Wednesday, July 27, 2016

MATCHED!!!

Almost two weeks ago I was getting ready for work and Daniel was sitting on the couch when we received a phone call from the agency. I put the phone on speaker phone as our worker was saying they had shown our profile and a family wanted to meet with us. We were so excited as she shared details with us. We agreed we would meet that coming Friday because Daniel is off on Fridays. Daniel and I talked about not telling anyone until we had met with the family and knew more information. Normally I do tell a few friends or at least our parents when we have someone looking at our profile and ask for prayers. This time felt a little different because this would be the first time in our adoption journey that a family had asked to meet with us. Of course I couldn't wait any longer because I was so excited. So I talked Daniel into telling just our parents. So on Wednesday while he mowed I went over to my moms house and told her what all we knew. She was very excited for us. She took me to Walmart and bought stuff for Tucker's diaper bag just in case. Later that evening we went to his parents and told them. They were excited as well. It took F-O-R-E-V-E-R for Friday to get here!! I cried a lot! The meeting with the birth parents was very relaxed. Our agency worker did a great job of making the meeting flow smoothly. You would have thought that Daniel and the birth dad had known each other because they seemed so comfortable with one another talking about life. The birth mom was very quiet and the birth dad did a lot of talking. I just couldn't believe we were actually meeting with a family that was interested in us, that this was really happening, I still had tears most of the time. The meeting lasted about an hour. We laughed a lot. Both parties asked some questions. The birth parents were so nice. At the end, our agency said both parties needed to have 24 hours to make sure they wanted to proceed. (OF COURSE WE WANTED TO)!!! After the meeting Daniel and I met up with his brother Matthew and future wife, Amy. We went to dinner with them at Hideaway Pizza. It's a tradition Daniel and I started our very first meeting with the agency, we eat Hideaway every time we've had to go to their offices.

The next day my mom and I went to garage sales to pick up a few things we might need for Tucker since we wouldn't be able to have a baby shower until after he arrives. Later that day I had just sat down to eat lunch when our agency called. I immediately ran out to the garage where Daniel and his Dad were. I put our agency on speaker phone and she said that the birth parents wanted to move forward and that we were officially MATCHED and that he would possibly be here in the next two weeks!!! After she gave some more details we hung up. We cried and hugged! We couldn't believe this was happening. I faced timed my mom and told her the great news. Daniel called his mom as well. We spent the day calling our friends and family to tell them the good news. Later my mom came over and helped me setup Tucker's room so that we could take a picture and post it on facebook. Daniel's mom brought over some baby boy socks and some onesies. Daniel and I celebrated with ice cream later that evening. So now that it sunk in some we knew we had to get my classroom setup and ready before he got here! With the help of some very dear friends of ours- the Hollis family, Shelton boys and my mom we moved everything from our house and into my classroom that night!! The next day was my moms birthday. She spent the day at our house helping me with Tucker's room and doing all of his laundry. I packed his bag that night. The following day my friends Carol, Beth and Daniel's mom all helped to unpack my classroom boxes. I worked all week at Hallmark and spent the mornings/afternoons with Beth and Daniel's mom getting the classroom ready. As of last Friday with the help of the Post Family and Daniel my classroom is finished and ready for the new school year! It was important to get my classroom ready because I wont be getting to start the new school year in the classroom because I will get to be home with Tucker for awhile. I already have a sub in place to start the school year with Beth. She is a long time friend and past teacher of mine. I have no doubt in my mind that my students will be in good hands with the two of them while I'm gone! Another great thing that happened during all of this is that we finally completed our puzzle!!!


The day we met with the birth parents.

Tucker's stuff for his diaper bag from Grandma Anderson.

Our announcement

Celebrating! 
Tucker's Peek a Boo monkey and blanket from his meme




It hasn't been easy getting to this point. All the disappointments, worries, sad tears, and heartaches have been hard at times. Not one time have I lost faith though. I knew that when God's timing was right he would deliver a baby to us. I have spent lots of time in prayer for past birth moms who have looked at our profiles, their babies, I have even been praying about our current one before we knew anything about her and will continue to do so after Tucker is here. God is who has got me through this journey along with friends and family who have prayed with us. Thank you all who have helped with our adoption process and those of you who have prayed with us. You have blessed us so much!!
It's finished!!! Week 133
So as of today we just sit and wait for Tucker to arrive!

Thursday, March 3, 2016

Crushed...

I know it's been a couple months since I last updated you on the adoption. I've been holding off in hopes of having better news. Unfortunately I do not. I feel like a piece of my heart was crushed yesterday.

Over the past two months Daniel and I have been trying to go a different route in the adoption world. I cannot give detailed specifics but I can share some information with you. It was brought to my attention at the first of January that a brother and sister would be put up for adoption. I personally know these kids. They are some of the sweetest  most precious kids I know. Their smile is contagious.  Daniel and I talked about the possibility of adopting them. From the beginning of our adoption journey we talked about our main goal was to give a child a loving home where they feel safe and we can give them everything they could ever need to know God, succeed in life and know what it is like to be loved. We knew that if there was a chance to get these kids we were all in. We prayed daily about these children. I immediately started calling everyone I could at DHS to get information on these kids and to ask what steps we needed to take. I called every week and sometimes more than once a week. I kept getting the runaround.  It took three weeks for someone to call me back from DHS and actually give me some answers. I was told NO, that we could not adopt them because we did not know them prior to the circumstances. Of course the lady I spoke with is the same lady we had previously met with when we first started looking into adoption. She had a negative attitude then and still does today plus she was rude. She is one of the many reasons we chose private adoption. I called our agency and they started working right away to see if there was anything they could do to help us. They updated our home study so that it would reflect that we were willing to take siblings and older children. They enrolled us in a 27 hour class with DHS that we completed last Saturday. At the first of February our agency turned over all our paperwork to DHS on behalf of these kids. Daniel and I wrote a letter on behalf of the children in hopes that it would make a difference. For the next few weeks we waited for DHS to make a decision on a family for these kids. We talked about the "what if's" and all our dreams for these two precious children. We had a pretty good feeling about getting these kids because of the relationship I had with the kids and that was one thing that the teachers from the DHS classes kept referring back to. Our agency stayed in contact with DHS and kept us updated. Yesterday afternoon we received a phone call from our agency saying that DHS went with a different family for the kids. God has perfect timing for these things, I was not at work when we received the phone call, I was with Daniel. I'm very thankful for that because I would not have made it through the rest of the day at school.


So now what? Where do we go from here? What do we do now?

We pray that these children adjust well to their new family and never forget them. They will always have a special place in our hearts. We continue to have our agency show our profile to birth moms. We continue to wait. We continue to keep our faith with God. We continue to make each other laugh every day. We continue to love one another. We continue to be there for each other.