Today marks the first weekend of September. Aside from this month being a super busy month for Guerrero birthdays, September marks the beginning of fall!! Luis was a trooper and went with me to Hobby Lobby today to get some fall and Halloween decorations. I could live in that store, and am stoked to make this home our own! We bought a house at the end of last year (and moved the day after Christmas 2K14). In fact, we have moved the last 2 Decembers, so that has severely impacted my ability to decorate for the holidays. Decorating is a huge family tradition for me, and something that I learned from my mom.

Anyone who has met my mom can testify that her house IS the place to be for the holidays. She decorates for the fall and Christmas like no other. Luis says that it looks like Christmas exploded in her house. There is not a surface in that place that does not look like a winter wonderland. It was so much fun growing up in a home like that. We always felt holiday cheer, and it was always such a magical time of year. We decorate for fall in September, Halloween decorations in October, and then Christmas the day after Thanksgiving. It was something that my sister, mom, and I would do together every year, and some of my best memories come from decorating that house.

Luis and I decorated for Fall, and he was pretty excited about putting decorations in our forever home. We are slowly building up our seasonal collection, and feel so lucky to have a home to decorate. All of this seasonal talk got us thinking about our family, and the traditions that we have started to create, and the traditions that we want to have with our kids.

Luis and I grew up in very different families in different countries. We spoke different languages, and had different family traditions. One thing that we did have in common was we have moms that are amazing at making the holidays special for their kids. I am so excited to do the same for ours. We have talked at length about the special things that we want to do with and teach our children. We dream about Christmas Eve and Thanksgiving traditions, and are looking forward to trick or treating in our neighborhood. I cannot wait to have our kids be part of our holiday traditions.

Fall is a time to reflect on all that we have, and to be thankful for all of our blessings. For me, when I think of blessings I think of family. I sometimes cannot believe that I get to have the family that I do. I have been blessed beyond belief to have the amazing husband that I do, and am even grateful for the jerk cat. In spite of our difficulty with starting our family the way that we had intended, I am eternally grateful for this adoption journey. Like we have said before, adopting was never a back up plan. It is not something we have “settled for”. It is something we are eagerly working for, and know that our child is going to be our biggest blessing yet. Baby G, you have already made us the luckiest parents alive, and we cannot wait to bring you home!

~Danielle