This past week was a great one for us… the court hearing for the twins’ birth parents was scheduled to start on Monday but the twins’ parents came to an agreement with the state that they would willingly release their rights for the twins, and their older siblings, in exchange for no trial and three visits a year with the twins (the older siblings have more frequent visits because they aren’t in a pre-adoptive home yet). If you are wondering how parents could willingly give up their rights it’s most likely because their attorneys told them they didn’t stand a chance in court and that if they settled they would be guaranteed three visits a year as opposed to two (or whatever the judge may decide). This means that there is no chance of an appeal and that the adoption will happen, if all paperwork is completed by the state, in about three months. I’m already brainstorming a party…
Not Elle’s best picture… 😉 | Coat: Zara (this was my Paris purchase!) | Dress: J. Crew via ThredUp
My brain just feels so much lighter and I’m having far fewer moments of anxiety now that the Salem condo renovation is done and now that we have a decision on the babies. As a reward for tackling the final task of the condo renovation (submitting all the final receipts to the home owner) I ordered this book off of Amazon after reading the back of it at Barnes & Noble ($6 cheaper on Amazon) while we were away on our Boston getaway. I had to force myself to put it down to write a blog post (I’m one of those people that lose themselves to good books).
This past week I made a little bit larger purchase than just a book. We purchased the tile for our kids bath renovation. This project seems to be one of our longest lasting ones but we’ve been doing it in stages while we figured out what we wanted this space to look like long term. We got these gorgeous basket weave tiles from Wayfair. One of the perks of being a blogger is that I was able to approach Wayfair and ask if they wanted to partner on this project so they are covering about a third of the cost of the tiles. We purposely chose this tile for the affordability and ease of laying it. I figured we could choose something a little more expensive in the smaller master bath (I adore these) for when we redo that space. (This tile we ordered is out of stock till mid-April but THIS ONE is almost identical and will ship by Friday!)
Ours will look very similar to this but with gray squares as opposed to black.
DEAL ALERTS
World Market has Free Shipping off of any purchase over $150. The console table behind our couch is from there and we love it! Also, if you join EBates (a way I save money all the time on online purchases, it’s legit, I’ve received checks every quarter with my cash back) you get 4% back when purchasing from World Market. Join EBates HERE and get an additional $10 back with your first purchase over $25.
EBates has 10% back at WalMart right now. One of my favorite benches (now in our living room) would be $85.99 with 10% back (some catagories are only 5% cash back now but home items are 10%).
My favorite chair is priced at $253 now with free two day shipping. Keep in mind it’ll feel hard for the first few days you own it but then will become more comfy. We’ve had ours in our office and living room for about a year and they’ve held up really well.
This bed is the closest one I could find to ours (our color is in between the gray and charcoal) but it’s on sale and ships by March 1!
I hope you have an amazing day today! The kids are on school vacation so they are off learning to ski with AJ while I’m home with sleeping babies! I’m so grateful to have such amazing readers who send me the sweetest notes about our life and generally care about our family and in particular how things are going with the twins’ adoption process.
Such wonderful news! Cannot wait to see the twins adorable faces! Much happiness.
Can’t wait to share their gorgeous faces… their eyes are incredible! 🙂
Wonderful news, Jen. So happy for your family. May God bless you all xoxox
Thank you so much, Beth!!! Have a great night!
I am so happy for you although I do not understand how the “open adoption” case benefits all. As a long time reader enjoying your stories, I would like to wish happiness and well-being to your family. You have so much courage!
Thank you so much, Zoe! In MA almost every case (not private adoptions but the ones going through the state like we did) will end in an open adoption. An open adoption means that the kids have required visits with us and their birth parents x number of times a year (whatever the judge decides) and that we have to send Christmas cards with pictures of the kids to the parents. The parents can never share the photos with anyone. I think the state does it this way so that the kids grow up with the freedom to know who their parents are. Based off the amount the parents have been visiting the kids at their weekly visits lately my guess is that there will not be three visits a year (if they miss two in one year we never have to do them again).
I am very happy for you and your family. I hope all goes smoothly and can’t wait to see what the babies really look like. They sure look adorable, even with their eyes covered. Best wishes to you all.
Love, Joanne
Thank you so much, Joanne! I’ll FB message you a photo of them! 🙂
Congratulations to your entire family (of 6)!!!!
Thank you so much, Vickie! 🙂 We are so excited!
So happy and relieved for your family. I can’t imagine what the last year has been like. I have friends who have fostered to adopt and I know from their experience that very unexpected, upsetting things do happen sometimes. It breaks my heart that there are parents and children in need of these arrangements in the first place. I only “know” you through the blog but you seem absolutely lovely and all four of your babies are blessed to have you. I will pray for your family.
Isn’t the Internet a funny thing that you feel like you can know people you’ve never met? I feel like that with a number of bloggers too. 🙂 We are definitely relived to have that decision / trial behind us.
Congratulations! I’ve been following your blog for a couple of years for style inspiration. I’m so glad to hear that everything is working out well and n the adoption. A cousin of mine went through a similar adoption. I know that it can be a very hard process, but incredibly rewarding for parents and children. Wishing you and your family the best!
Congratulations, Jen! We went through an international adoption and understand your pain. So happy for you all! 😊
I am so happy for you and AJ and your family. I have prayed for you and will continue. I can’t wait to see the precious faces of those babies!
You are amazing, Kim, thank you! I’m going to be sure to post a bunch of photos from when they were infants without the lines over their eyes too. 🙂