Clara Kimie Mitarai

We are proud to announce the arrival of Clara Kimie Mitarai. Clara was born on May 10, 2010 and weighed 7 lbs 9 ozs.

Around Christmas, Katy had the feeling that we were going to have an addition to our family. I thought this addition would be our new dog...Bailey, but Katy felt it was something else. In fact, she mentioned this to our Bishop who then asked, "is everything O.K. in your marriage?" He also let us know that if we were not pregnant, the adoption process was lengthy. The very next day, we had decided out of the blue to go home to Salt Lake for Christmas. Within the next hour, we received a phone call from one of Katy's dear friends in D.C. who said she had a friend who had a teenage daughter who was expecting and looking to place the baby for adoption. She thought we should meet her before she made her decision about a family, but was not sure if it was too early after Abigail's passing. Katy agreed to this phone call, knowing the difficulty of the adoption process, and within five minutes we had our first conversation with the birth mom. The birth family was still in the selection phase, and asked if we would be in Utah over the holiday...fortunately, not more than ten minutes earlier, we had booked our tickets to Utah. We agreed to meet the day after Christmas (on my dad's birthday).

At the first meeting, we met the wonderful birth mother, and learned more about her and her family. The Spirit was strong in the meeting, and we felt like we had met another member of our family. There were two other families the birth mother had been working with, and they both had been working with LDS Family Services adoption agency for some time. The birth mom let us know that she would make her decision over the weekend, and if we were selected she would call us on Sunday.

We spent that weekend in Boise, ID with Katy's family, anxiously watching our phone. Sunday came and went with no phone call. We were saddened, but from the beginning we agreed to trust in the Lord and His plan for this special child. We knew this birth mother was prayerful about her decision and would place her child with the right family. On Monday morning, Katy's phone rang, and it was the birth mother. She asked if we were still interested and said, "I was busy on Sunday and forgot to call you! I knew it was you on the day we met, but they wanted me to pray about it, so I did...it is still you!"

This began our five month journey of getting to know this wonderful birth mother, and her family. We were cautiously optimistic, and because of our recent loss, we held this close to our hearts. It is for this reason that we did not tell most people, even close family and friends. We apologize for this, but after the year we had, and the outpouring of support, we felt it was the right thing to do.

Katy visited Utah a few times in the following months to get to know the birth mother and we exchanged phone calls and emails with her on a weekly basis. At the same time, we rushed through the clearance process with LDS Family Services...this process normally takes a year, but they pushed us through in four months!

We returned home to Utah in April for Abigail's birthday on the 28th. The baby was due on May 2nd, the same day a year later we buried Abigail. We waited and waited, visited Logan numerous times, kept our bags packed, and our cell phones charged. Over the next few weeks we logged over 1800 miles in our rental car driving from Logan (where the birth mom lived) to Salt Lake where we were staying. The due date came and went, and as we continued to hold our breath, the birth mom patiently waited and continued to care for this growing child.

On May 9th (Abigail's original due date), we received a phone call from the birth mom stating that she was going into labor. She had invited Katy to be in the delivery room, which was a great privilege and honor. The birth mom had done such a wonderful job of taking care of this little girl, she loved this little girl enough to share her with us. To her, we are eternally grateful. As Katy can attest to, carrying a child and not raising her is one of the greatest sacrifices.

On May 10th, 2010 at 12:45 pm (that is when I am saying, because that is when I could hear crying outside of the room), Clara Kimie Mitarai arrived on this earth. She spent the day with her birth mother, family, and friends...and the next day, she was placed in our arms! Kimie is my maternal grandmother's name and she is 98! She lives in Japan and hopefully she will get to meet her namesake. Kimie is pronounced Kim-E-A, with the long E and long A.

For adoptions, they have a placement ceremony, this is where both sides come together, and the birth mom gives the baby to the adoptive family. This meeting was so special, the birth mother is very inspired and wise beyond her 18 years, and we know that we will always have another member of our extended family in our lives. We love her so very much. The birth father was also in attendance, and we were excited to meet him. Both of them have such a bright future ahead, and we are excited to watch their lives unfold.

Clara is beautiful, she has blonde/brown hair, bright blue eyes, and loves to eat. She stares up at you and time stands still. Katy has done a wonderful job taking care of Clara and you can see it in her eyes! Katy is such a great mother! I am not one bit surprised that she knew this child was coming to our family!

We are in Utah for a few more weeks while we await the interstate clearance to return to Virginia.

We have no doubt in our minds that little Abigail returned to heaven and sent her best friend down to be with us. We are so excited to have Clara in our family!!

We appreciate your love and support through this process and are excited to have you meet Clara.

Love,

The Mitarai's

P.S. Bailey, our puppy is doing ok...she is struggling with the fact that she is no longer the Alpha in our family! But she loves Clara and has become protective of her!!

The Trip Home, Part 1

So, we finally made the decision to return to our home in Arlington. We packed up the 4-Runner and said our teary good bye's to our parents. I think the hardest part for Katy was leaving the cemetery behind. It was really nice that Abigail was only a few miles away, we could easily visit in the morning and evenings, and could even walk/run there.

We departed early one morning, the 4-runner was sagging more than usual because of the additional weight. Katy insists that it was full of my stuff, but I did remember seeing a sewing machine, and numerous boxes of "crafts". Katy had formulated a "plan" for us to return home, but I wanted something more concrete, so we drove for 14 hours on the first day, used the GPS to find a hotel somewhere in Missouri (I wanted a cheap one, until I went in the room...then we left and checked into a normal hotel). So much for concrete...

The second day we actually had a goal. We ventured to Independence and Liberty, these were great places and we began to get immersed in the history of our church. We also made it up to Haun's Mill (which is a nice place in the middle of nowhere with a little plaque) and Adam-Ondi-Ahaman which was beautiful. Our end goal for the day was to stay with Katy's niece Stefanie, her husband Scott and their son Caden. They are going to Medical School in Kirksville, MO. We had a great time and let Caden entertain us with his excitement for life and love of everything, from Paper Chains to Thomas the Train. We are grateful to them for taking care of us and allowing us to spend the night, esp. since Stefanie was almost due and Scott was busy with school.

I will admit, initially I was not super excited about our next stop, Nauvoo. I was excited about one part, and so I had good motivation, I was very excited to get a chance to see my good friend Paul's parents. They are the Temple President and Matron in Nauvoo and have been a great influence on me throughout my life. I talked with Katy about them on the drive in, and what a great job they had done with their kids...esp. Paul and his wife Emily, who have been a great examples in my life and esp. more recently as their beautiful daughter Ashley recently passed away after a courageous fight with a rare brain stem tumor.

We arrived in Nauvoo and immediately things changed for me. Everyone there was dressed in "pioneer garb" and really I had never associated closely with the migration of church members from the East Coast to Utah. My parents were the converts so I had no family history connected with these members. Yet my car sat in the parking area full of all of our "worldly possesions" and we were leaving behind the grave of our young child, and moving somewhere far away, things started to make sense. I didn't nor hopefully will ever suffer the physical trials they suffered, but their examples of faith and perseverance during hard times were to say least inspiring.

The theme in Nauvoo is "when you're here, we're here" and as the trip went on, we began not only to understand that phrase but to feel it. Early Mormon Pioneers stayed here as one of their last refuges before moving West, they abandoned it after building the largest city in the area. It was at the Nauvoo Temple where the saving ordinances of Eternal Marriage and sealing of families was restored to this earth. How appropriate was it for us, moving, leaving family and friends, going to the unknown, etc. yet with an understanding of Our Heavenly Father's Plan to be in this location. I felt as if those pioneers were teaching us by their examples...this all came together in the evening when we were able to see the Pageant put on by the Church.

We were very lucky to run into the Petersons' at this meeting, they were very busy as the hosts of many VIP guests, yet when they saw us, made us feel like we were the most important people there. Their hugs and kind words made our visit absolutely worth it. They encouraged us to do a session at the temple the next day, I was a little wary as we had a long drive, but it made sense and my faithful wife was all for it and couldn't even believe I was thinking about not going. The pageant was wonderful and inspiring and taught of the importance of learning that Families Can Be Forever, it was the perfect message for us.

Lisa (my sister) and her husband Darren who were there a few weeks earlier gave us guidance on where to stay...thanks for the help as the GPS would not have found that place!

The next morning we dug our clothes out of the back of the truck, changed in the Visitor's Center and made our way to the Temple. The SL Temple has always been my favorite, but ever since Pres. Hinckley told us to visit this temple, I have been slightly intrigued. Well, this is my favorite Temple, I see why this was so important to him. The Spirit which exists and the history that has been there offers such a great feeling. We ran into the Peterson's on our way out, and again, they took so much time with us. I felt so bad as they had so many things going on, but they were so gracious and loving, it really made our trip there even more special and we owe them for that and their words of inspiration and love. When Katy left, she said, "We need to be more like the Petersons".

So when they say, "when you're here, we're here" it is true, and as we aspire to be as faithful and diligent as those pioneers we too can find Eternal Happiness and Joy. I am sure that many of the pioneers were there, teaching us lessons in different ways.

So...for those who have not been there, or are thinking about going...it is a place everyone should visit. We left inspired, motivated, and loved...it was a great part of our trip home. Katy and I have already talked about return trips with our parents!!!

From there, we found out the Schwantes family was having their famous Pig Roast...this will be updated in the next blog as it deserves a space of it's own...

Till then, thank you for your thoughts and prayers for us...

The Hospital

Katy Update: Katy's abdominal pain has decreased after a ton of antibiotics and pin meds...unfortunately, her Blood Pressure has increased. We were admitted to the hospital last Sunday and discharged on Wednesday...only to be readmitted on Thursday and are here now (Sunday). Hopefully we will be able to bring Katy home tomorrow...Monday 5/11, but we will see. She has been really brave and endured a lot of sticks and pricks and surprisingly she has not gone crazy in her prision cell! Thanks to all for your love and support, we really do appreciate it.

So here we are in the same spot we have been for a while...the hospital. We have fortunately been in multiple rooms, seen the East Side of the Valley, the North Side of the Valley, and now we see the West Side. Fortunately for us, we have not seen the South Side as it was another building. Actually, we really do like this hospital. When things start to get bad, I just remember our little stay at Arlington Hospital, and suddenly things get a lot better.

Katy is still on bed rest. We have really learned a lot about who runs a hospital. There are Med Students, Residents, Fellows, and Real Doctors. There is a difference, but just like anything, there are good residents, good fellows, and really good doctors. The trick is to find them. Another very important trick we have found is Get a Good Nurse! They are your advocate, they can be your best friend, and they run the day to day show!

We have been fortunate to receive some of the best nurses! And they really can make a huge difference...since we have decided this is not a complaining blog, we will just say...if you do not get what you want with your team (doctors and nurses) just keep working up the chain till you get what you deserve (and are really paying for)! I guess we are considered to be high maintenence, but I believe we just want to be taken care of. We have been really lucky to have such a great team of doctors and nurses.

Happy Mother's Day to any and all who may read this! Esp. to my Beautiful Wife...who has done a wonderful job this past few weeks and has earned the title of "Mother". I am actually really impressed with all women who go through any type of childbirth or carrying of a child for any and all lengths of time!

Stay tuned as our next post is on our Daughter, and reason for being in the hospital...Abigail!!

I created a CaringBridge site to keep our friends and family up to date on our baby Abigail Mitarai.

You can visit Abigail's CaringBridge site at http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/abigailmitarai.

Thank you for your continued thoughts and prayers.

Tony Snow

Great talent, Great humor, Great skill....Great man. You left a legacy and taught us how to do the job. You will be missed.

Road Show

It all started with a phone call.....

A few weeks ago, I received a phone call from President Greenhaugh from the Stake Presidency calling Chris and me to be directors of the Stake Road Show.

You want us to do what?

The road show was last night and simply put, Chris and I had a great time. Luckily we were only directors of a group of about 20 kids (they divide the kids from the Stake into groups) and they were great. Between the 8 Deacons - yes, that's 8 12-13 year old boys and only one day to put together the road show from scratch to performance we came home exhausted and ready to move to Hollywood.

We had one 12 year old who decided early in the day to be the "unicow" cross between a cow and a unicorn - gotta love teenage creativity. At 11:00 in the morning, he had his mom bring him his Halloween costume from when he was six - the beast from Disney's Beauty and the Beast....and you can imagine it really didn't fit him anymore. However, that didn't deter our fearless young actor who INSISTED on squeezing into it and then wouldn't take it off ALL day. Five minutes before we were to go on stage for the performance, he come to me in a panic, "I have to go to the bathroom.....NOW...Get me out of this costume." I had to rip him out of the costume to avoid an accident and I thought I was going to die trying not to laugh.

The kids did a fantastic job and it was hit. Thanks to the creativity of teenagers, we had a "steadfast and immovable" beanstalk, cameo appearances by Yoda, Harry Potter, George Washington, Hannah Montana and the Elders. We had a stellar cast.

So here's to the True Story of Jack and the Beanstalk, Unicows and Mexican Jumping Beans! We had a great day!

Food Network

Is it possible to gain weight while watching the food network? Right now it is one in the morning and Chris and I are watching the marathon stretch of Diners, Dives and Drive-ins although we did watch steel magnolias in the middle. Yummy food. We just saw a diner who makes burgers with cheese melted on the inside. Yes, that is right, on the inside of the hamburger. Kind of like those cheese stuffed hotdogs which I really shouldn't admit I like.