Who would of thought..4 years later

Jan. 9th, 2003 - life changed for me. Not only for me, but for my family and friends. Jan. 9th will be a day none of us will forget especially me. It is a day I always go back to when I think I'm having a bad day. Being diagnosed with cancer at the age of 25, newly married was a bit of a shock for me. I always knew in my life, ever since I could remember, something rare (good or bad) would happen to me. On that day, Jan. 9th- I told my brother in the a.m. I had cancer, oddly to say he knew it too. So many times in our life God touches us and speaks to us, but how often do we listen? For some reason in that hospital room, my brother and I shared the same sense. I knew from that point forward my life would never be the same. Thoughts flooded my head- how long will I live? What do I do now? What about all my family- my husband what will they do? I never thought about being a mommy not once during that day. Maybe if I did I would not have chosen to have a hysterectomy, maybe I would have saved my eggs. I look back at that day and I wonder why me? Why was I put in this position? I know everything in our lives happen for a reason- I asked Hank on Sunday I still do not know the reason behind the cancer and not being able to carry a child. He simply said "someday you will". I woke up this a.m. and I figured it out- God wanted Hank and I do adopt. He knew that there was a baby out there for us that might not have had a chance without us. I sit here and wait for my 4 year check up and I think how lucky I am to adopt- to be a mommy- to a special child that was put on this earth for us.

**** Note from HB IV- All went well today with Dr. Yim (truly and angel from above) who gave Tricia a clean bill of health- 4 years cancer free!!! While 9-Jan was a scary day for the Belz and Smith families we thank God that He has seen us through all of this and pointed us down the road He has, curved as it might be. Through thick and thin, more thin than thick :-) we cherish each day. To ALL of our friends and family that provide us with support and love, THANK YOU from the bottom of our hearts. We can not wait until the day we walk down the concourse at Lambert for our homcoming with BabyBelz. It will be so very special. Trish, I am SO very proud of you. I love you :-) ..... CHEERS!

Back to the USCIS!

Happy New Year! Our appointment for biometrics was today at noon. Simple in-and-out procedure. Took us longer to park and walk to the Federal Building than it did to do the fingerprints. Ladies there said around 30 days for processing by the FBI, which means we should (praying) have an approved I-600A by early February, baring any governmental red tape. That is all for now! Back to the waiting game!

Wrapping up 2007

What a fun year it has been. We just returned home from our Christmas travels. Friends and Tricia's brother are joining us in St. Louis to close out the year. For Christmas gifts this year we thought we would give all our family and close friends something related to the adoption. So after I created the BabyBelz logo, I had the idea to put it on shirts for everyone. A company called Custom Ink (www.customink.com) did a wonderful, high-quality job plus they have tons of other items! The prices were great too. Here are the model shots:

Tricia, Kayla, and Ann

Walker, Mike, Hank and Scott
(Toasting to BabyBelz)

While our adoption journey is still young we thought it would be a fun way to celebrate all of the small steps towards the day we hold our child. Our family and friends are really excited and that means the world to us. From the Belz Family, we wish you a happy and healthy 2008. And for those families waiting on final travel, we wish speedy I-600 approval and God's speed!

Merry Christmas!

We hope you and your families have a Merry Christmas! While waiting for that plump jolly old elf to visit your house, see were Santa is right now. His position is update every 5 minutes... Click this link HERE Looks like he made a stop in VN too :-). Enjoy this special day, and everyone travel safe! Our Christmas card this year.

Christmas 1974. I am on the left. Sisters Diehnee (middle)
and Libby (right).

UNCLE SAM COMES CALLING!

Well not for the military, but we received our I-797C (ASC Appointment Notice) letters in the mail today! We are scheduled to do our biometrics on 01/03/08 at 12:00pm at the Federal building. Not used to being fingerprinted so many times!
Having all of these official docs will come handy when we put all of this into a book for our child to look over later in life and see exactly what we have done in regards to completing their adoption. I guess it is sort of a baby book, but with more legal documents. All of these entries would be great to include too.
The NOT so exciting part of this appointment is the the major interstate that goes through St. Louis is being closed on Jan 2 and will not re-open for 2 years, so the 30 min drive to downtown will take about 1 hour.