The Walker Blog

The pictures were back in time for us to send some out to Gus's birth family, and then our own family and friends.

Christmas at the Walker house was incredible this year. Not only did Santa spoil all of us, but our lives were enriched by the joy that Gus has brought to our family. The first Christmas as a family was more than we had ever dreamed it would be, and it was so very special. We went to Christmas Eve Mass with our neighbors Wendy and Ryan and their family, and then came home and prepared for the big day! Here are some pictures from our special day!









After such a great Christmas, we were blessed with snow on the 26th! We had some snow back on December 4th, but it was a light dusting compared to the snow that we got on the 26th. We took Gus outside for some fun in the snow (he did NOT enjoy himself) and then we came inside to get warm!!

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

Let's see... it's been a month since we last wrote and there have been a few new developments with our lives.

As most of our friends and family knows already, we're actively pursuing domestic adoption. We have talked about it for a while and have gone back and forth about when the time would be right to actually do something, and that time has come! We submitted an initial application back on November 5th and then waited for two weeks before hearing if we were accepted or not. Well, we were accepted and asked to complete a formal application. It's a monster- we have to have physicals, references, criminal background checks, fingerprints, and submit a bunch of legal documents. We also had to complete an "Autobiography" which was a beast. Cathy's was 26 pages and Steve's was 19. We worked on our autobiographies all day Friday and spent over six hours total working on them.

We will be going to an information session in December and then submitting all of our paperwork before December 20th. Then we wait... and hopefully they'll assign us a social worker to complete a home-study. Once that's finished we have to complete a family album and then an online album and write letters to the expectant mothers and hope that someone picks us!

It's a process that can be as short as four months (March) or as long as 18 months. It just depends on fate and what's meant to happen. We ask that everyone keep us in their prayers as we go through this adventure! In the end, having a baby be ours makes it all worth while, but it's still grueling and stressful!

On another note, Steve had a great trip to New Mexico. He's still loving his job and enjoys going to work each day (which is a wonderful blessing). Cathy was just named Teacher of the Year at her elementary school and we're very excited for that! She was nominated by her fellow teachers and then they voted. She's very humbled by the award.

This weekend was Thanksgiving and we spent it together. We were invited by a few different friends to join them for dinner, but decided that it might be our last Thanksgiving as just us (let's hope), so we stayed home and enjoyed a feast for two. Cathy made a turkey, delicious greenbean casserole, and stuffing and Steve made mashed potatoes from scratch. Cathy made Magic Cookie Bars for dessert and it was just enough food for the two of us.

We are getting ready for the holiday season. We're hoping to have Cathy's mom and dad come for a visit from the 27th-2nd (they came down during that time last year as well). We plan on going back to Michigan/Indiana in May for the wedding of Cathy's brother Scott and his fiance Christie.

That's about it from us. We'll keep you posted on the adoption information. In the meantime, keep us in your prayers!
:)
The Walkers

We survived our first Thanksgiving in North Carolina! It wasn't the same without family... and it made us sad to not have that connection during the holiday. Cathy was especially sad. This was her first Thanksgiving without her parents in 31 years.

We have had a nice week though. Last Saturday, Cathy's dad came for a visit. She was so excited to see her dad and get to show him the house and the area. He came down to Virginia to pick up an engine for the baby Beast (Steve's old Mustang). Since he was only three hours away, he came down and stayed with us from Saturday through Tuesday.

While he was here, he helped Steve build some much needed shelves in the garage. Almost all the boxes are off the floor and put up. Steve thinks he wants to build more, because there's still too much stuff to actually get the cars inside the garage. We went to see Burt's and took a tour inside, and then drove over to Cathy's school and showed her dad where she works.

Steve was off Monday and then Tuesday had to go back to work for the day. We both were off on Wednesday and Cathy met two of her fourth graders at the movies with their parents to see Enchanted. She said she really liked it. Then she went shopping at DSW and got some shoes (like she needed more right?). Anyway, she spent the remainder of the night getting some things made for Thanksgiving. She made the greenbean casserole and then the turtle pumpkin pie. She also brined the turkey...

We got up around 9am yesterday (Thanksgiving) and checked on the turkey. It was still somewhat frozen... so we went into plan B and soaked it in the sink. Fortunately, it was a smaller bird and defrosted with no problems.

We started to watch the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade but Cathy was really upset about it. She had hoped to watch the Detroit Thanksgiving Day Parade, but it wasn't showing here. There were THREE channels showing the stupid Macy's parade... but not one for the Detroit parade. She ended up turning off the television and listened to music instead.

Cathy had read that oven bags can make a HUGE difference in the juicyness of a turkey, so we went to Wal-Mart to pick some up. We also got some Subway for lunch and then came home.

Our dinner was wonderful. Cathy's turkey was absolutely perfect and she was excited because it was her first turkey. Steve was very impressed ;) We had greenbean casserole, cresent rolls, stuffing, turkey and gravy, Cathy's grandma Ghrist's green salad and then turtle pumpkin pie. It was tasty and we were both pleased with how it all turned out.

Today we slept in and then cleaned up the house for Steve's dad. He arrived around 6:30 tonight. He'll be staying with us for the weekend and Steve is super excited to show his dad around. :)

Enough for now... hope you all had a great Thanksgiving.
The Walkers