Merry Christmas!

I hope this Christmas was one spent with loved ones and making memories. We got to do just that, here are a couple pictures.



Christmas Eve at Moms.



Disneys very merry Christmas



At the haunted mansion.



Two of my favorite people, gramma and grampa. Look at Grampas shirt, he cracks me up!

And last for your viewing pleasure, and mine since I just found this today and Scotty caught this beauty on "film" Taylor enjoying Scotty's gift to himself, the kinect.

I had posted a Haiti blog but my blog app swallowed it up, I hope I can find it!

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Anderson

This past weekend we went back to our alma mater for homecoming. This time of year Indiana is beautiful, leaves are changing, crisp temperatures. It had rained all week, but held off for our trip.
Earlier that week my best friend celebrated her birthday and got engaged so the timing was perfect!
We went to the street fair, cheap thrills (a comedy show the school puts on), visited some of our favorite places (one of which is a gas station-don't judge me), took engagement photos for the newly engaged couple, and got to catch up with all my college roommates and Scotty's too.

Here are some photos from our trip...



At the street fair


Look at that bling!


The girls together again



Scotty and his "boyfriend" Eric




Some quality planking



Pray for us this week as we leave tomorrow morning for Haiti, I don't know if I'll be able to blog but I will post when we get back.

Tera
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Home study #1....check!

Last night was our first home study visit. I was SO nervous, I got home early so I'd have time to clean up, as if our HOURS of cleaning the night before wasn't enough! Before they arrived I had the stuff for brownies, sugar cookies, and cream cheese dip all out trying to decide. Of course Scotty was finishing his "HW" last minute so I was left to stress over "to feed, or not to feed?".

I chose peanut butter pretzels in case you're interested, they were a hit.

We spent a lot of time talking about our families, our relationship, and how we arrived at our decision to adopt. Both of the ladies who came were so sweet and kind, especially with my unique family situation, compared to Scotty I sounded like a Dr. Phil guest! (Not in a bad way. My family is all incredible!! I just have A LOT, and the way they're connected to me requires a detailed explanation)

We talked about what we want in a child, age, race, how many!!! That thought never crossed my mind! She said sibling groups and I think I choked on a pretzel, lol. So we are looking for baby under a year old, either boy or girl, Caucasian or Hispanic.

We ended the night talking about E-mealzcouponing, and toilet paper. I emailed our social worker today about some things and told her that by the time they left I felt like they were friends visiting!

We also found out that they set their fees on a sliding scale based on your income and we are going to be paying A LOT less than what we were anticipating! YAY GOD!

Our agency works with the state too but I think our meeting helped solidify that we are going in the right direction.

Love to all! T & S


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A fork in the road...

We have arrived at a fork, we are in a pickle, we have a conundrum.

Here is our dilemma: private adoption or child welfare adoption through the state?

Private Adoption pros & cons:
Pros...
-You choose the age, newborns are definitely available. Possibly a relationship with the birth mother during her pregnancy.
-BM are carefully screened, we would have a very transparent view of the BMs pregnancy.
-Our agency will guarantee most of the money even if our adoption should fall through.
Cons...
-Cost of adoption starts at $15,000 and goes up. $15K would be a LOW cost.
-Since a BM chooses you, there is potential to have a longer wait. (it could also move more quickly)

State adoption pros & cons:
Pros:
-FREE. That's right, it's free. There may be minimal fees but not even close to a private adoption.
-Due to the high need of families it would move much faster than a private adoption.
-There's a huge need, google heart gallery. It is so sad and unbelievable how many children don't have families.
Cons...
-The average age of a child adopted is 8. Under 5 years old is rare, and at any given time there are 300+ families waiting for a toddler.
-The odds of being chosen for a toddler are very small.
-Kids up for adoption are in the foster care system, which means they will have been through emotional trauma and have special needs to connect to a new family.

So, we need to decide ASAP. We have been seeking God's plan throughout our journey, and right now we really want to continue on the path He has for us. One other prayer request is a financial one. Our homestudy is scheduled for this Thursday and on our second visit we will have to pay half of the cost. ($750) Scotty is working on a 5k to raise money but we seem to keep running into roadblocks. He's persistent and very resourceful, so we are pressing on! If you have connections or are interested in sponsoring something for the race, email or call one of us.

Thank you for following our journey, and we are so thankful for your continued prayers!

Tera & Scotty

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Home study is here....almost!

We finally have movement! Our agency had been without an adoption social worker for some time, they finally have one. She called me to set up our first home study visit which will be the first week of September!

We've been working on the spare room, here is a picture of Scotty putting together a changing table.



He put it together so quickly I hope he has the same talent for changing diapers!!!

You can see the new color in the room too. Kind of a teal-blue. It was a "merlot" shade before, but not anymore thanks to the Bayliss family!

School starts on Monday, no kids for another week though. I was given a small promotion to team leader, so that Helps make the upcoming year more exciting!

Hope you all are enjoying your summer, and staying dry!!

Tera & Scotty



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Maggie Valley vacation

In June Scotty and I went to Maggie Valley with his family. On the way there we stopped in Sky Valley, Georgia so he could golf in his favorite place in the world. There's so much to love that it has quickly become one of my favorite places too. Here are some pictures from the trip, enjoy!








How I golf... :)



Horseback riding. Scotty happened to be riding in front of me on Pretty Boy who is the gas -iest horse ever :-P



This is Angel Falls when we visited in March before the trees had filled in, the picture after was the same location but in the summer. What a difference!
Before:



After:


Freeeeeeeeezing water! We had a picnic here





Austin hit the jackpot!


Goofing around!


We stopped for the night in Savannah, Georgia on the way home. In front of the Marshall House where we stayed.



What are you up to this summer???

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Myrtle Beach

This week I went to Myrtle Beach, SC for my brother's baseball tournament. On our way we stopped at three colleges for Taylor. It was just girls (Mom, Gramma, Taylor & I) on the way up which was nice. Here are a few photos of the colleges.

Anderson University (not to be confused with MY AU, this one is in SC)


Lenoir Rhyne, one that Taylor crossed off the list.



Lees-McCray, my favorite :)





In the middle of the mountains!





Tyler played really well, it was fun to watch him do his thing too!





We also met our family from NY and I was able to spend the first part of the week with them. They had to leave for Mazzy's 6th grade graduation so I HAVE to post a picture of Mazz at graduation :) You're welcome Mazzy!!!!



Brody's ready for the beach!



Two little pirates and a "good looking wench"-according to the Captain :)



Some of us took our pirating seriously.....



Some didn't!


The whole crew!


Ripley's aquarium



Taylor & Brode, he really does like her I promise!




Taylor & I at Friendly's last night



This is where I am currently blogging from on our last day. Yes, you can punch me later. (as soon as I get my lazy butt out of the hammock!)

Birthday Get-away

The first weekend in June Scotty and I took a road trip (our whole family of 4, dogs and all!) to St. Simons Island and Savannah. It was a fun, HOT, comical weekend!
Our first dinner in Savannah was at a seafood place, this was after dinner. Scotty didn't feel the same :)





Family picture in downtown Savannah (you can barely see Sera)




Some of you may have seen this on Facebook but it was too funny not to post. It started with a bird diving at my head, and then you can see the rest...

Then we headed onto St. Simons Island. It's a little beach town, we've been once before and didn't stay long so we have wanted to come back. It's also home to my favorite store, Dutchman Designs- . Here are a few pics from
St. Simons...









You probably didn't notice Midas, he's in the photo too!

Sera's favorite part of the trip, trying to catch a fly. Lol.

And lastly, happy to head home :)


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Happy Easter!

Hope you are all enjoying your Easter weekend, we sure are! I felt especially blessed to get to spend time with my little brother and nephews this weekend. Ty stayed with us since Mom and Taylor are in EUROPE! Dad works at night so he stayed with us.

Friday morning Sera and I did our first therapy visit. She did so well and I felt very blessed to meet some of the people we did. She was VERY tired after only a half hour!



Later that day I was able to spend some time at the lakehouse with two of my good friends on Friday, we jetskiied and got some sun!


I forgot to take pictures of egg decorating with Connor but here are our finished products...


Easter Sunday has been breakfast with Scotty, Dad, and Ty. Then we took the dogs to the lakehouse for lunch with Ron and Linda.



Homemade donuts!



My momma still gives Scotty and I easter "baskets", this was mine. Cute!




Caelus loves jetskiing and snails!




Sera, not so much! But she also likes escargot. :P




Happy Easter from the Coxes!

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