The Walker Blog

We had Cathy's parents for a week and then Steve's dad and Sue Ann were here for the actual holiday. While they were all here we did a lot of fun things and took a lot of great pictures. One fun thing that we did was take Gus to meet the Santa elf at the mall. He was so cute when meeting the elf and was all smiles. We're sure that this time next year will be a different story, but for his first picture, it was priceless. Here's the picture:


One day while they were here, Cathy brough Gus and her parents to The Hill Building at ATC to meet Steve for lunch and see the building. Cathy dressed Gus in a really cute tie onesie and matching orange shoes. Here are some pictures from that:





Cathy's parents left and then a few days later, Steve's dad and Sue Ann came down for their visit. They brought Gus some fun Purdue gear and we took some pictures of the three of them all decked out in black and yellow!

We had our first post-placement visit and it went well. We have one more in January and then the paperwork for finalization can be submitted to the court in Michigan. We don't know how long it'll take for the finalization to be granted, but we're hoping that it'll all be finalized before Gus turns one.

We are gearing up for our first Christmas as a family. The gifts have all been bought and it's sure to be a very special Christmas for everyone! This will be the first time in several years that Cathy's parents won't be coming down to spend the days after Christmas/New Years with us. Cathy is sad about it, but understands. It's hard to be away from family, but it's especially difficult during the holidays. Thankfully we have Gus to focus on, and we'll make sure that his first Christmas is a very special one.

We don't know what 2011 will bring for us, but we are so very thankful for all that 2010 has given us. We started the year with a recent submission of our formal application for adoption. We were waiting patiently (or, not so patiently if we're being honest) to begin our home studies and were so nervous about them. January and February were the months that they took place, and then March was when they were submitted. We were anxious to go and meet with Doris and finally get on the Waiting Families list! Little did we know that just 33 days from the day we did meet with Doris (April 1st, 2010), we'd find out that Gus's birth mother had picked us to raise Gus. We thought we'd have a month to really prepare for him, and it was only a week later that we got the call that his birth mom was in labor. The months from that point are all so special and have been filled with so much joy (and sleeplessness).

We hope you've enjoyed reading Gus's blog each Tuesday and have enjoyed seeing the pictures and videos. We absolutely love sharing them with friends and family and hope that they make everyone smile.

Merry Christmas and we'll see you in 2011!
:)
The Walkers