Reversal of Destiny!

A Reversal of Destiny!

I encountered a reversal of destiny on June 11, 2012 at apx 8:20pm.  Pretty specific, I know.  The thing is, I know exactly the date and time because it was one of my regular bible study meetings with my Princess Posse.  I know the time, b/c every other Monday we watch a video from 7:30-8:30pm and this particular week, my reversal of destiny occurred in the last few minutes of the video.  Pretty sure I will never ever forget that moment.  The Princess Posse is currently studying the Book of Esther with Beth Moore as our virtual leader.  If anyone were to ask me “Who is your mentor?”-  I would be quick to respond that Beth is certainly one of mine.  Although I have never met her in person, it feels as though we have been lifelong friends.  You may be thinking weird…but I can tell you I have heard many of my sisters say this same thing.  When we are doing our weekly homework, we can literally hear her talking as we read the words she scribed on the pages of our workbook.  This woman has no doubt discovered her God given talents of writing and teaching.  I have learned so much through her teaching that I have decided to teach myself.  I use that word VERY loosely b/c my group knows best, I hate the pressure of calling myself their teacher.  It’s more like a facilitator to me.  But nonetheless, yep, I lead the Princess Posse every other Monday night as we dig through the pages of the living word that has for sure, no doubt, changed all of our lives.  If you want to know why in the world we call ourselves princesses- read more HERE.

NETWORKING TIME

Greetings!

Today's blog is a bit different than most.  Today I am going to ask something of you- please help us in our networking process.  In this 21st century that we live in full of social media via Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, blogging, email and more- it seems fit to use in under these circumstances as well.  Please, feel free to send this blog link around.  My goal is two fold.  I'll get to the first part of the goal in a moment, but the 2nd half is that perhaps our story will inspire someone who needs to know there is always hope in the future.  Living with the motto that the best days are still yet to come is healthy for anyone :)  God has a plan for EVERYONE'S life (Jeremiah 29:11) so keep your head up in this tough tough world we live in!

Ok, so now on to the details aka Goal 1:

Phil and I have been cleared and approved, by Forever Families Adoption Agency, and are officially in the 'waiting pool' to adopt a child.

One way you can help us is to just spread the word.  Feel free to forward this blog link around or just keep your eyes and ears open.  Below are some links with more details; I am also providing a link to a photo book that tells our story.  Anyone interested may view (believe it or not- this is very common for domestic adoption):

http://kristenulin.shutterfly.com/  (scroll down to the section labeled “Photo Books”)

Currently we are approved for a domestic (USA) infant adoption which means if you know someone who is pregnant that is looking to place their child for adoption, or possibly considering other options, please send them this link or provide them with my contact info listed below.  We can get connected with them and see if it is a good fit.  There is a lot of formality and legality behind it all which is why we have selected such a respected and warm agency out of Novi, MI.  We can however, adopt from anywhere in the country and are not restricted to Michigan. 

Click HERE to read our letter to adoptive mom/family

Click HERE to read our adoption profile for the agency
Click HERE to read more about our story and how we ended up in the adoption process

 Thank you for helping us network as we prayerfully hope to become a PARTY OF FOUR :)

Sincerely,

Team Ulin

Adoption Profile

Phil & Kristen Ulin

Why we think we make good parents:

Already being parents to our daughter, Kaylee, we understand the commitments needed to be successful loving parents.  We have learned to become great parents you must love unconditionally.  Coming from families with strong values, we are eager to teach and share with our children these family traditions.   Both of us have strong work ethic but appreciate fun in the sun, and we would like to share our life experiences with another team member.

Values we plan to share/teach a child:

Our home is filled with love whether you are a guest or a member of the family.  The greatest value we feel we can teach is to love and respect others.  We both believe in a strong work ethic, but also downtime to recharge our batteries and enjoy life.  We feel it is important to have a relationship with God and have raised our daughter in a Christian home but also respect everyone’s opinion and other value systems.  It is important to us to be generous, compassionate and live with a “glass is half full” mentality.  We believe in learning from our mistakes and the principle that failure is never final.  We believe in following your dreams and plan to teach our children that no dream is too big.

The people/pets/things that make up our family: 

Our immediate family consists of Phil (dad), Kristen (mom), and Kaylee (daughter).  We both come from fairly large families and view many of our friends as family too- Kaylee calls our best friends “Aunt and Uncle”.  Kaylee can’t wait to have a brother or sister and says a prayer at the dinner table every night asking God to bless her with one.  Both of our families live in the area and many of our friends live in our community.  We also have what we call an extended church family with MANY kids to play with and have fun outside of the home.

Things our family celebrates:

We love to celebrate!  Birthdays are a big deal around our home because we love making each other feel special.  We celebrate all major holidays and also like to have fun celebrating the Super Bowl, the Kentucky Derby (some of Kristen’s family is from Kentucky), and love having summer cookouts for no reason.

Religion/spiritual beliefs:

Spirituality, a relationship with Jesus, is very important to our family and we plan to raise our children in a Christian home.  We currently attend a non-denominational church and have for over 10 years.  Our church family is FULL of children of all ages and has a fantastic kids program.  Phil currently volunteers in the preschool area during one of the church services and Kristen has done 2 mission trips in 3 years.  We believe that our spiritual foundation has been the rock for our life and plan to demonstrate this to our children to help them find meaning and happiness in life. 

Things we like to do (activities/hobbies):

We like to have fun!  Working hard and playing hard are two things that must go together.  We love to travel and hope to expose our children to many cultures.  We like to make pancakes on Saturday mornings, roast s’mores in the fireplace when it gets cold and keep each other laughing every day.  We also like to stay active by going running as a family with our jogging strollers, doing outdoor activities and keeping a healthy focus in the home.  We are both triatheletes and feel strongly that you can do anything you put your mind too with dedication and encouragement.  Every season our activities change and we like to find fun new things to do as a family like going out for ice cream after a nice summer run or watching movies by the fire in the winter.

Our ethnic background:

Phil is 50% Hispanic and 50% European descent (mostly German).  His mom comes from a large Hispanic family most of which live 30 minutes from us although a few 2^nd cousins and great aunts still live in Guadalajara, Mexico.  His Grandma has 11 brothers and sisters and owns a Mexican restaurant. 

Kristen is mixed European descent- mostly German with some Austrian and Native American descent.

Where we live:

We live in a colonial home in a suburb between Detroit and Ann Arbor.  Our town was recently ranked one of the safest in the state!  We have a TON of space in our home and can’t wait to share that space with another son or daughter- Kaylee asks us every day for a brother or sister!  We are walking distance to the grade school and have several parks close to us.  We have a large yard with a playscape in the back and enjoy spending time outside having fun.

One thing we would like the birth family to know about us:

We respect you so much for choosing to give your child a precious gift.  We have already begun praying for you and know that our paths will not cross on accident.  We strongly believe everything happens for a reason and are here to support, pray, and thank you for a wonderful and precious gift.  

Dear Birth Mom/Family

Thank you so much for giving us the opportunity to introduce ourselves and tell you about our family- we are Kristen and Phil.  We are so grateful that you love your unborn child so much that you are willing to consider an adoption plan for him or her. Already being parents to our daughter, Kaylee, we understand the commitment needed to be successful loving parents.  We have learned to become great parents you must love unconditionally.  Coming from families with strong values, we both are eager to teach and share with our children these family values.  

We met 9 years ago while in college at Eastern Michigan University.  Kristen was entering her final year and Phil had just graduated when we met.  It all started with a date for Kristen's birthday...and the rest is history. :)   Our life experiences have helped us to grow as individuals and as a 'team'... in fact we like to sign our Christmas cards "Love, Team Ulin."  We are fortunate to have experienced an abundance of life at such a young age and truly hope to expand our family to a Team of Four.  We have struggled with infertility for almost 2 years and have learned that Kaylee was truly a little miracle.  Through these chapters in our life, we strongly believe when one door closes another opens which is why we are beyond thrilled to enter the adoption process!  We so badly want to expand our family and pray that something in our story may resonate with you, and that you will have peace knowing we will care for and love your child unconditionally.  Kaylee can not wait to have a brother or a sister- in fact she asks almost every single day during her prayers if Jesus will give her a brother or sister.  It melts our heart!  She is already setting toys aside telling people “this is for my brother or sister” …we often get asked if Kristen is expecting because Kaylee talks about it all the time! J

A Virtual Baby Book! Snap!

If you want to see the rain...you must fill up the clouds first!

As we near the finish line of this process to enter the domestic adoption pool, I thought that I better start documenting some of this!  It's kind of like starting the baby book now I suppose!  If I had any male readers at all...I just lost them- LOL!  But hang in there, trust me, this is not going to be the typical book...I mean who are we kidding, I am learning quickly nothing is typical in my/our life and that is why we love it most!  When I was pregnant, I found it therapeutic to document how I was feeling & what symptoms I was having.  I documented my weight gain, physical changes and things like the first kick...all the while thinking in the back of my mind that I would again some day reference this journal and compare notes to my second pregnancy.  Well this post is not going to be a sob story, but rather a NEW chapter in Team Ulin's life.  If you would like to read about our journey click here and it will give you more than enough details on how we ended up from point A to point B.

Why the opening quote?  Because I feel that the adoption process can be just as much of a blessing as a regular pregnancy can be.  You must look at all of the obstacles as blessings, road blocks, detours or re-directions.  After you CHOOSE your own happiness...you will start to SEE the rain :)