in and see her and Deon and that is where the hanging out began.  We stayed with them in the room a ton over the 3 days that they had to stay there.  It was never awkward or anything.  It was all so smooth and easy going.  Deon was so great.  He was taking care of Ashley go much.  The love that both Ashley and Deon have for sweet little Kaitlyn is indescribable.  They are amazing!  Kaitlyn is so lucky to have such amazing birthparents who wanted what was best for her and all they want is for her to be loved and have a great life.  They made the hardest sacrifice anyone could ever make.  They made a decision that many do not have the strength to make.  Their decision was to give their child the best.  Something that right now in their lives they cannot do.

I will forever be grateful for the love they have for Kaitlyn.  She is such a special little girl and has a ton of people who love her already!  We are so happy to have such an open adoption with them.  They have become so important to us and our love for them is indescribable.  We will always be so very grateful for the opportunity they have given us to grow our family and for Noah to be a big brother.  We are grateful that they love Kaitlyn so much that they wanted the best for her.  We are so grateful for the friendship we have formed with them.  Our belief is you can never have too many people to love you so the more open we are the more blessed we all are.  

Kaitlyn will always know how much her birth parents love her!  They will always be a part of our lives.  Kaitlyn will know them and love them and appreciate them just like we do!  We didn't just gain a daughter, we also gained two amazing friends who gave us the greatest gift anyone could give us!  

Ashley and Deon.....we LOVE you so much!  You may never know how blessed we feel to know you and to be part of your lives.  You have given us the greatest gift and we will forever be grateful for that! 

Chris is graduating from BOLC...

The past few months our family has had so much going on.  One very important part is Chris left for Fort Jackson South Carolina on June 3rd for BOLC (Basic Officers Leadership Course).  It was an 11 week program that he had to take before he starts his Army career.  I am happy to announce that he is graduating tomorrow at 10am.  My dad drove down there to be with him and watch him graduate.  Wish we could have been there but that wasn't possible.  I am so proud of him and happy for all the amazing changes coming to our family over the next few weeks.  Congratulations 2 LT Smith.  We are so proud of you!!!!!!!!!!!!

Surprise Baby Shower!!!!!!!!

My brother married into an amazing family and they have become part of our family!  My brothers mother in law threw me a surprise baby shower!  My sister in law, Catherine, told me that her mother wanted to take me out for dinner for my birthday!  We went over to her moms and she said that we needed to go in and get her.  When we walked in a bunch of my family and friends were there for my surprise shower!  It was amazing.  It was so nice and we all had a blast!  Kaitlyn is going to be spoiled for sure!  She got so many cute things!

 Kaitlyn's 1st bathing suit for next summer!  My mom is always thinking beach.  LOL  It is too cute!

 Me and my best friend Emily at my shower!  I can't believe we went to lunch that day and she totally didn't tell me!  I guess I will forgive her!

 Me and my beautiful mother!  I love her so much and am so glad that she could be there for this special event!

 That's right...she is gonna be a little sister!  Noah is so excited to finally be a big brother!

My Aunt Kandy got her this dress.  It is the cutest dress EVER!!!!!!!!!  I want to thank everyone who came and made this such a great party!  Thanks for the great surprise and the great food!  Kaitlyn is going to be the best dressed little girl.

The email we have waited for....

As most of you know Chris and I are hoping to adopt.  I will never forget the day I got the email from Ashley.  It was Wednesday June 27th and my dad was taking me and Noah to South Carolina to spend the weekend with Chris.  On the way there I got an email from a girl who was looking to place her baby for adoption.  I have waited for this email for so long.  Previously I had two girls contact me but never got past the 1st or 2nd email.  One was a scam for sure!  So I was a little cautious.  I waited a little while to respond.  I did not tell anyone about this email.  I finally responded later that afternoon.  Gave her some information about me and our situation and waited to see if she responded.  She did!  After two days of emails I decided that I was going to ask her to talk with our case worker.  This for sure would let me know if she was serious or not.  She was so quick and willing to talk to our case worker which really excited me.  I then talked to Chris about it and he was excited!  The emails continues and she started working with our case worker and then was assigned one from our agency in the state that she is in.  Since then we have emailed almost everyday and I have formed a lifelong relationship with this amazing girl.  She has definitely been an answer to our prayers.   We obviously didn't want to say anything to Noah until we got closer to her due date.  Well.......she is due August 22nd so we didn't have much time to keep it from him.  We finally decided to let Noah in that he was going to finally be a big brother.  He has waited so long for this and he was beyond excited.  About a week later I got a call from Ashley letting me know that "ITS A GIRL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"  That's right...the shopping began that night.  I remember getting the call and being in shock.  The moment I got off the phone with her I ran back into the store that my mom and I were at and telling her.  I cried and the cashier almost did too.  LOL  Since then we have continued to grow in our relationship with Ashley and now have less than 2 weeks until our little baby girl is born!  We feel extremely blessed and could not be more excited about all that awaits our family this month!  Thank you Ashley and Deon for giving us the opportunity to add to our little family!  We will forever be grateful to the both of you for your great love and sacrifice!

Summer Vacation

It is always nice to go home to Virginia to vacation with the family.  We had many great adventures and got to spend a ton of time with our favorite people.

My dog Bella!  I miss that girl!  She is such a sweet dog.  She got to sleep with me the whole time we were home which was nice.  I can't wait to get her back!  My parents have been dog sitting for 3 years while Chris was at BYU but now we can get her back.YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

There was a "CHRISTMAS IN JULY" craft show that I went to with my sister in law Ashley.  We set up a table to sell cookbooks that I made to help fund our adoption!

 Me and my best friend Emily!  We got together for a girls night out at the Cheesecake Factory.  It is always nice to hang out with my favorite ladies.  We had a great time.  Lots of stories and tons of laughs!  I miss them so much.  It is amazing how many great people I have in my life and I am grateful for each one of them and what they bring to my life.

 My brother Adam and his wife took me and Noah camping.  So camping is not my thing but I knew Noah would have a good time.  It wasn't too bad but it was really dirty.  LOL  I wanted to vacuum out there so bad.  It was a lot of fun until we saw a HUGE black snake.  The thing was huge.  Scared the crap out of me.  I don't think I have ever screamed so loud in my entire life.  I moved pretty quick too.  LOL

My brother Jared and his wife Catherine took me and Noah to the beach.  It was fun hanging out at my favorite place and seeing the cousins playing together.  They all had a good time.  We got to eat at one of my favorite restaurants of all time "Captain Georges" all you can eat seafood.  It was amazing!  I floated in the ocean.  That is where I do some of my best thinking.  It was amazing!

 This is a picture of all the cousins on my side of the family.  We have Noah (11), Brayden (6), Lexi (5), Emma (3), Bentley (2), and Wyatt (8 months).  What a good looking bunch!

These four played so well together all summer!  They had a ton of fun and did a lot together!  I am so glad that my family got to spend so much time together!  There is nothing more important then family!

We had a blast.  Time flew by and it was sad to leave!  I am so grateful for my amazing family!