This entry has been waiting to be written for a few months now and as I think about it today I think there is no time like the present. So let me share a little bit with you about a journey we are taking right now, the journey of adoption...
I have to admit that before having Jennifer I never really gave adoption much thought. It was never really something that I thought Bill and I would do, it was something that was never really in our hearts. How that has changed and it all began with our sweet little girl, Jennifer. As you all know we found out that Jennifer had Down syndrome when she was about two weeks old. The days after finding that out were the days that our hearts began to grow for adoption. I remember one specific morning sitting in our living room, all the curtains were drawn, we were all still in our jammies, Bill was rocking Jennifer on his chest and the first conversation about adoption came up. In those moments we talked about how it broke our hearts that some families would receive the news that we had received only days earlier and decide they could not live with their baby. Although they probably would love their baby, there would simply be something in them that couldn't care for that baby forever. As we looked at Jennifer we simply saw our daughter (we still do), we have never or will ever look at her and see Down syndrome. It was in the those moments during that conversation that we decided that someday we would adopt. We would adopt a baby with Down syndrome, we would open our arms to a baby that someone else had decided they maybe could not take care of. We decided we would love that baby as our own, that we would simply continue on with life and their diagnosis would not be a problem, not in our house. That conversation took place almost three and half years ago. Over the course of the past three years we have gone back to that conversation, wondering when and if it would really ever happen. Well shortly after the beginning of the year we began to talk about our family growing. Jennifer was almost three and the time seemed right to add another McLeland to the craziness we call our home. After much discussion and prayer, lots and lots of prayer, we decided that instead of "having" a baby, God was calling to adopt a baby. So over the past few months we have been filling out paper work, filling out more paper work, doing some visits to our adoption agency and last week we had our home study. And the waiting game can begin. It is amazing to me how my heart can ache for a baby that I do not even know yet, a baby that someone else will give birth to, it is truly a God thing. Something only He could do and something that only He will fulfill. Over the past few months Bill and I have talked that God knows exactly who our baby is, only he knows when our baby will be born and where our baby will come from. We are very excited to meet that little baby and welcome them into our home, into our lives. I can't wait to find out all that our baby will have to teach us. We will keep you posted as the time comes for our family to grow from three to four. The journey may be long but what a sweet journey it is. And who knows our journey could only be starting!
Hate to write and not put on any pictures so here are a few...
Playing outside while it was still nice, sadly those days have gone away.
Helping dad work on the kitchen. Our stove use to be in that hole, Jennifer thought it was a great place to play, she was kind of disappointed when the cabinet went away.
Shoveling the snow already! The sad thing is that we are just getting starting!
Jennifer with Jen (yes they do have the same name). I am pretty sure that Jennifer gets some of her love of dancing and music from her aunt Jen. Jennifer was attached to Jen's hip for quite a while at the dance. Once Jennifer started dancing with Jen there was no stopping her, it was fun to watch the two of them "dancing" together! 
Jennifer and mom dancing together. Trust me it didn't last long! Anyone is better to dance with than mom. If she wasn't dancing with Jen, then she was dancing with her Uncle Nick and Aunt Amy.
The partying got to be a bit much by the end of the night. Once Jennifer convinced Uncle Nick to dance with her during the dollar dance it was all done for her. She put her head on Nick's shoulder and feel asleep! It was very sweet!
Swimming anyone? Jennifer usually loves to swim but the water in the pool was just a little chilly for her taste. So Saturday morning we let Jennifer "swim" in the tub in our room. The water was warm and she got to have bubbles!
Jennifer's teachers have been very kind to send us pictures of her at school so I thought I would share them with you all. The first picture is of Jennifer dressing up during center time. This is one of Jennifer's favorite activities to do at school. In fact when we were there last week for an open house this was the first thing Jennifer wanted to show Bill and I. She put on a pretty purple dress and then showed us the rest of the room. Jennifer has a notebook that comes home with her each day that tells us what she did at school and today it said that she was very excited because they put new clothes out for dress up! Isn't she just beautiful in that dress?! The second picture is a picture from the first day of school. Jennifer looks tiny compared to the boy beside her but part of that is because he is four. The last picture from school is my favorite. Jennifer is in the "teacher" chair reading books to the kids. The one teacher told us that Jennifer will get a book climb into the chair and the boys in her class will put blankets on the floor in front of her and listen to her "read"! It just makes me laugh. She will also sit in the teacher chair and pretend to do calendar with the kids. I think someday she is going to be a teacher! She will be fabulous!
We think Jennifer should be the new spokesperson for Cheerios! What do you think, she would be great wouldn't she?
Jennifer and Bill spending a little quality time together working in the basement. If you ever need any help on a project Jennifer is great and she doesn't charge much, usually a sucker will do.
Sunday night is popcorn night in our house and as you can see it is one of the best things in the world. Jennifer makes us laugh each week as we get ready to make popcorn. She walks around the house signing popcorn, wants to get the popcorn bowl down and get the blanket out. It really is the little things in life that are worth while. If only we would all get so excited about having popcorn!
Here are a couple of pictures of Jennifer in Florida. She loved the swimming pool! There was no fear at all, she would walk in the water until she couldn't touch anymore and still want to keep going! She would jump off the side, sometimes before I was ready to catch her. Jennifer also loved the beach. I wasn't sure what she would think of the waves coming up and getting her but she thought it was great.
Her is Jennifer washing her car, while we wash our cars. She had her own bucket of water and her own sponge, she probably did better on her car than Bill and I did on our cars!
We went to the Iowa State Fair this year, this was our first time there since Jennifer was born. Jennifer did the "Helping Hands on the Farm". It is a cute little farm setup for kids to go around. They plant a vegetable, as you can see Jennifer doing in the second picture, then they go from station to station getting different things and at the end they get a "dollar" to buy something with. Jennifer of course chose chips! She looked pretty cute in her apron and hat!
This is just a cute picture of Jennifer while we were playing at the park one evening.
The first two pictures are of Jennifer getting ready to leave for school. How cute is she with her little (big) backpack! The last picture has nothing to do with school, I just really love this picture of her, she is so cool!