OH WOW. This post. You guys. This is so exciting to type.
Forgive me that my brain is everywhere, but I am getting sent pictures of my SON (ahhh!) via my phone and it's taking all my strength to focus on getting things ready.
So in Alabama the mother has 5 days to change her mind, so we will not drive down (torture) until Thursday. The agency we are working with has no doubt in their mind that the birth family is committed, and they have followed up with her each day since his birth (April 28th) and she feels so positive about her decision and about US! She chose us for her son and she said she felt an immediate connection to us when she looked through our profile.
I can't tell you much about the situation, but all involved are healthy, both emotionally and physically. This case is considered a "clean" and uncomplicated situation..so we feel very very very blessed about that.
Back to how it all happened:
On Thursday (April 30th) I got a text from our agency director about a little boy who was born on the 28th and needed a family. She said that the Alabama agency (who already had our profile) wanted to present us for this baby! Usually when you are presented for a baby, the mother is still pregnant and has a month or more left to go, so we knew if this mother picked us, we would have to get our stuff together right away!!
Carri (with our agency) told us that the presentations were going to take place on the following day (May 1st) and that we would hear ASAP if we were selected or not. For some reason, I was just so hoping this was the one. I can't explain why, but there was another situation we were eligible to present for a couple of weeks from now, and I just kept going back and forth about it. I told Chris multiple times that I just wasn't sure about it, but I had no concrete reasons as to why. (That baby is due June 9th.)
So May 1st comes (yesterday) and it is presentation day! I was a mess! So anxious ALL day long. I tried to distract myself with friends and cleaning and other random activities, but it was a nerve racking and the hours seemed to creep by sooooooo slowly.
It gets to be 5pm and I had gotten a few messages from Carri wondering if I had heard anything from the Alabama people because she hadn't heard at all. She said she hated to even think this but she had a hunch they didn't pick us (because it was so late in the day) and that the Alabama agency just hadn't gotten around to letting all of the unchosen families know. I agreed and I started to feel disappointed, but I didn't want to fully give up until I got the email. The Alabama agency is typically fast at responding, so we were confused as to why we hadn't heard anything. Carri even started to text them rather than email just to see if she could find anything out.
Eventually it was 5:30...then 6...then 6:30...then 7...and at around 7:30 I was SURE we didn't get selected and I started to think about the situation that was to come in the following weeks so that I could cheer myself up. Chris got home from work around 8 and by that point I was positive that there was no way in the world they had selected us as we thought we would hear for sure by the end of the work day.
We talked on the phone with his Aunt and ate a couple of bites of dinner and all of the sudden it was around 8:30 and I looked down at my phone to see that Carri was calling me. My heart skipped a little bit, but I still didn't have high hopes. I thought for sure she was calling to explain why it took so long for them to tell us we weren't selected.
As soon as I answered, Carri started to talk but I couldn't read in her voice if there was excitement or disappointment! I'm sure only moments passed, but it felt like forever as I tried to get a feel for what was going on. All of the sudden she said "SHE CHOSE YOU GUYS!" And I fell to the ground crying hysterically...to the point that I could not even speak a word! I mumbled to Carri that I needed a moment to process and she laughed and screamed and was full of so much joy. I cried and cried and told her over and over again that I was SO SURE they didn't pick us because of how late it was and how shocked I was that we had him!
She went on to tell me that it took the Alabama agency 4 hours to drive to meet the birth mother, and then it took the birth mother forever to get to them due to transportation issues. Finally they met and presented and she picked us.
I was so deeply touched to find out that because of Ellie and Elsie, she really felt like she was giving us a gift. (Gift=understatement.) She is BRAVE enough to view her loss as our gift because of our girls, and that makes absolutely no sense to me because surely I could never be that strong. She mentioned it again to the agency today when they called to check on her. She just feels so confident and she sounds so full of love for this baby. She told the agency that she felt like we would be good parents to him because we appear so full of love and joy in our photos. Oh. my. heart.
You guys. He is beautiful. He is precious. It hurts my heart that we can't be there right now, but he is SO WORTH THE WAIT. He is worth everything we've been through. He is seriously seriously worth it. We are in love already, solely through pictures and only because of the love of God. You guys. I can't even explain it. His pictures make me feel the exact same feelings I had when I first saw Ellie and Elsie. I can only imagine what it will be like in person.
For now, we are SO grateful for his sweet caretakers, who will let me call and get as many photos as I want. They are such a sweet sweet family. He is in good hands waiting to join our family, and he has no idea how much he has already been prayed for!
We are waiting to reveal his name until we see him in person, but I dreamt of his name months ago for a little boy, before I ever knew he existed and before I ever knew if we would be matched with a boy. In my dream we had African American boy and I was calling him by this name. Sure enough..here he is..just a couple of months later. He is lovely, you guys, just lovely.
We can't WAIT to share him with you. As you've probably seen on our facebook posts, we still need massive help in fundraising. I don't even know how to express my thankfulness for how much you guys have already given. I can't even understand such generosity but it is incredible. We think that the total amount will be right around (or maybe a little over) $25,000. We know that God is the ultimate provider and we know that he LOVES adoption...so we are waiting in expectation for this complete gift! Our fundraiser can be found at http://www.gofundme.com/jod1mo
WOW you guys. Just wow. I can't believe this is my life right now! It doesn't feel real. It's incredible.
With love,
Chris and Jordan and Baby T-to-be
Forgive me that my brain is everywhere, but I am getting sent pictures of my SON (ahhh!) via my phone and it's taking all my strength to focus on getting things ready.
So in Alabama the mother has 5 days to change her mind, so we will not drive down (torture) until Thursday. The agency we are working with has no doubt in their mind that the birth family is committed, and they have followed up with her each day since his birth (April 28th) and she feels so positive about her decision and about US! She chose us for her son and she said she felt an immediate connection to us when she looked through our profile.
I can't tell you much about the situation, but all involved are healthy, both emotionally and physically. This case is considered a "clean" and uncomplicated situation..so we feel very very very blessed about that.
Back to how it all happened:
On Thursday (April 30th) I got a text from our agency director about a little boy who was born on the 28th and needed a family. She said that the Alabama agency (who already had our profile) wanted to present us for this baby! Usually when you are presented for a baby, the mother is still pregnant and has a month or more left to go, so we knew if this mother picked us, we would have to get our stuff together right away!!
Carri (with our agency) told us that the presentations were going to take place on the following day (May 1st) and that we would hear ASAP if we were selected or not. For some reason, I was just so hoping this was the one. I can't explain why, but there was another situation we were eligible to present for a couple of weeks from now, and I just kept going back and forth about it. I told Chris multiple times that I just wasn't sure about it, but I had no concrete reasons as to why. (That baby is due June 9th.)
So May 1st comes (yesterday) and it is presentation day! I was a mess! So anxious ALL day long. I tried to distract myself with friends and cleaning and other random activities, but it was a nerve racking and the hours seemed to creep by sooooooo slowly.
It gets to be 5pm and I had gotten a few messages from Carri wondering if I had heard anything from the Alabama people because she hadn't heard at all. She said she hated to even think this but she had a hunch they didn't pick us (because it was so late in the day) and that the Alabama agency just hadn't gotten around to letting all of the unchosen families know. I agreed and I started to feel disappointed, but I didn't want to fully give up until I got the email. The Alabama agency is typically fast at responding, so we were confused as to why we hadn't heard anything. Carri even started to text them rather than email just to see if she could find anything out.
Eventually it was 5:30...then 6...then 6:30...then 7...and at around 7:30 I was SURE we didn't get selected and I started to think about the situation that was to come in the following weeks so that I could cheer myself up. Chris got home from work around 8 and by that point I was positive that there was no way in the world they had selected us as we thought we would hear for sure by the end of the work day.
We talked on the phone with his Aunt and ate a couple of bites of dinner and all of the sudden it was around 8:30 and I looked down at my phone to see that Carri was calling me. My heart skipped a little bit, but I still didn't have high hopes. I thought for sure she was calling to explain why it took so long for them to tell us we weren't selected.
As soon as I answered, Carri started to talk but I couldn't read in her voice if there was excitement or disappointment! I'm sure only moments passed, but it felt like forever as I tried to get a feel for what was going on. All of the sudden she said "SHE CHOSE YOU GUYS!" And I fell to the ground crying hysterically...to the point that I could not even speak a word! I mumbled to Carri that I needed a moment to process and she laughed and screamed and was full of so much joy. I cried and cried and told her over and over again that I was SO SURE they didn't pick us because of how late it was and how shocked I was that we had him!
She went on to tell me that it took the Alabama agency 4 hours to drive to meet the birth mother, and then it took the birth mother forever to get to them due to transportation issues. Finally they met and presented and she picked us.
I was so deeply touched to find out that because of Ellie and Elsie, she really felt like she was giving us a gift. (Gift=understatement.) She is BRAVE enough to view her loss as our gift because of our girls, and that makes absolutely no sense to me because surely I could never be that strong. She mentioned it again to the agency today when they called to check on her. She just feels so confident and she sounds so full of love for this baby. She told the agency that she felt like we would be good parents to him because we appear so full of love and joy in our photos. Oh. my. heart.
You guys. He is beautiful. He is precious. It hurts my heart that we can't be there right now, but he is SO WORTH THE WAIT. He is worth everything we've been through. He is seriously seriously worth it. We are in love already, solely through pictures and only because of the love of God. You guys. I can't even explain it. His pictures make me feel the exact same feelings I had when I first saw Ellie and Elsie. I can only imagine what it will be like in person.
For now, we are SO grateful for his sweet caretakers, who will let me call and get as many photos as I want. They are such a sweet sweet family. He is in good hands waiting to join our family, and he has no idea how much he has already been prayed for!
We are waiting to reveal his name until we see him in person, but I dreamt of his name months ago for a little boy, before I ever knew he existed and before I ever knew if we would be matched with a boy. In my dream we had African American boy and I was calling him by this name. Sure enough..here he is..just a couple of months later. He is lovely, you guys, just lovely.
We can't WAIT to share him with you. As you've probably seen on our facebook posts, we still need massive help in fundraising. I don't even know how to express my thankfulness for how much you guys have already given. I can't even understand such generosity but it is incredible. We think that the total amount will be right around (or maybe a little over) $25,000. We know that God is the ultimate provider and we know that he LOVES adoption...so we are waiting in expectation for this complete gift! Our fundraiser can be found at http://www.gofundme.com/jod1mo
WOW you guys. Just wow. I can't believe this is my life right now! It doesn't feel real. It's incredible.
With love,
Chris and Jordan and Baby T-to-be
