Chad and I are so so so excited to announce that we have officially been matched with a birthmom!! In an effort to keep this post organized, I am going to present it as a timeline. Here goes:
February 20: Call from Ms. Lisa (our lawyer) regarding four "situations"
February 22: We chose to present to three of the birth moms.
February 25: Our profile book was sent to Decolores (adoption agency).
March 4: We did not match with the first birthmom. The second birthmom is on hold until the family that adopted her little boy decides if they are going to adopt again. We are a little disappointed, but we realize that God has a plan and we need to wait and see what He has in store for us.
March 10: We get news that the family will decide by Friday on whether to adopt again.
March 11: We get a phone call informing us that the family is not able to adopt at this time, and our profile book is going to be presented to birthmom the next day!!
March 12: God is really testing us today because the profile book was not delivered to birthmom.
We will now have to wait until Monday for a decision. What a looong weekend!!
March 16: We finally get the news we have been waiting to hear. Our profile book has been presented, and she wants to meet us!! We are feeling a mix of emotions. We are so excited for the news, but we are nervous about making a good impression. The biological mother and father are both from Guatemala, and speak no English. We will meet with them for lunch on Saturday with an interpreter in Lake Charles.
March 21: Chad and I travel to Lake Charles to meet with Leslie (biological mom), Arnold (biological dad) and their son Dylan. The language barrier adds a new element to getting to know them, but our interpreter, Reggie, did a great job of keeping the conversation flowing and assisting us in getting to know each other. Chad and I are super thrilled to have been chosen to parent this gift from God. This is the child that we have prayed for so long. We leave with a sense of peace and eternal greatfulness that His plan is finally coming to light in our lives.
Over the next week, Leslie and I are able to further communicate and get to know one another through text messaging. Technology is just such an amazing thing. Utilizing a translation app, she is able to text me in Spanish, and I can then interpret it and respond back in Spanish. This has given us such a wonderful way to get to know each other without the use of a third person. It really has allowed us to build such a beautiful relationship with each other.
March 28: We had our second garage sale. If I didn't know any better, I would say we were getting good at this!! We were so fortunate to have just as many people help us out with the garage sale in Metairie that we did in Baton Rouge. We had friends and family from all over donating items to assist us on our journey. My mom and dad and some of our family worked tirelessly to organize and price all the items donated. The day of the garage sale, we had family, friends, and neighbors all present to offer a helping hand to make sure everything ran smoothly, and it did. A huge shout out and thanks to Mom, Dad, Adam, Mel, Nanny B, Mimi, Pawpee, Maw Maw, Paw Paw, Aunt Debbie, Lena Dyess, Michelle Johnson, Kathy Hart, David Hart, Anne Southworth, and Judie Hebert. These people assisted customers, helped carry items to cars, translated for our Hispanic customers, and helped put a smile on our faces.
April 9: I was so blessed to be invited to Leslie's prenatal appointment. I took the day off from work to make the trip to Lake Charles. It was such an awesome experience to get to see Baby D for the first time. Leslie is currently 29 weeks 4 days pregnant with a baby girl. She is due June 21 and the baby weighs 2 pounds 9 ounces. I was able to get her first "picture" which is proudly hanging on our fridge. She truly is such a miracle, and Chad and I are forever grateful to Leslie and Arnold for entrusting us with raising their daughter and making her our own.
Where are we now?
Chad and I have worked so hard on our garage sale fundraisers to help us with our finances in bringing home Baby D. We have had two very successful garage sales along with sales from our Craigslist items. So far we have raised 8,800 dollars from these ventures. We have also raised another couple hundred on our puzzle piece fundraiser. We are still a few thousand dollars short from our goal. We are still organizing our raffle fundraiser which will begin soon. Puzzle pieces are still available for anyone that is interested!!
How you can help us this week....
Pray for Leslie and Baby D. Pray that she continues to have a healthy pregnancy, and she continues to have peace about her decision for her child. Pray for Chad and me as we continue to plan for Baby D. We have begun preparing a nursery and getting our home ready for her. We are so excited, but we understand that nothing is definite until 3 days after baby is born when Leslie signs the papers relinquishing her parental rights. Please pray that Chad and I have peace with whatever path this journey takes. Please pray as we continue our fundraising efforts. We are working so hard to reach our goals, and we need the continued support of everyone that loves us.
Thanks again for following us. We appreciate it and hope everyone has a good week. We will be posting pictures of the nursery soon!
February 20: Call from Ms. Lisa (our lawyer) regarding four "situations"
February 22: We chose to present to three of the birth moms.
February 25: Our profile book was sent to Decolores (adoption agency).
March 4: We did not match with the first birthmom. The second birthmom is on hold until the family that adopted her little boy decides if they are going to adopt again. We are a little disappointed, but we realize that God has a plan and we need to wait and see what He has in store for us.
March 10: We get news that the family will decide by Friday on whether to adopt again.
March 11: We get a phone call informing us that the family is not able to adopt at this time, and our profile book is going to be presented to birthmom the next day!!
March 12: God is really testing us today because the profile book was not delivered to birthmom.
We will now have to wait until Monday for a decision. What a looong weekend!!
March 16: We finally get the news we have been waiting to hear. Our profile book has been presented, and she wants to meet us!! We are feeling a mix of emotions. We are so excited for the news, but we are nervous about making a good impression. The biological mother and father are both from Guatemala, and speak no English. We will meet with them for lunch on Saturday with an interpreter in Lake Charles.
March 21: Chad and I travel to Lake Charles to meet with Leslie (biological mom), Arnold (biological dad) and their son Dylan. The language barrier adds a new element to getting to know them, but our interpreter, Reggie, did a great job of keeping the conversation flowing and assisting us in getting to know each other. Chad and I are super thrilled to have been chosen to parent this gift from God. This is the child that we have prayed for so long. We leave with a sense of peace and eternal greatfulness that His plan is finally coming to light in our lives.
Over the next week, Leslie and I are able to further communicate and get to know one another through text messaging. Technology is just such an amazing thing. Utilizing a translation app, she is able to text me in Spanish, and I can then interpret it and respond back in Spanish. This has given us such a wonderful way to get to know each other without the use of a third person. It really has allowed us to build such a beautiful relationship with each other.
March 28: We had our second garage sale. If I didn't know any better, I would say we were getting good at this!! We were so fortunate to have just as many people help us out with the garage sale in Metairie that we did in Baton Rouge. We had friends and family from all over donating items to assist us on our journey. My mom and dad and some of our family worked tirelessly to organize and price all the items donated. The day of the garage sale, we had family, friends, and neighbors all present to offer a helping hand to make sure everything ran smoothly, and it did. A huge shout out and thanks to Mom, Dad, Adam, Mel, Nanny B, Mimi, Pawpee, Maw Maw, Paw Paw, Aunt Debbie, Lena Dyess, Michelle Johnson, Kathy Hart, David Hart, Anne Southworth, and Judie Hebert. These people assisted customers, helped carry items to cars, translated for our Hispanic customers, and helped put a smile on our faces.
April 9: I was so blessed to be invited to Leslie's prenatal appointment. I took the day off from work to make the trip to Lake Charles. It was such an awesome experience to get to see Baby D for the first time. Leslie is currently 29 weeks 4 days pregnant with a baby girl. She is due June 21 and the baby weighs 2 pounds 9 ounces. I was able to get her first "picture" which is proudly hanging on our fridge. She truly is such a miracle, and Chad and I are forever grateful to Leslie and Arnold for entrusting us with raising their daughter and making her our own.
Where are we now?
Chad and I have worked so hard on our garage sale fundraisers to help us with our finances in bringing home Baby D. We have had two very successful garage sales along with sales from our Craigslist items. So far we have raised 8,800 dollars from these ventures. We have also raised another couple hundred on our puzzle piece fundraiser. We are still a few thousand dollars short from our goal. We are still organizing our raffle fundraiser which will begin soon. Puzzle pieces are still available for anyone that is interested!!
How you can help us this week....
Pray for Leslie and Baby D. Pray that she continues to have a healthy pregnancy, and she continues to have peace about her decision for her child. Pray for Chad and me as we continue to plan for Baby D. We have begun preparing a nursery and getting our home ready for her. We are so excited, but we understand that nothing is definite until 3 days after baby is born when Leslie signs the papers relinquishing her parental rights. Please pray that Chad and I have peace with whatever path this journey takes. Please pray as we continue our fundraising efforts. We are working so hard to reach our goals, and we need the continued support of everyone that loves us.
Thanks again for following us. We appreciate it and hope everyone has a good week. We will be posting pictures of the nursery soon!