Still breathing....

One of my tasks for tomorrow is to count the number of times someone has emailed or texted that they are praying for us.  I cherish these messages and am confident that people are actually spending time talking with our Father and not just using this as a something to say when you don't know what to say - because I can tell that people are praying for us:  I'm still sane.  I'd just like the stat, I'd think it would be fun to know.

I also realized that something I should have done before now is present a bit of information about how the timeline moving forward might look like.

But first, the good news:  We got to visit our son today.  

R and I went to the 10:45 service this morning and were encouraged by an excellent sermon on prayer (Luke 11).  I wasn't sure if I could actually get out of bed this morning after news that our birth mother is having second thoughts about her decision to place, but we did and I am so thankful for our church family and wisdom of our pastor.  We went to lunch with lots of friends and then decided to see a movie (basically because we thought it best not to sit at the house), and right before the end of a very exciting movie we got an even more exciting phone call (don't tell me how the latest underworld movie ends, I'm planning on finishing it someday) - our social worker letting us know we can visit the hospital!  

pedge is super handsome.  And has really skinny legs.

He was born on Jan 28 and has lots of hair.....slightly red hair (I'm not making this up.  I didn't believe them when they told us that on Saturday.  But it's true, it has a red tint).

I'm not sure what else to say about our visit (I'm sure if you spent three hours in a small room with the biological family of a child that you consider to be yours and two social workers, you wouldn't know what to say either).  We are so grateful to have gotten to hold him.  

Okay.  What happens now?

-We wait and pray some more.  

-Adoption papers will be presented when a medical discharge occurs.  We do not know when this will occur, maybe tomorrow, Tuesday, Wednesday?  Adoptive families and the biological family do not see each other on the day of, until after paperwork is complete.

-If papers are signed (yes, I'm still saying if), then we will take pedge home.  In the state of Florida, once termination of parental rights papers are signed legal custody of pedge goes to our adoption agency and we start a 90 day placement period.  After 90 days and at least three home visits, we will go to court to become pedge's legal parents. 

-We will send letters and pictures to our agency for our birth mother.  Our birth mother can also request three meetings within the first two years.  The updates and meetings are in place to help her know she made a good decision for pedge, and we are looking forward to hearing about what she will do in the next several years too. 

I'm sure I have not answered all questions with this post, so let me know if you have one and I will try to answer.

PS - Tanner and Shelby Ann are being very supportive and even got to smell one of pedge's blankets tonight.

adoption update

Forgive me if this seems like a mixed post - I'm going to try to give facts and maybe mix in (gasp) emotions - and I'm not sure where to begin.


Our birth mother has endured over 15 hours of labor and surgery to birth our handsome (oh yes, we have a small picture and he is super handsome) son.  He was born sometime last night and is healthy.  I'm not sure of his actual birth date, but honestly that doesn't seem so important.  We do know he has ten toes - five on each tiny foot.


Here, I'd like to try and insert how odd it feels to be the adoptive family - because last night we were so concerned with our strong birth mother's health, it felt odd to want to celebrate our son's birth too.  We are overjoyed that our son has been born, are incredibly worried about how our birth mom is feeling, and not quite sure what to do with ourselves today.  


There is a young woman, just out of her teen years, who has just endured physical agony for almost 24 hours to give birth to a child she isn't planning to keep.  Our hearts break for her.  I can't think about her decision without tears.  While we are overwhelmed with joy at the thought of bringing our son home, this selfless young woman faces the choice of leaving the hospital without her child that she has carried for nine months, or deciding to parent.


Because of the length labor and method of delivery, the hospital stay for birth mom and baby will be longer.  Adoption papers will not be signed until a medical discharge occurs (from my understanding at this time).  We do not know when this will occur (and are thankful our families are being flexible about their travel plans).


Right now R and I are just waiting.  We are thankful for your prayers, and ask that you continue to keep our sweet birth mom in your prayers as well.  We are also thankful for your excited texts, emails, and messages - please forgive me if I take a while to respond, I am happy that he is here, confident in God's ways being higher than mine, and so, so scared.  


A couple of years ago R bought me a book called Posterity.  It is a book full of letters of great Americans to their children.  The following is an excerpt from a letter that Jonathan Edwards wrote to his 15 year old daughter while she was away from the family visiting friends:  Though you are at so great a distance from us, yet God is everywhere.  You are much out of reach of our care, but you are every moment in his hands.  We have not the comfort of seeing you, but he sees you.  His eye is always upon you.

pedge has arrived. 7.12 lbs and healthy. Not sure of any other details. Yay!

Please pray for our courageous birth mom as she recovers from a very very long day.

And please don't text me before 10 am ;)

Happy Tuesday

Our brave birth mom will be induced on Friday (unless she goes into labor before then of course)


Fun Facts about Friday the 27th:

• Ron proposed on January 27th
• January 27th is 39.1 (thanks Siri for the .1) weeks since we were told no biological children

Happy Birthday Senor R

My sweet in-laws

Happy Birthday to my father-in-law.

I'm so grateful to have you as my father-in-law because

• you are incredibly generous
• you are hard working
• you like to laugh
• and you raised the most amazing man in the world.

Happy Birthday MSC

Happy Birthday to a man I consider my little brother and who can strike poses on the dance floor that rival Fred Astaire.


I tried to think of a fun memory to write about which made me wonder....do you still eat frozen french fries?


I hope your next year is even better than the last (aka - this means bring your beautiful family to Disney so I can see them).

Tuesday

Tuesdays are now VERY IMPORTANT to me.

Last week our birth mother went to the doctor on Tuesday. And this week.

And I can breathe (for at least a couple of hours) after we get updates on how she and our son are doing.

She is doing great, and pedge is getting ready for his entrance. He has dropped and is in position. I’m going to brag and say that we get more medical details than this, but in an effort to protect our birth mother’s privacy, I’m not going to share those.

So, happy Tuesday to you all - everyone is still healthy and waiting for pedge to make his move. (Disclaimer, everyone is still healthy is not an accurate representation of my mental health right now - the Captain America movie made me cry - but we’re hoping I get better soon….)

Waiting. But with Hope.

I so appreciate all the emails, messages, and texts asking about adoption news - I’m so glad that so many people are as excited as we are! Right now we are just waiting: waiting to see if our brave birth mother wants to meet again, waiting for a phone call or email update about the next doctor’s visit, waiting for our son to decide he’s ready to face the world. Needless to say, at this point, with our sweet birth mother considered full term, we jump every time our phones make a noise.


But, since we have no news, I thought I’d make a list of things I’m thankful for during this wait and post some of my favorite pictures from Christmas.


1. Sleeping. Sleeping through the night, late on Saturday, and Sunday afternoon naps.
2. Continued ability to do whatever I want. Right now this includes using LoseIt, walking with ALM, reading the Fellowship of the Rings, going to a movie on a Tuesday night, and sitting on the beach while R surfs.
3. Enjoying my alone time with my nerdy rock star husband. 
4. Writing this blog. (I promise I’ll try to keep it up after baby pedge is home, since I know that is the only reason you’re reading this anyways) (R and I have been calling him pedge - our way of pronouncing of his initials)
5. Bothering my mother, and lately youngest sister, with almost daily phone calls. (they’re going to be heartbroken if I stop)

My beautiful friends (the ladies that make central florida bearable)

Yes.  I did this to Shelby Ann.  She is ADORABLE.

Thank you for Christmas cards!  I LOVE them!

You see why we can't put them on a card

Why am I still wearing this ridiculous bow?

The most awesome 3 1/2 year old ever. (and his dad)

Christmas Surprise!  My cousin flew home from the Middle East!
Can you believe I used to be able to beat him up?

LOVE these ladies!  (not referring to myself, but my cool aunt,
awesome teenage cousin, and beautiful fashionista cousin)

The Northern Alabama family - so happy we got to see them!

Agg

Thank you to the Rick and Bubba show, a show that is dear to my beloved’s heart.


For eight years (I’m counting dating and marriage here), my darling and intelligent husband has been bothered by my use of the word agg (or agging). Let me use it in a sentence for those of you not familiar with this word: You’re just agging me on; I’m going to agg you on about this. R firmly believes this word does not exist and that the actual word is egg, but his insistence has only steeled my resolve to use the word agg (being stubborn and being from Corner can be a dangerous combination).


This morning Speedy used the word agging on the Rick and Bubba show. R listens (streaming) to this show each morning; although now it is uncertain whether he can continue (I’m not the only stubborn one).

2011

The kick at the end of the game.

A national forest outside of Phoenix

Part of the Grand Canyon

2011 Started with a trip to Arizona to watch our beloved Auburn Tigers play for the BCS national 
championship and a visit to the Grand Canyon. While I believe that most things I saw during that trip, such as a national forest full of cactus (who knew those were considered trees?), were amazing, I never imagined I would get to see Auburn play (and win!) in that game, and nothing could have prepared me for the Grand Canyon. I don’t feel eloquent enough to even try to describe the Grand Canyon. Arizona is a surprisingly beautiful and incredibly diverse (landscape) state - in one day we went from flat desert to snowy mountains.

My expert guide

The annual family camping trip was a blast, and my husband is an expert at canoeing. I still like to bring up the fact that we were the only ones who didn’t capsize on the canoeing adventure. Lugging the
canoe to North Georgia on top of the trailblazer was worth it.

My cousins and their overturned canoe in the middle of the river
 

The spring was also filled with medical tests for R and me. We got all the results at the end of April and found out we are unable to have biological children (with the exception of a medical miracle by God of course). This news felt (still feels) like death. However, we are so very thankful that we are in good health overall.We endured a month of wondering if the cause was a possibly fatal health condition and were overjoyed that result was negative. (I realize I’m being rather vague here, but I’m attempting at keeping a small amount of privacy. Although, we don’t mind sharing more if asked)

A home in the community where R worked.

This summer we were blessed with the opportunity to travel to Nicaragua where I got to play with little kids while R helped build a playground for a community. (Did I mention we also both read David Platt’s book Radical?) We met such wonderful people and learned a lot about mud. We also got to spend time with fellow church members, which was an added benefit.

Our group after the playground was built

We started adoption paperwork in May, were formally approved at the end of September, and learned we had been chosen by a birth mother on the first of November. You might say this news trumped Auburn winning the BCS national championship and perhaps even the Grand Canyon.

This fall we were able to visit with my Welsh aunt and uncle on their trip to the U.S., hosted our first Thanksgiving, and proudly watched L walk across the stage and become an Auburn Alum. I also lived in New Jersey for a month for work, which was different.

Wonderful Uncle R

L receiving diploma from her collage's dean

L shaking hands with AU President

The end. But, actually, it feels like the beginning.

Christmas Eve

My favorite part of this past week/holiday season was Christmas Eve.

Christmas Eve included a large homemade breakfast, walk through the woods, cooking with my mom and sisters, and dinner and movie (the Christmas Story of course) at Granny’s house.

My father promised us a long walk, - and those of you who know him are probably thinking: why would we want to go on a twelve hour hike on Christmas Eve? - but really it was under an hour and quite pleasant. R got to see the trails on the side of the house that lead to the pasture next door - an area where I spent a lot of time as a kid, wandering and picking blackberries. I told him about going under the barbed wire fence to get to the patch of blackberries and he asked, why would you go under and not over the fence? I told him, because I used to be a lot smaller. I especially liked this walk because this part of the trail brought back lovely memories of my cousin (who is now a Marine - I have to add this classification because I’m so proud) and eating blackberries, crackers, and honey from honeysuckles.  Yes, for some reason we thought it would be a good idea to put honey from the honeysuckle blossoms on crackers - lots of work, but delicious.

Mom, H, L, and I started cooking things for dinner at Granny’s. Our cooking plan included green bean casserole, sweet potato casserole, and ham. We actually left the house later that evening with green beans, sweet potato soufflé, ham, and chocolate chip scones. I should point out the only item in our plan that went according to plan was the ham which was pre-made and we just heated. I actually had a great time “cooking” with my mom and sisters because we laughed more than we cooked. We didn’t have sour cream, we had enough sweet potatoes for half the recipe but no one told H we were halving the recipe so she made the full version of all the other ingredients, and Mom ate the mini m&m’s that were supposed to go into the impromptu cookies L and I were making due to a sugar/flour mixture that H had added melted butter to instead of cutting in the butter. Somehow, we ended up with some edible items (after baking the sweet potato casserole three times longer than normal) and even looked decent for festivities at Granny’s.

Thanks to my cousin’s two adorable children and H bringing the Apples to Apples game, we had a rather rowdy Christmas Eve at Granny’s house. It did get a bit out of hand when the usually intelligent and sweet three and a half year old starting yelling row tide over and over again - but we still love him. Also, our baby boy got Christmas presents! This was a wonderful surprise even though I had specifically requested selfish gifts since R and I won’t matter next year.

Nursery Completion

With three weeks until the due date, laundry is done, furniture is arranged, and picture frames are on the wall (even though only one of the frames has photos).  New photos:

And since I really should be helping R take down the Christmas tree ornaments, I will try and post later about how lovely our Christmas was and how much fun the dogs had running wild and free.