OUR LIFE IN 3D

The Home of Daddy's Day Dare! ~ I am just trying to stay above water

Archive for the tag “Jimmy Buffett”

01 Jun 2013
16 Comments

Where the children play on the shore each day

The weekend turned out to be a Beee-yout-ti-ful one. We tried to make up for Memorial Day this weekend, now that a lot of the tourists have gone home.

Philly trip 013

We made it out to the beach by 10:30 Saturday morning. We do this to beat the crowds, traffic and get the girls off the beach in time for some naps. It was a perfect day; perfect temps, perfect winds, perfect tides.

We go out to a beach called Isle Of Palms. It is more of a residential beach (summer homes) than a touristy one (hotels and condos). The beaches then are unprotected by the lack of use of stone jetties. Accordingly, the beaches kind of reshape themselves about every full moon.

Sand bars head off the beach and parallel to it as as well. These parallel sand bars turn into warm tidal pools when the tide goes out. They are the perfect place for youngongs to play that are otherwise intimated by the ocean’s waves.

They are warm and safe. They can explore and jump and kick safely.

Here’s a brief look at the girls making do in their Atlantic backyard…

And so that’s where our two girls spent the majority of their morning. Since it was our first time back to the ocean since last September, Dylan digressed a bit in her love of the ocean. We played in the waves a little but it only took a couple of knock downs from the waves and mouth fulls of water to have her come in.

But we had a great day.

It reminded me of all the things I missed over the winter, the beach combing, riding the waves, the therapeutic sound of the sea. So I wanted to see of mommy wanted to head back out on Sunday too. (hint, hint)

Kicking back in our lounge chairs, watching the girls make their own fun in the tidal pools couldn’t help but remind me of one of my favorite beach songs. And so I will leave you with that and a few more pictures of summer to start your week. Cheers!

I know I don’t get there often enough
But God knows I surely try
It’s a magic kind of medicine
That no doctor could prescribe
Lagoon at Lions Dive Club

I used to rule my world from a pay phone
Ships out on the sea
But now times are rough
Oh I got too much stuff
I can’t explain the likes of me

But there’s this one particular harbor
So far but yet so near

Philly trip 009
Where I see the days as they fade away
And finally disappear

But then I think about the good times
Down in the Caribbean sunshine

Tube Racing

In my younger days I was so bad

John's 'extreme' diving

Laughin’ about all the fun we’ve had

That was fun!

I’ve seen enough to feel the world spin
Mixin’ different oceans meetin’ cousins
Listen to the drummers and the night sounds
Listen to the singers make the world go ’round..

Lakes below the mountain
Flow into the sea

Like oils applied to canvas
Oh how they permeate through me

Philly trip 007

But there’s this one particular harbor
Sheltered from the wind

Philly trip 012
Where the children play

on the shore each day
And all are safe within

Philly trip 014

A most mysterious calling harbor
So far but yet so near

Philly trip 008
Where I can see the day

when my hair’s so gray
And I finally disappear

going down

But Not Yet…

Have a great weekend everyone! Make it the best week yet!

(Thanks to Jimmy Buffett for that One great Particular Harbor)

Posted in Archives and tagged , ,
18 Dec 2012
6 Comments

Use me. Abuse me…the Christmas way

It is time for a Use Me and Abuse Me post. This is the idea I wanted to steal from Susie Lindau’s Wild Ride. She is a very creative blogger and is always finding new and fun ways to interact with her readers.

So what is Use Me and Abuse Me Day?

This is a Christmasy way to share some of your favorite things and meet and / or pick up a few new friends and subscribers. Abuse me by bringing ONE link to your favorite Christmas post. If you bring two, you will end up in Spam Prison. Simply pick your fav Christmas post you think everyone will enjoy reading. You have some by now, don’t you? Everyone has a favorite. After pasting it, write a small introduction to entice  some readers to your blog.

If you have a favorite Christmas video or song, go for it!

Feel free to introduce yourself to others in my comment section. Say, “Hello!” You all seem pretty cool! I want stop by your place and check yours out. I think some others will too.

Subscribe to a few blogs and they may subscribe to yours. Tell them, “Susie and Andy sent you”.

I have already started this Christmas party off by sharing my two favorite Christmas posts, “Raise a Glass” and “Kids Just Don’t Understand“.

Adding some favorite Christmas songs might be the orchestral version of Carol Of the Bells. If you enjoy that song here is a wonderful version of it:

That song always stops me in my tracks. A few of my non-traditional favorite Christmas songs might be the 80′s girl group, the Waitresses, and ‘Christmas Wrappings‘ about a young lady finding the Christmas Spirit in a busy A&P store. ..

Come on, you gotta like that one (my wife hates it too). Another, Silver Bells by the Roches, is found on Martha Stewart’s Christmas CD. I liked it so much I used it for the background music to Dylan’s second Christmas story:

They grow so fast! Finally, being the beach bum that I am, here is a Coastal Christmas fav. warming into my heart each year; Jimmy Buffet’s Christmas Island:

But now that is way too much about me. Howabout you?

Let the virtual Christmas party begin! Come on in.  Socialize! Mingle with the other guests! Every sumptuous entree and decadent dessert offered here is for your virtual pleasure. Indulge! The drinks are on the house, although they are at my house.  Everything is calorie and guilt free! Except for me, for shamelessly pirating Susie’s ‘Abuse Me’ post.

Thank you Susie! Be sure to check out the party at Susi’s blog. You may never leave! Have a Merry Christmas everyone and please drop off and unwrap some of your Christmas gifts for everyone below…

Posted in Archives and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
30 Sep 2012
4 Comments

Jamaica: FDR III…EARNED frequent flyer miles

My wife and I were real excited to go on this trip to the Caribbean for a big reason, we have not been on a vacation since August of 2011. We each have changed jobs over the past year and taking time off was just not possible as we each tried to get established in our new positions. Add to that length of no R&R was the fact that a lot of the utility and benefits of that last vacation were wiped out by the plane ride home.

You see our last vacation we flew the kids up to Ocean City, NJ. We could do this as US Air owed us a trip after we cancelled our flights that we made 3 weeks before we found out Skylar was going to be born back  in 2010.

Well on that last flight home, US Air neglected to send a plane to take us.

You see we were to fly out of Philly. It rained real hard that day. It turned out that it rained real hard up and down the east coast. The flight that was supposed to take us home that Sunday was never able to leave  the ground in New York, due to all the rain. This was Sunday afternoon around 12:00 noon. I HAD to be at work Monday by 5:00am and now no way to cover those 600 miles to get home.

It was very stressful. Daddy had to stand in line and then bargain to get a flight the same day. Staying overnight was not an option. Mom had the tougher job of pacifying an 18 month and 3.5 year old little girls  that desperately needed a nap in an airport. At 3:00pm we were at our end.

We ended up finding a flight that landed at the closest airport some 6 hours later. We found a friend to go pick us up there and we got home around 11:00pm. We did. Or luggage didn’t. No one told our luggage that our flight was cancelled and it showed up in Charleston the next day. All in all not very amusing.

But that trip was far in the past. Just a memory of what could go wrong, not that it ever would again. Right?

Last week he had to hop on a ‘puddle jumper’ to Miami from Charleston. The international trip began at 7:00am in Charleston. So get there with plenty of time. Right?

We all woke up around 4:30am. We got showered, dressed, breakfast(ed). As I am finishing up poor Dylan walks in my bathroom, her head held down. She says, “Daddy…this is a disaster.”

“Huh? What do you mean Dylan? Why is this a disaster?”

She  said, “Getting up this early. This is a disaster.” ~preachin’ to the choir girl!

“Well maybe you both can sleep on the plane Dylan.” I hope, I hope, I hope.

The girls didn’t sleep but they did pretty good and we were proud of them. The last time Skylar was on a plane she was 18 months old with an ear infection. This trip had to be better than that? Right?

She and Dylan both did great. As much as they love to spot planes in the sky, they each were unimpressed as the plane’s wheels left the ground at takeoff. In fact, Dylan pulled the window down. The rising sun was too bright for her eyes.

“Daddy, the plane has a leak”

We landed in Miami and hustled to our next terminal, got on the plane and prepared to be vacationed. No problem mon.

We taxied out to the runway and then we sat. And we sat. And we sat. Are we waiting for takeoff I wondered? Then, the pilots voice came over the loud speaker, “Attention passengers…we have a warning light on our dashboard so we are going to have to turn around and get it checked out.

And we sat. Can you imagine what runs through your mind when the pilot says we have to fix your plane? Especially through all the waiting and no communication?

Finally the plane began to taxi back to the American Airlines terminals.

And we sat.

The pilot’s voice came over the intercom again, “Well we have made it back to the bays but now we are waiting for one to open up. All the bays are full. As soon as we get word one is available we will head over. Please stay seated with your seat belts on.”

“Did you hear that Dylan? Skylar?” Yea, good luck with that!

And we sat. We had enough time on hands to wonder why this mysterious warning light on the dashboard didn’t come on before we pulled away from our terminal?

Actually we were still quite pleased with the behavior of our girls. They had not cried or whined. Mommy did a great job of prepping their carry-on bags with some great kid activities. No more disaster in Philly! Right?

Dylan played school on her computer

Another twenty minutes went by and we started to roll again. We had to taxi over to the other side of the airport where a terminal became available. The pilot’s voice came on, “Well we found a bay to get repairs. When we come to a stop we will let you disboard so you can stretch your legs. The repairs should take about an hour so meet back at this terminal in 60 minutes.” Only an hour I thought?

And we sat.

It turns out nobody told the maintenance man where we were or he didn’t have a ride over. Eventually they did let us leave the plane. We grabbed our carry-ons and the kids and tried to find something to eat. We rode the skytrain at Miami International, hit the restrooms and found our way back to our new terminal, where we sat. Well Dylan and Skylar didn’t. They were either climbing the windows or laying on the carpet by the terminal doors now.

Eighty minutes went by from our unboarding when a voice finally came over our terminal.

“Well flight 1491 we have some good news and some bad news. The bad news is that it is going to take longer to fix your plane then we originally thought. The good news is that we found another plane for you to take you to paradise. You can board that new plane now. It is at  terminal 6. If you have not grabbed your carry-ons please pick them up from this plane before you head down to terminal 6 and your new plane. No worries, no cry”

Well he didn’t actually sing the Bob Marley song but he did say paradise, which sure wasn’t the interior of an American Airlines jet!

We were at terminal 46. OK, here we go. We were familiar with the airport by now. We opted to hoof it to the new terminal instead of climbing the stairs up to the sky train (this was good!)

The four of us had made it all the way down to terminal 30 when a  voice came over the airport’s intercom, “Attention flight 1491, your plane is now ready. Head back to your plane and prepare for takeoff.

REALLY!? Is this a joke?

So we restepped our path back to the terminal, stood in line, and prepared to board.

We found our seats, strapped in and prepared for our overdue trip to Jamaica. We really should have been at our resort by now! Step up American Airlines!

Well……we sat.

It turns out those that rode the skytrain down to terminal 6 missed the call back to the plane. So we had to wait for everyone on the flight to make it back. We sat.

It turns out American Airlines never staffed terminal 6. The handful of people that made it down there waited and no was there to tell them they were at the wrong place. We sat in our airplane’s seats a total of another 40 minutes waiting for the very last passenger to make it back to the plane.

Well they eventually did. We DID taxi to the runway. We DID take off this time. As the plane’s wheels left the ground the passengers all erupted in a sarcastic round of applause. Dylan had  nailed it, “Disaster”.

You may know the rest of the story and our License To Chill. We landed in Jamaica some five hours late, found our ground transportation waiting for us, rode to Runaway Bay and then were “Wow’ed” with our reservation’s upgrade, chocolate cake and champagne.

Upon departure, EACH of our flights on the way home were delayed from the  incoming flight being  a late arrival as well, making our wait and traveling day that much longer.  Again. But it did give us some time to goof at the airports!

They’re not in Finland but….

at the Margaritaville restaurant in the Jamaican airport

…where I met an old friend. Yes, I am a Pirate…

American Airlines, being the international airline that they are, really did step up. We all received emails saying they were giving us an additional 40,000 miles on our frequent flyer accounts. As if?

I think I am trying US Air next time. I never thought I would be saying that again.

So tell me,

What has been your worst travel story?

What has been your funniest?

Posted in Archives and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
25 Sep 2012
1 Comment

Jamaica: FDR… License To Chill

Well, we made it back! The girls and I snuck off to the island of Jamaica for 7 days ~ barely. Thanks AMERICAN AIRLINES! That was sarcasm.

We found a nice all-inclusive in Runaway Bay, Jamaica called the FDR Resort. Parents, this is the place to be! When they say “all-inclusive” they take the term a little bit further and give you a real-life nanny every day from 9-5. They are the only resort in the Caribbean that does this and one of only 2 resorts in the world (I read) that gives you a nanny. These nannies come highly acclaimed (Trip Advisor) and become part of your family.

Also, you get a small kitchen in your suite and the nannies stock it for you! We had a sheet where you can request any of 6 soft drinks, beer, wine, a cheese and cracker tray, cereal, milk, fresh fruit and more. This was so cool I thought.

To get there, we had to be on a plane at 7:00am. So we had to be at the airport by 6 Saturday morning. We flew to Miami and the girls did great. We were supposed to head to Jamaica but had difficulty leaving the town through a myriad of difficulties with our airplane, at one time wondering if we were going to go at all. It truly was a comedy of errors, yet not funny at all, and surely not one of American Airlines best moments (more to come).

But we finally landed in Jamaica. Due in at noon, we landed around 4:45pm. A very timely shuttle took us to our destination. Once there, our mood quickly turned around as we found our reservation had been upgraded! I requested an OF 1 BR Suite and we ended up an OF 2 floor 2BR Suite. Our new vacation home had a nice big living room with pseudo-marble tile floors, mahogany and cherry wood furniture and fixtures, high ceilings (Ugh!), and more. What a great surprise and a nice ending to a long and difficult day!

A sunrise from our room.

I asked for a second floor room in our reservation so we could get an ocean view with no worries of the kids running away at Runaway Bay while we were in the shower. That part was nice. Now, with a two-floor suite with high ceilings, my calves were burning the first two days. Do you realize how many trips you make to a kid’s room? Now that room was upstairs. Those high ceilings made for some steep, steep stairs. I thought I was in shape but my calves were hurting. Be careful what you wish for, right?

We received our upgrade, in part, because I told them that Saturday was my anniversary (it actually was Friday) and also because the resort was fairly empty so they had rooms to spare.  Being the middle of September I imagine most of the resort’s target market had just taken their kids back to school this month. FDR had 8 buildings for guests but only the ocean front building was occupied. We had the place to our self!

So there we were! We made it to vacation, finally. Upon inspection of our new digs in Jamaica we found a chocolate cake and a bottle of champagne in the frig with our name on it too. THANKS FDR! To the resort’s credit, the whole staff did go out of their way for you, from the bartenders to lifeguards to maintenance to our great nanny, everyone went above and beyond with smiles on their faces. This was just the beginning we found out.

Nicely done FDR!

Further inspection of our upgrade revealed a nice, anniversary size king size bed upstairs. The bed may have been a bit old as it creaked quite a bit; maybe louder than any bed I had ever heard. But it was OK, we were on vacation. No problem mon!

The kids didn’t see ‘king size’ bed but a ‘jump castle’. And so, before we herded them off to bed our first night, we first had to shush them after jumping on OUR bed for 45-60 minutes. That next morning it became apparent how noisy that bed was as I got a high-five, two thumbs up, a wink and a nod from many of the guests down at breakfast. Not all of those gestures came from the men either. Those kids had made me ‘Legend’!

FDR was really built to cater to the kids too; young and old. Skylar enjoyed playing in the Kid’s Zone with our nanny the most. Both girls enjoyed feeding the rabbits and fish and doing crafts. They each made necklaces and tie-died Tee’s. The last day was goat races!

While both our girls like the water, Dylan is much more acclimated to it. She would follow mommy and daddy to the beach and pools in the morning. She made me ask the staff to turn on ‘Big Blue’, the 50 foot water slide, each morning so she could ride it. (Stay tuned) It seemed every day she either surprised or amazed us on her lack of fear and love for the water, including doing flips and floating in 40 foot ocean water. She also made a new friend, Lillya, from Switzerland. While they didn’t share much of the same language (Lillya did know a bit of English at 4 years old) they did communicate by sharing their love for the water, impressed with what the other could do. It was cute to see.

Lillya and Dylan jumping in together

Mom and Dad found a friend too in a secluded sanctuary at the edge of the resort, where we could hide from the rest of world, daring it to find us. We had a good breeze, great weather, and some crystal-clear tropical water to appreciate and cool off in.

A view from my lounge chair in our hidden sanctuary

The resort had an open-air gym that was actually above the poolside bar. There, the treadmills dreadmills had a beautiful view looking down at the neighboring beach, water and reefs. In fact, the water was so clear that, while running on this second-floor treadmill I could spot and follow fish swimming in the shallows at this beach in front of me. It may be the best view from a treadmill in its portion of the northern hemisphere!

Not your usual beach run

We did lots of research in shopping for and choosing this resort. Our other choices were a Disney Cruise, a fabulous Beaches Resort in Turks & Caicos, and our favorite Breezes resort in Curacao. We chose this resort, relying heavily on all the great comments by past vacationers on Trip Advisor.com. It seemed three out of four commentators on the resort, had been to the resort before and vowed to return again and again. in fact the reviews were so identical that the tourists seemed some sort of brainwashed. Everyone raved on the nannies and called them family. Everyone. They all sounded the same, brainwashed.

But Monday afternoon, 15 minutes into my specially beach-laden Ipod, the therapy started to work on me too. I have a special coastal Ipod I have taken to the Caribbean for the past few vacations. After listening to it for those prescribed 15 or 20 minutes, if you could wring me out, you would get drops of liquid sunshine, a salty coastal breeze, all wrapped up in a Tanqueray and Tonic flavor.

So, with my Ipod, sprawled out in my lounge chair, relaxing quietly in our own little sanctuary by the clear blue sea, sipping endlessly on my T&T,  the magic hit me too.

I’m coming back!

These nannies give parents a License To Chill; a rare, coveted document to new and old parents for ‘extended’ relaxation. Not just the 5 or 10 minutes we occasionally get.

Here’s a quick look at one day of our vacation:

We had few other fun things occur on our trip too but my wife made me do a ‘pinky-swear’ that I wouldn’t blog about them.

So take some picturesque Caribbean water, add shots of wonderful Jamaican weather and breezes with a splash of coastal melodies, finish with a scoop of ice and a well trained nanny, shake (not stirred) and you too can have a ‘License To Chill’.

If I haven’t bored you I would like to tell you a few more stories from our vacation over the next few days. Pack your bags and come a long with us!

Posted in Travel and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
17 May 2012
12 Comments

How a Pirate Feels at 50

I am hitting the big Five-Oh today. I have mixed emotions about it. Can you believe it? Half a century! It sounds so old. I’m not that old! Am I? What should I do? How should I feel? Its just a day? It feels like a day of self-assessment.

It makes me think of all the things I’ve done and gotten accomplished. And all the things I haven’t accomplished. And those things I should have accomplished. If you are younger, take note. I don’t want to sound too grim but…. time is running out! (lol) Well that’s kinda the way I feel.

To add salt to my wounds this week I heard a snippet on NPR (there we go again) about Ford’s pension plan and how they don’t have enough to pay all their employees and they are asking their employees to take a lump sum payout instead taking their annual receipts. And one guy is interviewed and he say’s “I don’t know. It’s a gamble. Do I take it all now or wait until later…..”I MAY NOT LIVE THAT LONG”!

~Thanks NPR.

Deepening the mortality wound a bit deeper this week was my AARP card arriving in the mail :(   I didn’t ask for this!

 On the way home yesterday I heard this old favorite song and it kinda summed up my somber mood. I hope you don’t mind. I think the song talks about ‘what’s left to do’. It talks about dreams ahead and old pirate days of the past; things I did, things I did and can’t do anymore and things still left to do. It the big Five-Oh. Here it is, with some embellishments…

Mother, mother ocean, I have heard you call
Wanted to sail upon your waters since I was three feet tall
You’ve seen it all, you’ve seen it all

Watched the men who rode you switch from sails to steam
And in your belly you hold the treasures few have ever seen
Most of ‘em dreams, most of ‘em dreams

Yes, I am a Pirate

Yes I am a pirate, two hundred years too late
My The cannons don’t thunder, there’s nothin’ to plunder
I’m an over-forty fifty victim of fate
Arriving too late, arriving too late

I’ve done a bit of smugglin‘ snugglin’, I’ve run my share of grass
I made enough money to buy Miami, but I pissed it away so fast
Never meant to last, never meant to last

And I have been drunk now for over two weeks
I passed out and I rallied and I sprung a few leaks
But I got stop wishin’, got to go fishin’
Down to rock bottom again
With just a few friends, just a you WordPress friends

(figuratively my Forties)

I go went for younger women, lived with several awhile
Though I ran ‘em away, they’d come back one day
And still could manage to smile
Just takes a while, just takes a while

Mother, mother ocean, after all the years I’ve found
My occupational hazard being my occupation’s just not around
I feel like I’ve drowned, but I won’t wear a frown.

My “Weekend At Bernies” pose

Well it appears I need a new set of goals. No more “buying Miami’s”. I need to get a tad more conservative in choices in my 401K. Try to further enhance any legacy plans previously sown. And try to touch my toes every morning when these old bones get out of bed! And maybe, this year, I can finally decide what I want to be when I grow up….besides the World’s Coolest Dad!

I have many things to be thankful for so far. This blog illustrates just a few of them. Its just another day.

Jimmy Buffett can perform this song a whole lot nicer than it reads.  Check it out….

Posted in Archives and tagged , ,
10 Mar 2012
11 Comments

“Dying Day”

An interesting thing happened on the way coming home from work the other day. ~ I’m gonna lose even more readers with this ~ I was listening to NPR radio when something got my attention so much that I felt I was meant to blog about it.

Now for all of you that are going to comment on how it is a sign of old age that I am listening to NPR on the way home instead of something to help me unwind, relax. Don’t worry….I am already afraid of this.

The story was on ‘All Things Considered’.  It was on a Winter Song List of people that wrote in on favorite or most inspirational songs and NPR got to pick a winner. The collage of songs caught my attention. The winning song, and story behind it however, made me take notice and actually pull over to write down the author, the title to the song, and the winning contributor so I could follow up when I got home. Click here if you want to read this wonderful 5 minute episode in its entirety.

The winning song was Brandi Carlile’s, ‘Dying Day’. Its an upbeat acoustic song about a writer longing for her love that is far away. Its kinda a catchy song in its own right but it is not what drew me in.

You see the author of this winning story was locked in an adoption. She was going to adopt a darling 5 ½ month little girl from Ethiopia. She was on an international adoption trip where she had the opportunity to meet the potential baby she wanted to adopt.

For those not familiar with international adoptions, usually you sign on for an adoption program, you state what types of children you are willing and not willing to adopt, factoring on everything from race to birth defects to parental drug use and so on. Everything. The agency eventually matches you up with a child and you have to make the long trip to meet the child to see if each one is compatible with the other. Then you talk to the government agency, fly home and wait to hear if you have been approved or not.

The potential mother was Joanna Woodbury of Wauwatosa, Wis. and I’ll let her take it from here or you can listen to the episode here:

“It was awesome, and probably the most difficult thing I’ve ever done, all in one,” Woodbury says. At the time, the little girl the couple was applying to adopt was just 5 1/2 months old. “We got to be with her for about 45 minutes. I held her for 20, and then she fell asleep. We had to put her down and leave the room, and then take a 4 1/2-hour bus ride back to an Ethiopian court and say, ‘Yes, we want to parent this child.’ “

A few days later, they were back in Wisconsin, where there was nothing to do but wait to hear that the adoption had been finalized. It would be a trying 11 weeks before word came through — and during that time, Woodbury says, she found a new appreciation for “Dying Day.”

“I was in the car listening to this song, which has always been a favorite of mine, and all of a sudden the lyrics just meant something different,” she says. “The lyrics are, ‘I just want to kiss you, and I’m going to love you till my dying day,’ and that I should be there to take of you and I can’t be. … It’s all about longing and a little bit of hurt, and just waiting until you get back to that person. And that’s how I felt.”

Meet ‘Nettie’ — short for Netsanet, an Amharic word for freedom.

I got it. I knew exactly how she felt. In fact, I couldn’t even listen to that song without tearing up a bit. If you are a parent you probably know too. Now, if any of you are readers of my blog you have to know how I feel about my two little girls. They are a gift from God that have far exceeded my expectations of what being a Dad and raising two toddlers could have ever been. But I think only a few may have guessed by now that our kids are adopted.

My ‘Dying Day’ moment was not pre-adoption though. We met our potential birthmother in a meeting prior to the adoption She was beautiful inside and out, as was her mother that came with her. We waited another 10 days ourselves until we found out we were finally going to be parents. Bam! parents in with 10 days to prepare!

But it was so much more than those 10 days. I found out in my early 40′s that we could never have children; Think about it, could never have children. Ever. We tried the IVF procedure several times and while hopes and prognoses always started off high they always ended in tears and silence.

And so, sitting in my car, on the side of a busy roadway, I knew exactly how Ms. Woodbury felt. When we finally were able to receive our new daughter, now about 2 ½ weeks old, we were the happiest people on the planet. But as all you parents know, the magic is only just beginning at that point.

Receiving our new baby girl. The answer to our prayers

I got to stay home on my company’s FMLA plan to be SAHD for the first time, as our new beautiful daughter slept and ate and pooped and occasionally smiled. And I knew I was going to love her until MY dying day.

Actually, in reality my song was Jimmy Buffett’s, “That’s What Living Is To Me”. The lyrics went, “..the world’s too big to understand. Be good and you will be lonesome. Be lonesome and you will be free. Live a lie and you will I’ve to regret it. That’s What Living Is To Me.”

We had the new tropical DVD version of this song, possibly one of the most scenic videos ever. We had just gotten back from vacation about 3 months earlier and I was still riding the tropical high. Knowing that my daughter was going to grow up loving Jimmy Buffett just as I did (living close to the beach)  I would play the scenic DVD for her. And when this song came on I would pick her up and hold her gently close to my chest until I could smell her baby’s breath and slowly dance to this song while I quietly sang it in her ear, ” That’s what Dylan is to me. That’s what Dylan is to me”.

Now, the point of this blog though was not to be about me or my family or Joanna Woodward. Its about adoption itself.

Why isn’t the gift of Adoption considered more often?

If there is any worry about the parents not loving their adopted child as much, its simply not true. Hopefully I have illustrated that point here, and in 3D. Parents wanting to adopt wait a long time to do so, pay huge sums of money all in the hope of raising ‘their’ child. Adopting a child did not complete us. In fact that phrase doesn’t even relate.

Adopting added at least 5 years to my parents lives, easily. Adoption answered our very many heart-wrenched prayers, literally transforming birth mothers in to Angels in our minds. It taught us how much you can actually love. High school crushes and even marriages pale to the love for our child. Adoption is an ideal solution to an untimely or unwanted pregnancy I feel. So why don’t more young mothers do this? So many people wait so long to raise a child. The supply falls so short of demand.

Now I am not the authority on why adoption is not considered more often. Every pregnant mother might be, but not me. It shouldn’t be what other people might think about the pregnant mother, “why did she? Why couldn’t she? She should have…or that’s what my mother did”.  My knowledge of birth mothers has shown me they think more about the wants and needs of their unborn child, than the needs for them self. In short, they love their children more than they love them self. And I think that’s what great mothers do. Right?

Birth mothers are literally Angels, answering the abundance of tearful prayers offered by families wanting to raise their own children but can’t. Its not the easy way out for them. I know from experience birth mothers love and think about their kids everyday. They wonder, every day, if they made the right decision…from a distance. There is nothing easy about that. Any birth mothers, if you are reading this, please know we will love both our amazing, beautiful, phenomenal daughters, until our dying day. And one is every bit as special as the other!

So if you know, or ever come in contact with a pregnant mother in an untimely or unwanted pregnancy, please recommend the Gift of Adoption; or refer them here to 3D. If the time is not right for these girls to raise a child on their own adoption is a beautiful option. Joanna Woodward and our family can attest to that. And I think how very different my  life would be if our two amazing young ladies (birth mothers, a.k.a. Angels) thought more about them self instead of choosing us, yes they chose us to raise their daughters. To me, that would be beyond sad; for many people.

If you would like more information on the Adoption process, from either the adopting family or the potential birth mother side, please check out our adoption agency, Bethany Christian Services. They offer first rate counselors to both sides and can help one make informed decisions.

In an attempt to end this on an up note please watch Disney’s “Meet The Robinson’s”. It’s a great movie we watched last night. Purely coincidental! Our was it?


Why do you think adoption is not used more often for untimely pregnancies?

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