The Moose is Loose!

After leaving the agency, we looked at each other and thought "now what?" Who do we tell and when? We had already decided on how we were going to tell everyone, we just needed to get everyone together. We called Rachelle, who was supposed to be working, but she picked up the phone!! She had called in sick. Then we called Eric's parents and invited them over for coffee and dessert. We called Daniel and he picked up the phone even though he was in a movie theatre watching a movie!? Then Eric called my brother, and made arrangements for him and his family to come by for coffee and dessert (even though it was their 11th wedding anniversary). Then we went home to try to tidy up the house and finalize the details. On the way home, we stopped by Wal.mart to scan Nicolas' photo, we made one copy for each family member. We planned to insert the picture into the announcement book.
The Announcement - The Moose is Loose
My mom crochets...and when I was little, she made me a stuffed bear (which I still have) I found a pattern online and asked her to make a stuffed moose for our Little One. We named the moose Ferdinand.

About a year and a half ago, we had planned how we would announce that our Little One would be joining our family. We decided that our Little One's fuzzy friend Ferdinand the Moose (made especially for him by his Gram-Gram) would go on a hunt, searching for his purpose in life. We took a bunch of silly photos of Ferdinand looking for his purpose and at the end of the story, he finally realizes that his true purpose is to be a hugable, loveable, furry friend to you...Our Little One...inside the back cover of the book we pasted an envelope and included a photo of Nicolas inside. We had the books pre-printed (we've had them for about 18 months!).

My mom got home from work at 6 and we told her that there were some people coming over to watch the hockey game. I had to go and get some groceries, so she came with me (this is all pretty standard as far as activities go around our place on a weekend, so she was none the wiser!). We went for groceries, came home and started to set out the food. People started arriving, and I started to get more and more anxious. I felt like everyone could tell just by looking at me! We were waiting until everyone arrived...it was a really difficult half hour or so to fill up with random conversation about the weather, my garden...anything but the adoption!

Once everyone had arrived, Eric called everyone to attention saying that June 10, 2011 marks the one year anniversary of the day we lost our beloved Hobbes (which was true...and it threw everyone off the adoption mindset). He continued, saying that we had a book prepared to comemorate the event (at this point all of our family was thinking that we had invited them to a memorial service for our dog!). Everyone read the story of Ferdinand's adventures to try to find his purpose...and when my mom read the last line of the book...she screamed! "Taaaaammmmmyyyyy"! She didn't even notice that there was a picture in the book! She just came and hugged me, and we cried! Then Rachelle hugged me...and I thought she was going to crush my ribs! My brother gave me a huge bear hug that lasted forever and Eric's mom cried too and hugged me tight! Everyone was hugging and crying and saying that they knew it all along! It was an amazing moment that will not soon be forgotten by any of us!