What a Journey

Here I sit...four weeks after we finally found our baby girl! It has been an amazing story, a whirlwind, and a testimony to the kindness of strangers, the ultimate gift-giving, and a family now begun.

It was Wednesday, April 14th. We got an email, late in the afternoon, with a possible situation. A birthfamily was in Florida and were looking for a family to adopt their baby girl. We had to make a decision as to whether we wanted to be considered in less than an hour. The profile of the family looked good. The baby was, at that time, scheduled to be born the following Monday (April 19). We still had time to get some clothes, pack the car, get some work finished, and drive down to Boca Raton. We said yes.

Thursday, April 15th, we had to get our updated homestudy, a copy of our profile, and paperwork for the lawyer in Florida ready to be overnighted. Thank goodness our homestudy had just been completed. The lawyer wanted our paperwork by 10am on Friday in order to be considered as the adoptive family.

Friday, April 16th, lawyer's office called and started telling me what all kind of paperwork I needed...I stopped her and said, "Wait, does this mean we are the parents chosen? We are having a baby?" She said, "Yes, this is happening!" But there was still much to be done. Our fingerprints had been sent to the FBI in West Virginia two weeks prior. They had to get to Florida in order for us to clear and leave the state. But they couldn't find them. I drive to Charlotte to get John to sign some papers and meet my mom to go do some shopping. While in Charlotte we got the call...the birthmother's water had broken. We needed to get to Florida ASAP because the birthmother wanted to meet us (with the intention she would not place the baby until meeting us). John and I started freaking out..trying to get fingerprints, going to uptown Charlotte to try to re-do them. Then just leaving for FL hoping it would all work out. We left our home at 9PM and drove all night.

Saturday, April 17th...baby is born at 1:07AM

Saturday, April 17th, we arrive at West Boca Medical Center at 10AM and immediately meet the birthparents and our baby girl! We were filled with all kinds of emotions...excitement, shock, exhaustion, and anxiety. The birthparents were great and love our little girl. We were so glad we were able to spend time with them. We gave the birthmother a gift of a butterfly windchime. I told her whenever she heard the chime to think of us and our baby because we would be thinking of them. We got to hold our baby girl and thought she was the most beautiful baby ever! We then left and were able to meet up with the birthfamily for lunch later that day. Again, this was cherished time. We will tell our baby girl how fortunate she was to have such love bring her into this world. Saturday night, John and I got to our hotel and crashed with feelings of deep joy.

Sunday, April 18th, we went to breakfast with cell phone in hand. This was the morning the birthparents were signing legal papers placing their child with us. We waited two hours before we got a call from the lawyer. The BPs were having difficulty signing. They needed to hear from us that we would send pictures and updates. We got on the phone and reassured the BPs that we would tell our daughter about them and send them pictures often. Another hour and a half went. John and I are sitting at a Starbucks when the call came, "Congratulations, Mom!" We were thrilled. We headed to the hospital thinking our daughter may be discharged, but instead spent some time feeding her and having a last day of rest before picking her up on Monday.

Monday, April 19th, since our fingerprints are still lost in the pile at the FBI, we had to go to the Boca Raton police department to get them reprinted and overnighted to the FBI. The Boca police were gracious and kind and didn't charge us (just one of many small blessings along the way). We then went to the hospital to pick up our daughter. Suddenly the whirlwind stopped and we realized we were indeed parents. We headed to FedEx to send off paperwork and then to our temporary home at Embassy Suites. Embassy Suites could not have been a better first home and first family. They discounted our room for us and helped us celebrate our family.

Over the next several days paperwork began to move to and from West Virginia to Florida to North Carolina. And though we were in Florida for 12 days we had valuable time together as a family. On April 28th we were at breakfast in the hotel lobby (where we had eaten the last 11 days) and got the call we were cleared to leave FL! We jumped and loaded the car and drove all day to get home. Our baby girl slept the entire way!

April 28th, 10:30PM Home at Last

And today we celebrate our baby's one month birthday! Amazing.
I look back on the last few years and wonder how we got through hurdle after hurdle and dissapointment after dissapointment. I assume it is grace...yes, I am sure it is grace. And it is grace that I am now experiencing when my baby girl looks at me. That grace...it is amazing!