Becoming a family

Over the last two weeks(and no I can't believe he has been with us that long), we have begun bonding as a family.  Elijah is melding into our family as though he always was here and we are enjoying every moment with him.  Between Christmas and traveling to see extended family and Nate's work, our personal family moments have not been as often as I would like.  God has granted us some time now to spend bonding, learning about and enjoying each other fully.  These days spent with Elijah have deepened our relationship with each other and with our new son.  And as we continue to adjust, we are feeling overwhelmed with love and support of family and friends.  Families from church have been bringing us meals, our family has thrown us baby showers and helped us in so many other ways.  I realize now how much our parents loved us and the way their lives changed when we were born. There is so much more I would like to share tonight, BUT for now, I am going to get back to my family and the snuggly little baby next to me.  Because these moments are precious and not to be missed!

PICTURES

Sleep deprived, nervous and incredibly blessed: the first few days of parenthood

The first few days of having Elijah home have been incredible and yet exhausting.  My parents were here to greet us and stayed until tuesday afternoon as a support.  Elijah decided not to sleep a wink the first night and kept mommy up ALL night.  Soon we were on our own and trying to figure out all the tricks to a happy baby.  Nate describes parenting as having a FAST learning curve, and he couldn't be more right! :-)  Having changed less then half a dozen diapers before bringing Elijah home, We have graduated from novice to competent and am quickly becoming experienced.  The list of things my son has taught me are numerous, from swaddling, dressing wiggly toes and diapering to soothing, truely loving and learning to take time for every cuddle and every moment.  This adoption experience has not only opened my heart to him but also his birth family.  I can't wait to send them pictures of his first Christmas and share how he is growing.  This is the poem I shared at our placement ceremony and I read it everyday to remind myself of what a gift my son is.

"I didn't give you the gift of life
but in my heart I know
the love I feel is as deep & real
as if it had been so.
For us to have each other
is like a dream come true.
No, I didn't give you the gift of life
Life gave me the gift of you. -unknown. "

 

This has given a whole new perspective to me on God sending his son to come to earth and how much of a sacrifice it truly is.  Because our birth mother chose to make a similar sacrifice so that we may be blessed by her son.

This Year Christmas came early for us!  

It wasn't store bought, we didn't have to fight crowds and wasn't available on amazon.com.   Because true Christmas gifts are about the gift of LOVE and through this adoption LOVE is what has been shared between two families and a beautiful baby boy, a true blessing this Christmas season.

ELIJAH IS BORN!!!

Elijah was born around 4am. on Saturday, December 17th.  He weighed 7 lb 3 oz, 20 in long and AMAZING!  We have never experienced such JOY in our lives!  After the Drs left the room, we were invited in to feed him for the first time.  He was so tiny and beautiful and I will never forget the feeling of holding him in my arms for the first time.  He was perfect and such a gift from God!  AFter spending several hours with him and biomom, he was put in the hospital nursery.  We scooted home to get some sleep after being up all night and some last minute baby items.  On the ride home, we almost blew a tire, but Nate caught it at a gas station before it blew through.  We drove the rest of the way home on the donut tire.  It was hard to think we were 3 hours away form our new son.  After getting our tires fixed and one more good nights sleep, we headed back sunday morning and spent the day holding Elijah and spending quality time with the Birth family.  We slept at a hotel that evening and returned the next morning to the hospital for the placement ceremony and paperwork.  The ceremony was the most emotional experience I (and I think my husband) has ever had.  It was incredibly joyful, sad and powerful all at the same time.  Through tears we shared verses, poems, thoughts and prayers with each other.  The strength it took for our Bio mom to walk over and hand Elijah to me, I can never imagine.  After a tearful but loving goodbye, we were sent on our way with our new son, Elijah and whole new life!

A LOT Has Happened...catching up

The month of November and December were very busy with preparation for Baby, getting to the Biomom through email, applying for grants, and getting excited about baby showers. So now its time to Catch you up!
We traveled to New York State on Fri, Dec 9th for Nate's Coast Guard Drill and my family baby shower.  BUT we never made it to either.  At 6:30 on Sat morning, we got a call from our social worker saying our Biomom was in labor and admitted to the hospital!  We hadn't planned on her being so early, and so we quickly packed up our stuff, stopped at mom's so she could give us our gift, a carseat, and drove 5 hours back to PA to the hospital.  We had our puppy with us and found a kennel on the way about 1 hour from the hospital, and dropped her off for the night.  When we got to the hospital we met our Biomom's social worker, who set us up in a waiting room until our Biomom's family could come update us.  It was an amazing day, getting to know her family and friends better, and being able to be there for her.  After 12 hours, petosin and her water breaking, the Hospital gave us some disappointing news.  They were sending her home.  She wasn't ready for full labor yet, and they preferred she go into full labor on her own.  SO..false alarm! But it was not an accident in the scheme of things.  It gave us the opportunity to build our relationships with the birth family and prepare ourselves better for what was to come.  We then drove 3 hours home, back to pick up our dog the next day and returned home again.  We realized we drove over 12 hours that weekend, good thing we love road trips! 
Well, a week went by, and nothing.  Then, on Friday, Dec 16th, at 4:30 pm we got ANOTHER phone call from our worker.  This time she was in labor for real!  We hopped in our car and drove 3 hours back to the hospital.  When we arrived, we met up with our biomom's family and soon got to see her.  As it got later, most friends went home, leaving us, biomom, her mom and her grandma.  Around midnight, we all took a seat in her room and passed the time telling stories, laughing, getting to know each other and trying to stay awake.  It was an incredible evening.  Now you're caught up to the most important part....

A Phone call away...

On October 25th we agreed to have our profile seen by a bio mom after reading her situation letter. It was a typical email and similar to the past months, we hoped, but braced ourselves for disappointment. 
THEN OUR AGENT CALLED!  We had been chosen as the adoptive family! It was a day we had been waiting for for almost 2 years, and yet was still shocking.  It was an amazing moment, and we were...speeechless.  :-)   As the news sunk in over the next few days we experienced any emotion you could think of, but of course, all overshadowed by JOY! We got to meet the bio mom 2 weeks later.  She is amazing; funny, smart, kind, pretty and incredibly mature.  We couldn't ask for a better match.  The meeting went great, and we found out A BOY is due DEC 20th!  With not much time to prepare, we quickly got to work on names.  On Monday, Novemeber 21, a name was agreed upon and the bio mom was thoughtful enough to send us her sonogram pics form 22 weeks and we got to see him for ourselves for the first time! (even if its in a picture :-D).  We are now working on our nursery more and preparing the changes that lie ahead!  God has been incredibly faithful to us, walking with us through each step and showing us his plan day by day.  Less then a month until the due date, CAN"T WAIT!

Patience and Prayer

Its about time for an update in our adoption adventure blog.  Over the last couple of months, a couple of scenarios did open up in our agency, but we were not chosen.  It was tough to feel rejected and yet not surprising due to the number of families out there to be chosen.  We know when the timing is right, we will be the family chosen.  I could only imagine the joy that the "chosen" family felt and can't wait to get my own phone call someday.  It isn't easy knowing someone is looking at our profile, trying to make one of the hardest decisions of their life.
Recently the birth parents have been due very soon form the time they view profiles (within a month).  That has motivated us to begin our baby registry.  We have been slowly compiling a list of necessities to bring home a baby.  For those of you, like me, who currently have not brought home our first child yet, the options out there for baby stuff are overwhelming at times.  But we are learning and researching and having fun trying to pick out strollers and books and toys for our child!  Sometimes the adoption seems like a pipe dream but the registry helps me remember that this will happen and is REAL, despite the waiting.  For now we pray for our future birth family and child, and patiently wait for the phone call that changes our life! :-D