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Hmmmmm, I have no idea what happened to the Facebook badge I had on the right side of this blog. The link still works, I just tried it. I have to remember how I got the badge so I can fix it.

What We Do For Fun

This is Autumn and her cousin Isaac at Thanksgiving.

Autumn's birthday is shortly after Thanksgiving so we hold it at our house and have an open invitation to both sides of the family to come for dinner. Then we have Autumn's birthday party as well. We love getting together with family.

Autumn and Erica making Christmas ornaments as presents for family and friends

Making presents is so much more fun, not only do you get to get messy but they are more personal and we just love doing crafty things.

Cooking is lots of fun, Autumn learned how to knead the dough, it's her favorite part now.

Autumn wants to help cook supper almost every night now, takes a bit of planning so that we still eat at a decent hour but I love having her help me.

putting the toppings on a pizza is an art form

Playing with cousin Becca at Grandma and Grandpa Triebenbach's house.

We had record amounts of snow last year. So much fun playing in piles that were taller even than Daddy.

Grandma Petersen and Autumn, quiet Sunday drive

Autumn "fixing" her bike while Daddy is under the car changing the oil.

Kurt grew up working on cars with his dad, Erica did too (with her dad). And now Autumn will get the same thing with Kurt. It's so great that she will grow up to be a woman who knows about her car and will be able to deal with things that go wrong.

About Kurt (by Erica)

Kurt is a rock in my life. Right from the start I knew he was someone I could trust with my heart. We met in college in the choir. Having a passion for music in common opened up many avenues to discover about each other. We dated for 4 years and then got married after college.Kurt has been a wonderful husband for the past almost 12 years. He is a great father to Autumn. He gets down on the floor and plays silly games with her, he gives her the rough and tumble play that she loves. Kurt has gotten really good at noticing things around the house that need to be don and helps do them so that I'm not totally worn out and have more energy for both of them.

Kurt has had strength for both of us when I felt that I didn't have any to get through our battle with infertility. He was patient with me as I struggled to understand God's plan for our family.

Kurt loves to play basketball and is thrilled that Autumn enjoys it as well. Kurt taught himself to play the guitar and now plays with the praise team at church, occasionally leading it when the director is out of town. Kurt wrote and produced a CD of original music and is now working on a second one. It's been fun to watch his writing mature as he not only matures in life but also in his faith. Kurt loves to share other favorite pasttimes with Autumn. She is VERY musically inclined so we both encourage that when ever we can. Autumn likes to do what Daddy is doing so she likes to play on the Wii with him, get out her tools and "fix" her bike while he works on the car, they also enjoy just being silly.

playing Daddy's guitar

playing Wii with Daddy

yep, that's a box she's standing in. Her favorite toy ever

being silly

I like the slimy parts Daddy.

first we built a snowman then a snow T-Rex

wheelbarrow ride

you play this one right here

ok, ready to play

Our Agency

We are working with an agency to help us through our adoption process. They have completed our home study and also provide resources to help us find our child. They have a book of prospective adoptive families that the women and couples who are considering adoption can look through to find a forever family for their child. But they also have developed an outreach program to help families connect with a "birthday mommy" (our daughter's term for her own birth mom) on their own. If you would like to know more about us or our agency we have provided information and links below. We are home study approved and ready to bring another child into our lives as well as that child's birth parent(s).




Lutheran Social Service of Minnesota
612-879-5230  or  1-888-205-3769


LSS Adoption & Birth Parent Services
2400 Park Avenue
Minneapolis, MN  55404


Our Social Worker: Sarah Daecy
Office: 612.879.5237  |  Cell: 218.340.5993  |  TOLL FREE: 1.888.205.3769

• Pregnancy Counseling
• Adoption Services for prospective adoptive families
• Post Adoption Services for birth families, adoptive families, adopted children and adults

What We Do For Fun

I grew up as a Navy Brat and love to travel and see new places and experience new cultures. Kurt grew up in central Minnesota and didn't travel much until he met me. Most summers we go to Michigan near Traverse City to my grandparent's cottage. It is the most amazing place I've ever been, and I've been a few places.

This is Big Glen and Little Glen lakes. The other large body of water is Lake Michigan, the very sandy spot you see in the upper left is called Sleeping Bear Sand Dunes National Lakeshore. It's like a tropical paradise in the middle of our country (except in the winter when there's LOTS of snow). Autumn has fallen in love with this place and constantly asks when are we going back to "our brown house". I'll post a picture of the cottage when I get the computer hooked back up to the other hard drive.

This coming summer we are going to try to go to Washington DC for the Girl Scout 100th Birthday celebration so I'm not sure if we'll get to the lake, but if we can we definitely will! 

As for what we do around here, we go to the zoo as often as we can, Autumn loves animals and the zoo is a fun place to spend the day as a family. We also go to the aquarium at the Mall of America where we enjoy watching the sharks. We've been to plays with Autumn and go to many many parks. We love going to the Children's Museum and the Science Museum as well. We are hoping to get back to the Minneapolis art museum this summer as well, Kurt and I haven't been in a while. We like to hang out at home and play in the backyard as well as going for walks in the "forest" as Autumn calls the county parks we visit. 

We go to a wonderful church where we have a fantastic group of friends that we like to do things with. We are very involved in our church and spend a couple of days a week there volunteering, having supper, going to or teaching classes...

Hello

Merry Christmas! I wanted to tell you a little about our family. We live in the Twin Cities area of Minnesota. We live in a southern suburb called Lakeville. My name is Erica. I have been teaching in the early childhood special education field for over 11 years now and love what I do. Currently I'm in my 6th year in the Farmington School District. I was working in the birth-2yr area doing home visits to help families learn how to help their children succeed. Now I have a preschool class for multiply impaired kids as well as still doing my home visits. I really love the connection that I have with each family I work with. I volunteer in our church nursery and teach the infant/toddler Sunday school class. My husband, Kurt, is working at a company that prints standardized tests for schools. He is enjoying the challenge of learning a new job. He worked for 6 years for Liberty Mutual Insurance though recently the company had to downsize and Kurt had to find a new job. He enjoys playing his guitar and is passionate about writing Christian music. Kurt has one CD that he put together and is now trying to put a second one together. Autumn is rather musical herself and we love singing together and playing the piano and guitar and drums together. 


Kurt and I have been married for 11 1/2 years. We met in college in the Concert Choir where we both were able to exercise our passion for singing. We have a 5 yr old daughter, Autumn, who is adopted. We struggled for many years with infertility and miscarriages. Recently I discovered that there really is no safe way for me to get pregnant. And while that was a hard message to hear we have been fortunate in our daughter who keeps us laughing and on our toes.


Autumn is a very energetic little girl who loves every second of life. She has a very active imagination and is forever inventing games, stories, and songs to liven up our days. Autumn LOVES dinosaurs and is constantly surprising us with all the things she knows and learns about them. She also has an invisible T-Rex that she named Cup. He lives in our house with us, but he is a very nice Rexy and doesn't cause much trouble.


We have two cats, Nero, and Maddie. Nero is 10 years old and Maddie is a little over 1. We have 3 fish as well: Fishy Fishy, Orangy Orange, and Marshmallow (Autumn got to name them).


We have a wonderful relationship with Autumn's birth mom, Amanda. Autumn calls her "my birthday mommy". We see Amanda's mom about twice a year and always enjoy her visits. We seen Amanda about 6-8 times a year and share many pictures and stories with her on Facebook. Amanda is an important part of our family and we love the time we spend with her.