Wow....behind much?

I must apologize for the lack of updates on my blog, I am a slacker, but have been busy do lots of things, all in someway preparing for my little nugget to get here. So let me catch you up on me and what I have been doing.

I started training for a half marathon in an effort to lose weight before I go pick up my little boy. I want to be the kind of mom that is fit enough to take him to the park and play with him, not just let him roam on the playground. (at least until he is too cool for that).  In training, I also got "roped" (in other words, I was asked and said, heck yes)  into participating in the Las Vegas Ragnar. (If you don't know what that is, look it up, http://www.ragnarrelay.com , it's a lot of running with no sleep over two days). Why wouldn't I join? So I completed my first half marathon on Oct 26. It was such an AMAZING experience for me, don't ask my time as my only goal was to cross the finish line. (I am on the left side of his mouth just getting ready to cross)

Two weeks later my friends and I drove to Las Vegas to complete the Ragnar, another incredible feat to finish.  I had three legs of the relay to run, totaling 16.4 miles (total miles for the relay was 187). With no sleep and all three legs uphill, it was quite the workout. I just kept thinking to myself as I was running uphill, "at least there's no snow and I don't just have cardboard on my feet for shoes", as the old adage went. I just put the music on and reminded myself to keep putting one foot in front of the other until you pass off to the next runner. Then relax (collapse) in the van until the next run. We had so much fun doing it, we are planning to complete the Wasatch Back Ragnar (In Utah) next year.

Since the beginning of this year.....with watching what I eat and the help of training for these two big events, I have lost close to 50 lbs. (no pride in sharing my accomplishment). I am almost to the person I want to be when I fly to Haiti to pick him up.

Now on to what you all really want to hear. My papers are still in with the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). I have a case number, which tells me they are working on it. I received a letter the other day which told me my case has been sent to the NBC (National Benefits Center) and I will be receiving a letter from them with a date and time that I am to go down to the local office to get fingerprinted again for their reporting. After that I wait until the results are sent back to USCIS for an approval to bring a child into the country.

While I wait, I am forwarding all of my dossier paperwork (just lots of notarized stuff) to the adoption agency to make sure everything is correct and in order. Once I get the approval from USCIS, my dossier gets forwarded to the Haitian government for approval to adopt a child from their country. Basically I (we all) have a bit of waiting over the next little while. I wish I had more exciting news for everyone, but I just don't.

In the meantime, I keep working on myself to make sure I am the mom I want to be for him when he gets here. I work on myself, physically, mentally, and spiritually. I am making sure that I have a stable home for him, with stable people in my life who will play big roles in his life as well.

As a side thought: If anyone has cans or metal they would like to donate I am still recycling to raise money for this process. You can drop it off at my house, or message me and I will come pick it up (if you live close enough).

Kayleen's Kid Quest continues.... I will try to be better at updating everyone.

The Kindness of Strangers

So as I sat watching my Real Salt Lake team play last night, I received a text message from a girl I work with. Let me set up the story.

Amanda (girl I work with) works at the Salt Lake Temple each Saturday for a few hours. While working there she has shared my story about my quest. 

One of the sisters heart was touched while hearing this story and yesterday gave Amanda an envelope for me. The sister told Amanda that I sound like a great mother and she wanted to support. She also said "It's not much, but I want to give her something". It was $30. 

$30 from someone who has never met me, never seen me and may never know me in person. My heart sank as I took in what this beautiful stranger (to me) had done. I am touched daily with the giving of so many people. People I know, and now people I don't. Thank you Amanda for sharing Kayleen's Kid Quest.

Thank you to everyone who believes in what I am doing, supports me both emotionally, through donations, and financially. I do know how blessed I am to have you in my life, and am so thankful to be able to share these stories with you. 

Kayleen's Kid Quest continues......

Looks like we made it

In the words of the great Barry Manilow......Looks Like We Made It!!!!! (you know you were singing it in your head as you read that). With the last donation (see "Overwhelmed" blog) and what we had ready to deposit, we made it past the required amount needed to move forward. What an amazing feeling I have knowing so many people believe in this dream I have and are willing to help so selflessly.

I have forwarded the documents to my social worker and the adoption agency and now wait to hear what the next step will be for me so we can get everything submitted to the Haitian government for approval. I have most of the needed notarized documents listed on my dossier so as soon as I hear back from the social worker I will forward those to her for review to make sure we have everything together. What an amazing year and few months this journey has been. Ups, downs, questions, doubts, but I wouldn't change one thing about it. All these emotions have made me a better person and I think helped me find emotions I have had hidden that just may help be a better mom.

While I am not sure exactly what happens next, be assured it will be written here as I find out. This has been such a great way of getting my thoughts and feelings down about certain things as they happen. I must thank Natalie Dansie for getting me on this whole blogging thing. She has really helped me grow in ways I never wanted to

While I have the amount needed at this point in the process, I still need to raise money for other aspects of the adoption. Travel fees (mine and his), court costs, his passport/visa fees, and the like. This being said, I will still be doing recycle runs for aluminum cans and scrap metal, so please let me know if you are willing to donate any of those. I will come pick them up if needed or you can drop them off at the house.

Thank you again for all of your support. I see it, I feel it and I definitely hear it. Thank you for the prayers said on my behalf, the facebook posts, the text messages and the phone calls with your support and love. I cannot believe how lucky I am to have so many great people in my life, from the past and those I have just created friendships with. Everyone of you have supported in your own awesome way.

Kayleen's kid quest continues.............

Overwhelmed

So today is my birthday, no big deal, I have had lots of them over the years. For me, birthdays have become just another day for me. I don't have a husband or kids to share the day with so it's just something that comes and goes. I actually prefer to ride under the radar on this day. So I am totally ok with not hearing "Happy Birthday" or the like on this day each year. As a single person, it's just something that you get used to and just kind of move forward with life. This all changed today for me....... I had the most incredible birthday.....EVER.

It all started with someone at work, wishing they could do more to help with my adoption quest and another thinking I needed something more than "just another day" kind of birthday. With those thoughts, a plan was born. For two weeks, there were little meetings and whisperings throughout the office. A tiny group gathered, discussing things that would suddenly go quiet as I came around the corner. It was beginning to irritate me to be honest, but they would just tell me "You're going to love it". I was going to love no more secrets and whispers is what I was "going to love".

This morning as everyone in the office gathered around my desk to give me a birthday present. I knew I was in trouble as the owner struggled to get through his explanation of the great sacrifice made and the gift I was about to receive. As tears filled almost everyone's eye, including my own, an envelope (a very thick envelope) was handed to me. I opened the card to find the following gift inside:



As most of you know, I only needed $700 to move on to the next phase of this adoption. So you can imagine the blank stare on my face as I tried to grasp what this awesome group of people had done for me.

I fought back the tears and struggled to say thank you and hug each one of them without my voice cracking (can we say unsuccessful). After everyone went back to work. Paige and Amanda stayed to explain what went down. Over the two weeks of whispering and stopped conversations, this incredible group put together a bake sale/car wash this last Saturday. Almost everyone of them showed up to work on a Saturday with home baked goodies, car washing gear, posters, fliers and spent most of the day doing a fundraiser for me WITHOUT ME KNOWING ANYTHING ABOUT IT. They raised $600 for my kid quest. Talk about feeling the love. Those who couldn't make it, donated cash to help out as well.

They already bring in cans every week and save them for me at work, they always ask how the adoption is going and have supported me more than I ever could imagine a group of co-workers doing. Vitality Medical is an incredible place to work with the most giving people imaginable. I am blessed to be a part of this great company.

After they had explained how everything went down, I had to go outside to compose myself. This birthday has been one of the best birthdays I have had in a long time. This is the day that I will look back on for years and find that it was the beginning of how differently I look at my birthdays. With a overwhelmed heart, I try to figure out how to properly say thank you to an incredible group of people who believe in this adoption and my ability to be a mom as much as I do. Thank you all my Vitality Medical family.

www.vitalitymedical.com