While waiting for Jane to arrive, we tried to stay occupied so the wait wouldn't seem so long. There are several posts that will be coming from the "waiting for Jane" phase.
One of the most exciting things that happened was Adam's big 3-0 birthday!!
I had been looking forward to this day for a long time because I had a present that I had been anticipating to give him.
A long time ago last year I saw a really cool idea on pinterest, of course. I became obsessed with the idea, as I do best, and began to get the ball rolling to make it happen. I emailed family and friends back in September and told them my plan. I mentioned Adam's big day was coming up in June 2012 and that I wanted letters with memories and things they admired about Adam. Being so early, I didn't get any response right away, but many people were working away on their thoughts.
As time came closer, the letters started coming in. I put them all in old air mail envelopes and numbered each one with a sticker number.
There actually turned out to be a few extra envelopes needed because Adam's dad wrote about a 15 page letter to him, which was absolutely tender.
So many of the thoughts brought tears to my eyes actually, as they came in and I read them. I kept thinking to myself, yes, Adam does put me and the girls first and always has our best interest at heart. Yes, he does genuinely care about everyone he comes into contact with and goes above and beyond to help them.
The girls and I had more fun watching him read the letters than we do watching a favorite movie. There were some pretty funny memories included that had us laughing really hard. It was fun too because as he opened the letters, he would begin reading it without looking at who it was from. Then he would try to guess.
I think here he is reading one of the nephews letters that began, "Adam my darling...."
Pure comedy.
I was so glad that I started pulling it together so long ago. I kept having the feeling to have Adam's now late mother write a letter. Things with her illness progressed too quickly for her to write one on her own, but Adam's sister wrote down thoughts that his mom had.
Things turned so tearful as he opened her letter and kept looking at the line "Thoughts from mom" and then looked at what was written. He did that a couple of times to figure out if his mom had really included some memories. He had a look of surprise, happiness, and mourning all at the same time.
That day he really missed her. I burst into tears as I explained how that letter was possible because it was done last fall.
The tears didn't last too long as we read the sweet and funny things his mom had remembered about her boy.
Thank You to Jamilyn for following through on a requested favor to do that many months ago!
The pictures that the girls drew also made Adam teary. He gets so many beautiful drawings from them, but he knew these were special. He just loved them climbing on his lap to explain where the balloons were and that Olive drew a backpack (he has been studying for the BAR exam.)
Happy Birthday sweets! We just love you more every year!!
