Happy Thanksgiving!! What a whirlwind these last two weeks have been. We are grateful for the comments, thoughts and prayers that have been offered on our behalf. Thanksgiving week was a joyous one spent with family and friends. Leigh worked on and off at the hospital throughout the week while Andrew enjoyed being able to play with the kids. (Strange to type that in the plural form...) We are doing our best to adjust to having a newborn and a very busy toddler.

This picture cracks us up. It's one of the few we have were Rorey is more than willing to smile at the camera and yet John is clearly not so visible. Oh well, hopefully we have many more years to attempt at pictures. 

Our growing family.

John went in for his 1 week check up and was back up to his birth weight, 6 lbs 8 oz. The doctor gave him a clean bill of health. Rorey and John will both be heading into the doctor next week for Rorey's 18 month check up and John's 2 week. Hopefully Rorey has managed to climb back onto the weight scale.

 
                                                             Eyes open!! Success.

Rorey loves taking walks. She enjoys picking up all the leaves she can and bringing them to whomever she is walking with. She also loves to be lifted up to touch the hanging branches. (Rock climbing here we come!) This past week, it got a little cooler in temperature. Andrew let Rorey pick out a hoodie to go on their walk. This is what she went with....

                                                        Love our little monster. So fitting.

We have received many inquiries into why Andrew has a black eye in some of our recent photos. No, Leigh did not punch him. Andrew had a diabetic reaction that caused him to meet the floor in our kitchen in a rather unpleasant manner. He is doing better and for the most part has stopped scaring little children when they see his face. Here is a picture when his eye was at one of its better moments:

What a tough guy!

Our homestudy will be on December 6th. This is where they come and inspect our home to make sure it is a fit environment to raise a child in. They also ask us a long list of personal questions to determine that we have some iota of what we are getting ourselves into. (Who really knows what they are getting into when it comes to parenting? Really.) We will keep you posted as to how that turns out as we continue to count down the days until John can become part of our eternal family.

Post sponge bath for John. Love the curls. 

We hope that each of you had an amazing Thanksgiving and were able to celebrate with loved ones. We continue to be humbled and awestruck at the generosity of those around us. Thank you. We might not always get a chance to say it, but we always feel the gratitude in our hearts for those that have made the last few weeks such a success. 

Life as we know it...

It has been far too long and we concede that. Sorry. Here are a couple of major things that have taken place in our life in the last few months.

1) Andrew graduated in May from Appalachian State with his Masters in College Student Development

2) We moved to Dallas for the summer to hang out with family and allow Andrew time to apply for jobs all over the country

3) Leigh went back to work at Medical City Children's Hospital in July

4) Rorey, Leigh and Leigh's family went to the UK for 16 days in August (Andrew was in the throws of interviewing with various universities and needed to be in the US)

5) Andrew accepted a job at Texas A&M University working for the Memorial Student Center as a Program Advisor and started at the end of September

6) Rorey and Leigh continue to commute to and from Dallas until January 1st when Andrew's health insurance kicks in

7) We received the paperwork to start the adoption process over again on October 1st

8) October 5th we received a phone call about a potential birth mother

9) Rorey was a one-eyed monster for Halloween

10) November 15th, 2011- Rorey turned 18 months old

10) November 16th, 2011- our son John Richard Carruth was born at 2:45 pm. He weighed in at 6 lbs 8oz and is 18.5 inches long.

Side note- We are currently in the process of adopting John. We have reached the first of multiple milestones that must be met in order for him to become permanently a part of our family. Here is a list of those milestones:

Birth
48 Hours- Birth mom can sign a relinquishment of her rights
32 Days- Our attorney will file to terminate birth father rights
45 Days- Our attorney will go to court to verify that all parental rights have been terminated
90 Days- We go to court to finalize and make John 100% non-refundable

We will also be completing a homestudy within the next few weeks.

We are grateful for all of the love and support that we have received these last few months. We ask that prayers continue to be offered on our behalf. Thank you for coming on this journey with us. We also ask that no mention of John be done on any social media sites (ie Facebook, Twitter, etc) until we have finalized the adoption.

Thank you...for everything.

                                                                Our Growing Family

                                                   
                                                      Our miracle worker: Dr Kim Vernon

                                              Rorey hanging out with her new little brother

                                                          Kisses!! What a good big sister!! 

Daddy Daughter Tribute

So as many of you are aware, the three of us are currently spread out all over the world. Leigh is in Egypt with her parents (she didn't get to go Israel in June, so they decided to take her to Egypt). Rorey is in Dallas with Annie and Marianne. I (Andrew... yes, I'm commandeering the blog!), am still in North Carolina preparing for my trip to the UK on Thursday (the one that was rescheduled from our original trip in April that was postponed by a volcano in Iceland, which led to Rorey's adoption, and so on...). We will not all be together again until October 20, when I return from the UK. So in her absence, I've decided to post a small tribute.

Rorey: Who would have thought that something this small and innocent could change your life so quickly. Every day I find myself looking forward to coming home and seeing her. There is something about holding her that makes everything else stand still, that whatever frustrating or stressful things are happening dissolve, and you begin to realize what really matters in life. In the past four months I have gone from husband, to dad and husband. It's been a huge journey, but I would not have traded it for anything. These past few days it is clear how much I miss that kid, her laughs, giggles, smiles, cries, toots, and just about anything she does. Here are some of my favorite pictures of her and I:

My welcome home, have a diaper change pep talk. 

Probably one of my favorite pictures and will be for a long time. Leigh put Rorey in bed with me one morning, and this I guess is how we were both asleep. 

Rorey's attempt to eat my nose... I was curious if she was just fussy or hungry, so needed to give her something to chew on to see. 

Leigh thought this was a good idea, not sure if Rorey agreed. Regardless... we hang out a lot. 

For the record, Rorey is yawning... not crying in this picture. 

My department at ASU got all the staff headbands this year... I thought mine went best on Rorey... she quickly became the unofficial poster child of the department. 

We tend to have a lot of conversations like this. I do most the talking, surprise surprise. 

My mom, Rorey, and I just chilling on the futon. We might or might not have been watching TV at the time haha. If you didn't know, Rorey is fascinated by the sound and colors from the TV.

Rorey's "Old man, I'm asleep" face. I think this was the first time she ever fell asleep on me. 

Most recent picture of us. Right now, all I have to do is hold her and things just settle. The stress, exhaustion, or frustrations in my life, just disappear when I hold her. She's a pretty cool kid... and she's mine!

It's Official

So it's a month late, but it's official! On September 1, 2010, we flew back to Dallas to appear in court. We spent about 30 minutes waiting, and about 3 minutes in the courtroom before the judge. After all the pomp and circumstance, it was official. Rorey is officially our daughter, and her name is now officially Rorey Taylor Carruth (we got the official birth certificate a couple weeks ago... that was weird... in a good way). The best part was we got in there, and we both had to answer questions from the attorney, all the while, Rorey is blowing bubbles, making faces at the judge. We're pretty sure Rorey flirtatiousness got us the ruling in our favor.

Both Leigh's parents, Bob (G-Bob) and Jan (Lola), were there for moral support, to take pictures, and be official carriers of Rorey's continually growing diaper bag. We had a great attorney (David Cole, in case you ever need an adoption attorney in Texas) who took away a lot of the stress and helped us really enjoy the experience.

Later that week, Andrew's family came in from all over Texas and Japan and joined us. We always love having both of our families together, because for in-laws, we surprisingly get along really well with each other. On Saturday, we traveled to the Dallas, TX, LDS temple where the three of us were sealed for eternity. On Sunday, Rorey was blessed at the church in Dallas, by Andrew.

Saturday night we had a party with friends and family. We were so blessed to have so many people come out to celebrate with us this wonderful experience. One of our friends a few months back was talking to his mother about Rorey, and how blessed she is to be adopted into a family that loves her, and who are surrounded by more friends and family that love her too (pretty insightful thought from a 12 year old boy). We could not disagree. We are so blessed, there truly are not words to express that. We have continually been surprised by the generosity of friends and family of their time, resources, and happiness.

Rorey is our daughter, we are a growing family, and not a day goes by that we do not smile, knowing that there are some prayers that get answered, they may just take longer than others.

Rorey is ready for court... hopefully this is her only time in a court room!

Leigh and Rorey... not sure what they face Rorey is making is... who cares, it's cute!

In the courtroom, just after the judge ruled that Rorey was officially our daughter (notice the judge strategically placing herself in the shot... she was pretty happy for us!).

Rick, Andrew's dad, holding Rorey... yep, she's smiling now!

Andrew, Leigh, and Rorey outside the Dallas, TX, LDS Temple after being sealed. Yes we purposefully matched... we're THAT family!

Rorey singing to Leigh.

This is the continuation of a beautiful relationship! She's got him wrapped around her finger!

Rorey likes water, it seems to calm her when she's crying. Bob donated his fountain from the office... Rorey is still debating if it's good enough for her or not. :) 

July... Come and Gone

OK, so we definitely recognize the fact that we are HORRIBLE at this whole blogging thing, and we have overused our excuse that we're just too busy to keep updating. We think we're also a little spoiled in that we get to see Rorey, laugh with her, and watch her grow, that we often forget you cannot see her as well. So here's our update for July and hopefully you will not have to wait until September to hear about August.

July was a good month for our family. It began with the return of Rorey, Leigh, and Kelsey (Leigh's sister) to North Carolina. Andrew had been back for a few weeks and was ready for the women in his life to return (not to be forgotten Emma and Chaco as well). Andrew spent a week cleaning the whole house top to bottom, only to literally have a trailer unloaded in the front room (we're just now finally getting everything cleared out and organized). Leigh's sister Kelsey joined Leigh to help with the drive and once again... Kelsey was a phenomenal support from climbing in the back to hold Rorey's hand to sitting in a motel room in Arkansas with two dogs and a one month old baby while Leigh was with the car getting fixed. In the end they made it safely back, and Rorey was introduced to the wonderful world of our cabin on a hill.

After a couple of weeks of being put on tour around Boone visiting people in Andrew's office and others at church (she's kind of a big deal, but don't worry, we're not letting her get a complex...), we found ourselves in a car driving back to Dallas for Annie's wedding (Leigh's best friend, Andrew's best friend, Rorey's adopted aunt, former roommate, and pretty much the glue of our family on more than one occasion). Fortunately for us this drive was a little less eventful than Leigh and Kelsey's drive to North Carolina. We were also fortunate that it rained most the way, which meant that it was cooler in the car equaling a calmer Rorey. One thing we learned on this drive... Rorey is amazing on road trips... up to about the 7.5 hour mark, beyond that she will howl, scream, kick until somebody climbs in the back to hold her hand or give her some type of physical contact. Unfortunately Chaco's love and affection was not sufficient for her.

We were in Dallas for just under a week but it was great to be home. Andrew once again brought his bike and had some good rides, despite the soaring temperatures. Most of the week was spent with family on Leigh's side and it was so great for them to get to see Rorey (it is amazing how fast babies grow and go from sleep all the time to oohing and ahhing and playing). She was also indoctrinated in the way of women spending time helping prepare for Annie's wedding, attending her bridal shower, the BBQ the night before and the wedding reception, and even a little dancing. We have realized that she is quite the social baby and at most these types of things we hardly have her with us because everybody wants a chance to hold her, and lets face it, we like to share the joy we have found in our lives with Rorey.

Sadly, our time in Dallas this time was shorter and it was soon time for us to be back on the road to North Carolina again. We stopped in Birmingham to stay with our friends the Wrights, where we celebrated Andrew's birthday a day early with to go cheesecake from the Cheesecake Factory.  The next day we were back on the road (this will be we think the 3rd or 4th year we have spent Andrew's birthday traveling somewhere). When we finally got home, we celebrated Andrew's birthday with mashed potatoes (don't worry Vanalee, Leigh made him eat meat too), watched a movie, and went to bed early.

The next week was really spent doing not much of anything. We realized that it was just a week until Andrew began training for his assistantship at App State, so we tried to spend as much time as we could together. We decided that every night we would watch a movie (we have since finished the Ocean's Trilogy, Bourne Trilogy, Lord of the Rings Trilogy, and are currently considering starting the Harry Potters). We also took a road trip to Asheville (civilization for us, they have a REI, Babies R' Us, Target, and Sam's Club) where we bought a tent so that we can now attempt to go camping, as well as became members of Sam's Club (we are actually "Business" members since Leigh is a licensed CNA in North Carolina... which basically translates we can get in at 7:00am if we ever wish the make the two hour drive just to shop early!).

Well the summer has flown by and we cannot believe it is gone. Andrew is back in training, and in just a few short weeks school will be starting again. It has been a roller coaster of a summer and it's not quite finished, we still have a few more adventures planned, and really, we wouldn't have traded the last two months for anything! So that's our update, and now here are the pictures:

After two days trapped in a car and hotel rooms, everyone was ready to be home.

 Kelsey laying out the ground rules for Chaco seeing Rorey... for whatever reason, Andrew laughs out loud every time he sees this picture.

Chaco accepted Kelsey's terms and was able to see Rorey.

Our little sultan, once again what happens when Leigh and Kelsey are a little delirious and play dress up with Rorey!

Still no formal family pictures... Rorey was a little less than happy here... she would rather have been asleep.

One of her favorite napping spots... Leigh's shoulder.

One of many of Rorey's "girl" experiences during the week. With Hannah, Annie, Lindsay, and Leigh at Annie and Brad's BBQ the night before their wedding. 

Another picture at the BBQ with friends... once again, Rorey in a new set of loving arms... story of our lives. We joke that Rorey has probably been held by hundreds of people now. 

Rorey at the wedding with Uncle Zach and Aunt Kelsey (aka All Star Baby Sitters this week).

Rorey with her Lola (Leigh's mom Jan) at the wedding. Probably two of the best dressed women there that night!

Rorey with Leigh and Annie at Annie's wedding.

Does this count for a family photo?

Andrew's first dance with Rorey!

Brad, Annie, Leigh, and Andrew

Rorey hits the dance floor with Brad, Lindsay, Annie, and Hannah.