No More Numbers!!! It's A Girl!!!

We are so excited to announce that we have a baby girl!!  We got "the call" last Tuesday, October 19th at 6pm.  It always takes me so long to process my thoughts and feelings and put them into words.  I want to say everything just right, but I also try to remember that this is for our baby girl so that when she grows up, she can look back at this and know how she grew in our hearts and how much we love her.  God has truly blessed us and we are all so excited.  She is so beautiful and has the most precious chubby cheeks.  It's so wonderful to be able to pray for her by name...to be able to see her face...the beautiful face of the little girl God grew in our hearts.  Baby R will be 6 months old in one week. 

About the call...Many families from our agency's listserv have talked about how they had changed the ringer on their phone so that AGCI would have it's own sound and they would know who was calling.  I thought that was a great idea, so I changed mine that morning.  I had just asked "B" in September to always try my cell phone first because we are so busy this time of year, and I had missed her last call.  I had convince myself that the next time she would call would be the first week of November to tell us where we were on the waitlist.  Anyway, B was outside grilling hamburgers (It's a beautiful, sunny and warm fall day), and I'm getting the rest of dinner ready.  My phone is sitting on the kitchen counter and all of a sudden, I hear that special ring that I had just put on there in the morning.  I have to admit, I panicked!  I started shaking, yelled out to B that my phone was ringing and I couldn't answer it.  He yelled back, "Just answer it!"  So I did and that's when I heard, "Hi...I have a little girl I want to talk to you about.  Do you have a moment?"  And for the next hour, we got to hear about our sweet baby girl.  Her story brought tears as I could never imagine what her birthmother has had to go through.  I have been and will continue to pray for God to heal her pain.  T1, our oldest was the only one home so he sat nearby the whole time and got to share in our news.  We did not get to see her until we hung up with "B".  So for the next couple of hours as the rest of our children came home from their activities, we got to surprise each of them.  Our youngest was the first to come home.  We sat him at the computer and then showed him her picture.  He looked and said, "Is that the kid?"  Then after about 5 minutes of just staring at her picture, he says, "Mom, I just realized something.  She's my sister!"  H came home next that night.  Her first reaction was, "Is that her?  She's so cute!"  And T2 was the last one to get the news.  Her reaction was, "Awe, she's so cute!"    The next morning our youngests first question was, "Mom, when do we get to go get her?" I so wish we could take them all on the first trip with us. 

Our next step was to contact our interantional pediatrition to go over all the medical information with us.  I emailed him that night and he responded early the very next morning.  I love his last statement...."In short, just go get her and bring her home."  We sent in all our paper work on Monday and have scheduled a Next Steps call with "B" on Friday to look at what is next.  I'm really not sure exactly what our time frame will be to bring Baby R home.  I do know we have to take two trips and "B" did mention in our call that she thought our first trip might not be until January or February.  I'm really praying  for January.

As I'm thinking back on this process, I think about the many times I asked God, "Why are there so many delays?  I know there are so many children who need a forever family.  Why are there not many referrals going out right now?"  And my most recent question...I know our baby has been in the system for a while..."Why are we just getting her referral when she is already 5 1/2 months old?"  I now know why...He knew Baby R was the child He had planned for our family all along.  If I look back at our timeline, she probably first came into being when we first started seriously pursuing adoption.  She is 5 1/2 months old because God planned for her to be a part of our family.  If she would have been "ready" for referral earlier, she would not have been a part of our family.  God had it all planned even before we knew we were going to adopt.  I am still learning to put my full trust in Him.  He is an awesome God!!!  Praising Him and thanking Him for all that He has done for us!  Praising Him for the little girl who will soon join our family....FOREVER!

October Numbers

Wow...another month has gone by without a post.  Life around here has been a little hetic...to say the least.  Our oldest turned 18 this weekend.  I can't believe it.  Honestly, one of the reasons I have not been posting is because we have been going through some struggles in the last few months with our oldest.  But thankfully, our God is bigger than any struggle or "storm" and we are coming out of some dark times.    God has been right there with us through it all and I have seen so many wonderful people that He has placed in our lives at just the right time.  Without getting into too many details, I've learned that Satan is truly trying to steal our children away and I have also learned that we need to daily put on the armor of God and cry out to Him for their protection...no matter what age.  I am learning what it means to put my full trust in Him.  I am learning to parent with pupose.  It's amazing how each season of life has its own set of challenges.  Thankfully, I have a God who is with me through them all.

We got our numbers email last week from our case worker that we are officially #5 for a girl and #8 for siblings.  But....just found out that two more referrals went out, so that means we might be #3 for a girl and #6 for siblings!!!  We are getting so close!  I am so excited and nervous at the same time.  I remember the same feeling before the birth of our first four children.  So much to do to prepare.  For the longest time, I was sure that God had siblings planned for our family and now I'm beginning to think we might have a little girl join us.  Either way, I am so thankful.  I have not prepared for either, other than move my girls together to clear out a bedroom for our little one.  With our youngest being 12, I no longer have any baby equipment.  No baby bed...nothing other than some favorite toys and books.  I have wanted to wait until we receive our referral as I wasn't sure of the age.  I guess I'll be pretty busy when we finally get a referral.  Although I am excited, I am also finding it hard to rejoice because I know that in our joy, another family is suffering great loss.  I cannot imagine the grief.
Hopefully, I will be able to post sooner than a month from now.