Yesterday was a very good day. We met our birth mother at her doctor's office in the morning. The two hours we spent waiting for the doctor just flew by as we talked and got to know each other better. This was followed by lunch, shopping, and more. We spent the whole day together--driving her around to errands as it was raining for like the 40th straight day in San Antonio. She is just a really sweet girl.
Olivia Grace (who will be born a week from tomorrow) got a new coming home outfit, hats, socks, booties, shoes (for later), bibs and a blanket. Our birth mother took everything home to wash and get ready for next week. We are meeting her at the hospital at 5:30 am to keep her company before the c-section at 7:30 am. Her mother will not be there as she is keeping all of the children and lives out of town. We are hoping to meet her on Sunday when she comes to pick up our birth mother. As of now she is still insisting that I be in the delivery room with her and I am so excited because I realized I might be the first to hold the baby.
Before heading down to San Antonio we had our home study update and passed with flying colors. Our counselor filled us in on the antic of our previous birth mother. When she chose to keep the baby in May she left and went to a homeless shelter. Not three weeks later the shelter reported her to child protective services for neglect and they took the baby away from her. Then the shelter kicked her out. When she went down to CPS to see about getting the baby back they had her arrested for disorderly conduct. We also found out that the whole time she was in the maternity center she was riding the bus to see the baby's father. Of course we are devastated about what that baby girl is going through, but at the same time we feel so blessed to be matched with our new birth mother. She seems to be a real jewel!
Please continue to pray for us this last week. We hope to bring Olivia Grace home on Sunday, August 5. Also pray for the birth mother, her peace of mind, her health (she has a cold and pink eye from her some), and her safety.
Friday, July 27, 2007
Sunday, July 22, 2007
We are home!
I'm sorry that it has taken a week to make another post. This has been a very busy week of last minute packing, hiring movers, loading the truck, cleaning the house, saying goodbye to friends, and driving to Texas. Andy drove the 26 foot moving truck which topped out at 65-70 mph. Larry rode the in the cab with Andy in his special seat belt. The little dogs rode with me in the car containing some necessities and the computer.
We were late leaving town on Tuesday and got caught in some horrible weather including a hail storm. So, we didn't even make it out of Florida that day before we pulled over and spent the night. The next day we made it to New Orleans and spent the night. We were hoping to make it to San Antonio on Thursday, but once again the weather made us run late. So, we spent the night in Beaumont. We finally made it to our new home on Friday afternoon after driving through thunderstorms for hours. A one night trip turned into a three night trip.
The new church pastor and his wife met us at the house with drinks and a visit. Mom arrived shortly with our new (old) mattresses. We inherited Mom and Dad's mattress set as they bought a new set this year. Then the troops arrived, five youth and countless parents, SPR committee members and new friends. The moving truck was unloaded in less than an hour. Praise God! Our beds were put together and most of the boxes made it to the right rooms (as room allowed). What a blessing. We received the first fruits of an old fashioned "pounding" (a pound of this and a pound of that) and dinner/breakfast. In fact we will have dinner delivered for the next four nights. Tonight we happily ate some wonderful King Ranch Chicken, salad, bread and lemon bars!
Basically, we are happier than we imagined. Our landlords are lovely Christian people, Granny is close by, our new church seems full of friendly and hopeful people, and best of all our baby should be home in less than three weeks.
We have talked to our birth mother since arriving and she is doing well. Her mother has already picked up her little boy to keep him until after the birth. This will give her some space to rest and just work as much as she can until the birth. He was sick this past week and undoubtedly needs some time to rest too. But our birth mother's spirits seem high and she is still very open and friendly. We did not get to do the shopping we planned to do last week and are hoping to get that done this week. She mentioned us going to her last doctor appointment this week, but our home study update will be done that day (Tuesday). Pray for us as we try to make the house as presentable as possible before Tuesday. Our adoption counselor says she doesn't expect us to be unpacked, but we'll give it a good try.
Granny took some pictures and as soon as we get those we will post them so you can all see our new house and some of our new friends. May God bless you all--wherever you are. We miss you all and love you all very much!
We were late leaving town on Tuesday and got caught in some horrible weather including a hail storm. So, we didn't even make it out of Florida that day before we pulled over and spent the night. The next day we made it to New Orleans and spent the night. We were hoping to make it to San Antonio on Thursday, but once again the weather made us run late. So, we spent the night in Beaumont. We finally made it to our new home on Friday afternoon after driving through thunderstorms for hours. A one night trip turned into a three night trip.
The new church pastor and his wife met us at the house with drinks and a visit. Mom arrived shortly with our new (old) mattresses. We inherited Mom and Dad's mattress set as they bought a new set this year. Then the troops arrived, five youth and countless parents, SPR committee members and new friends. The moving truck was unloaded in less than an hour. Praise God! Our beds were put together and most of the boxes made it to the right rooms (as room allowed). What a blessing. We received the first fruits of an old fashioned "pounding" (a pound of this and a pound of that) and dinner/breakfast. In fact we will have dinner delivered for the next four nights. Tonight we happily ate some wonderful King Ranch Chicken, salad, bread and lemon bars!
Basically, we are happier than we imagined. Our landlords are lovely Christian people, Granny is close by, our new church seems full of friendly and hopeful people, and best of all our baby should be home in less than three weeks.
We have talked to our birth mother since arriving and she is doing well. Her mother has already picked up her little boy to keep him until after the birth. This will give her some space to rest and just work as much as she can until the birth. He was sick this past week and undoubtedly needs some time to rest too. But our birth mother's spirits seem high and she is still very open and friendly. We did not get to do the shopping we planned to do last week and are hoping to get that done this week. She mentioned us going to her last doctor appointment this week, but our home study update will be done that day (Tuesday). Pray for us as we try to make the house as presentable as possible before Tuesday. Our adoption counselor says she doesn't expect us to be unpacked, but we'll give it a good try.
Granny took some pictures and as soon as we get those we will post them so you can all see our new house and some of our new friends. May God bless you all--wherever you are. We miss you all and love you all very much!
Sunday, July 15, 2007
Up to our eyeballs in boxes!
Well, we are literally up to our eyeballs in boxes. We have been so busy this week. We had to change banks (to one that has branches in Texas), establish all of our new utilities, get work done here, etc. It has been crazy! Now I feel like I am way behind on my packing.
The weather has been so unpredictable that we didn't have a garage sale today. We were planning to get rid of all of the unnecessary things we have. Since the weather was going to be bad we didn't have the sale and now we have tons of stuff to get rid of. We are hoping to donate it all to the church for the next United Methodist Women's rummage sale.
My back is still not quite healthy so I can't lift anything. Poor Andy has been moving all of the boxes as I pack them. We hired a couple of moving guys to come on Monday and help us load the truck. I hope we can get it all done and all in the truck. We'll see. We need to pray that they are the best packers/loaders on the earth! Right now we just want to get moved, get settled, get back on our diet, and get back to life as we know it--at least until the baby comes. Then life will never be the same.
Does anyone have any experience with cloth diapers? We are seriously considering using them to save money. I finally found some nylon pants (covers) on Ebay tonight. I have been looking for rubber pants at Wal-Mart for weeks and they never have the small sizes, even though Gerber makes them. I am also having a hard time finding pins. We have added cloth diapers to our baby registry and I guess we will give them a try and see how it works. When it comes to thinking about these types of things--I realize what a novice I am when it comes to babies. Right now we have enough disposable diapers to last the first month as we bought ahead. Andy doesn't think I will be able to keep up with cloth diapers and keeps trying not to laugh at me every time I talk about it. Of course, this just makes me want to do it even more!
We'll be checking with our birth mother tomorrow and will keep you posted on the progress!
The weather has been so unpredictable that we didn't have a garage sale today. We were planning to get rid of all of the unnecessary things we have. Since the weather was going to be bad we didn't have the sale and now we have tons of stuff to get rid of. We are hoping to donate it all to the church for the next United Methodist Women's rummage sale.
My back is still not quite healthy so I can't lift anything. Poor Andy has been moving all of the boxes as I pack them. We hired a couple of moving guys to come on Monday and help us load the truck. I hope we can get it all done and all in the truck. We'll see. We need to pray that they are the best packers/loaders on the earth! Right now we just want to get moved, get settled, get back on our diet, and get back to life as we know it--at least until the baby comes. Then life will never be the same.
Does anyone have any experience with cloth diapers? We are seriously considering using them to save money. I finally found some nylon pants (covers) on Ebay tonight. I have been looking for rubber pants at Wal-Mart for weeks and they never have the small sizes, even though Gerber makes them. I am also having a hard time finding pins. We have added cloth diapers to our baby registry and I guess we will give them a try and see how it works. When it comes to thinking about these types of things--I realize what a novice I am when it comes to babies. Right now we have enough disposable diapers to last the first month as we bought ahead. Andy doesn't think I will be able to keep up with cloth diapers and keeps trying not to laugh at me every time I talk about it. Of course, this just makes me want to do it even more!
We'll be checking with our birth mother tomorrow and will keep you posted on the progress!
Thursday, July 12, 2007
Things are getting exciting!
For those of you who are not aware--we are moving again! Ever since our failed adoption in May my Mom has really been pushing for us to move closer to home. Until then it hadn't really occurred to us. We have been really happy living wherever we felt God calling. As it turns out, we believe God is calling us home.
When we were home last month to meet our birth mother Andy was offered a job in Texas. It is a lovely, growing, young church that is truly a spirit filled place. We are so happy to have this opportunity. At first we were worried about it interfering with our adoption process but then our counselor told us it would actually help us. Now we will be within range for the agency to our update before the birth and all of our supervision. This will save us over $2,000. All of these services are included in the fees we have already paid. Praise God! We found a cute little house and are moving next week! Our update will be done the next week and the baby is due the next week!
Of course we are sad to be leaving our current church. We have made some wonderful friends here and it is always heart breaking to leave the kids. But we are so happy about being closer to family and friends in Texas.
We had a great conversation with our birth mother tonight. She is so sweet! This week we got her history in the mail. We have so much in common it was amazing. It really must be a God thing. Tonight it seems as if we talked about everything under the sun. She asked if I had an outfit picked out for the "going home" outfit and then said if not, she wondered if we could go shopping for one to pick out together. We could hardly believe it. The difference between her and our last birth mother is incredible! So, we are going to call her next week when we get to Texas and then go shopping the next day.
Last time we were very concerned about how our relationship would develop with that birth mother. It was a huge concern. This time we really feel as if we could be life long friends. I'm sure that the whole process will still be really emotional and difficult, but she is such a sweet girl with a good head on her shoulders.
As it looks tonight--only 23 more days and we will be parents! The c-section is scheduled for August 3 at 7:30 am. Please keep us in your prayers as we move, set-up a new house, start life at a new church, and become first time parents!
When we were home last month to meet our birth mother Andy was offered a job in Texas. It is a lovely, growing, young church that is truly a spirit filled place. We are so happy to have this opportunity. At first we were worried about it interfering with our adoption process but then our counselor told us it would actually help us. Now we will be within range for the agency to our update before the birth and all of our supervision. This will save us over $2,000. All of these services are included in the fees we have already paid. Praise God! We found a cute little house and are moving next week! Our update will be done the next week and the baby is due the next week!
Of course we are sad to be leaving our current church. We have made some wonderful friends here and it is always heart breaking to leave the kids. But we are so happy about being closer to family and friends in Texas.
We had a great conversation with our birth mother tonight. She is so sweet! This week we got her history in the mail. We have so much in common it was amazing. It really must be a God thing. Tonight it seems as if we talked about everything under the sun. She asked if I had an outfit picked out for the "going home" outfit and then said if not, she wondered if we could go shopping for one to pick out together. We could hardly believe it. The difference between her and our last birth mother is incredible! So, we are going to call her next week when we get to Texas and then go shopping the next day.
Last time we were very concerned about how our relationship would develop with that birth mother. It was a huge concern. This time we really feel as if we could be life long friends. I'm sure that the whole process will still be really emotional and difficult, but she is such a sweet girl with a good head on her shoulders.
As it looks tonight--only 23 more days and we will be parents! The c-section is scheduled for August 3 at 7:30 am. Please keep us in your prayers as we move, set-up a new house, start life at a new church, and become first time parents!
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