Quick Travel? Maybe!

First things first: Let's just say, between both sides of our families, we may be building some sort of football team.
That's right, this baby is another boy! 

Luckily, we have lots of friends and family who have boys, so we get lots of boys clothes without doing any shopping.   Of course, I did have to shop a little.

We talked with the expectant mom on the phone and she is very sweet and very laid back.  She indicated that she might want one of us in the delivery room with her, which is such an amazing blessing.  Of course, that could change and she has every right to change her mind when the time arrives.  I really view the hospital as her time, so every question she had about how WE wanted things to work left me dumbfounded.

After her initial appointment last week, they moved the due date up to August 1, with the idea of having a c-section about a week or so before that.   Well, things might be working a little quicker than we had anticipated....  we might need to fly down to Arizona much quicker than we had anticipated.   I won't know for sure until next Thursday. I'm freaking out a little.   I'm a planner by nature and this baby is showing us that you can't plan for him completely!  We don't have flights, we don't have a place to stay yet... any of that!   But I have to believe it will all work out.

I have had so many emotions these last couple weeks.   We are so excited and so happy. It seemed as though we would never get to this point and here we are.   Of course, I'm feeling a little stressed (ok, maybe a lot) with everything that needs to get done over the next couple of weeks.   I'm feeling a LOT emotional about my journey towards motherhood. There are a lot of fears that a prospective adoptive family has that parents through birth don't.  There are also a lot of added "steps" to the process of course. We've had to do more paperwork, have more discussions, and think about every item that goes along with traveling on perhaps short notice.

But another amazing emotion has also come through this journey - GRATITUDE.    I am so grateful for the support of our family and friends. Even the support from people that barely know us.
I am also so grateful for the expectant mother who has allowed us to talk with her and be a part of this process.  I'm sure that someday, we'll say we love her and she will be a part of our family.   That is one amazing piece of adoption.
I am also so thrilled because I have met some amazing adoptive moms through an online community and I will even get to meet a couple of them when we are traveling!  I have a feeling that life long friendships can come from journeys like this.

Thank you to everyone who have donated money to our travel fund or donated items to our fundraiser garage sale.    Tears come to my eyes when I think about it how all of you have a hand in bringing our baby home.

Hope brings.....

I don't think I ever posted about my newest tattoo here.   In January I made the decision that I needed a new tattoo.  Something that was meaningful to this journey and something to keep my heart at peace during the tough times of waiting.

The owl has become a symbol for us and Future Baby.  That, along with the word hope on my forearm is something that I can look at each and every day to remind me that all of my hopes and dreams will come true, when the time is right.


After signing up with Christian Adoption Consultants we started sending out our information to a couple of agencies they are connected with.  We asked to be presented to an expectant mother with one agency after seeing a situation on their website.   Then, we got notification of a baby that was already born and a lawyer was working to find adoptive parents for her.  It seemed like there was so much going on.   I was overwhelmed with sending out information, making decisions on what felt right, etc.
After some consideration, on June 4th we were getting our information together for the baby that was already born.  I wrote out the check for the application fee and looked at my phone for some reason.
There was a new email on our family email account, which we use for a lot of adoption related emails.

I opened the new email and the words, "you were her first choice" and "congratulations!" jumped out at me.

I couldn't believe my eyes... I walked towards our stairs and called for Brandon with a very shaky voice...  while I stood on the stairs and he stood at the top I told him "she picked us" and I started to cry.
He got me upstairs and started asking me more, but I couldn't even read the email fully, so I handed him the phone.   My step-son R was in the room and gave me  a hug.   I called my mom freaking out.

At that point, all I knew was that this expectant mom, that we asked to be presented to through one of the agencies, had picked us.

We made a phone call to our consultant and of course emailed the agency back. It was quite a whirlwind!
That night, I talked to the agency director for a short time and got a little bit more information sent to me via email.

A lot of things happened over the next couple of days... our emotions were on overdrive and we had a ton of fears.    After all was said and done, we decided to take a leap of faith and officially be matched.

I will say to all of you that with adoption, nothing is ever for sure until it is.   This amazing young woman chose us based on our profile and we will move forward with even more hope that this baby belongs in our family.  Things could still change, but believe me, I am hoping that this summer (early August), I'll be a mommy to this amazing baby.



Look for updates next week on confirmation of gender, due date, etc!  We are thrilled!