Blessings, blessings, everywhere

OK, our world has been rocked this past month, so I haven't blogged even though there's much to report. Back around Halloween my sister and I were hanging out and she told me about a friend of hers who she adores. Her friend was pregnant and placing her baby for adoption. I said to Justin kind of joking, "Should I email her?" He said "sure." Despite our great emotional and financial investments in our Ethiopia and China adoptions, I really couldn't let it go and wrote her an email telling her about us. I told her I felt a strong pull to share our story with her and that I believe in following up on my feelings because I find this leads me to where I’m suppose to be in life. I told her I knew she had been looking for a family for a long time and might have found that lucky couple already, but that I wanted to follow up on my “feeling” just in case. I also told her not to feel any pressure to reply if she isn't interested. I was anxiously checking my email for the next several days, but didn't hear anything so let it go. A couple weeks later we got a sweet email from her letting us know she had found a family. She thanked us for thinking of her and her baby while going through the adoption process. Then, just as my sister had described her, she said, "I know that whatever baby you guys end up with will be the baby that is meant to be in your loving family." I prayed for her and thought about her often. THEN Monday, December 8th Justin was up putting the kids to bed and the phone rang. As I often do, I didn't answer because I was tired from a long day at work and had just sat down to relax. I didn't hear the whole message, but caught something like my sister saying her friend had just called to ask for our number and that maybe something fell through with the other family. She wanted to know if we were interested. My heart dropped and I yelled Justin's name in a way that he knew before I even said anything. I called her friend and she said the other family fell through due to finances. My heart broke for them. She gave me her agency information. Justin and I decided to talk to the agency and see if financially this was even an option for us. SO many things to consider... How would this change our other adoptions? Were we ready for an infant again and next month?! Can we live with the fact that we could have the baby for 12 days and her birthmom could still change her mind and take her back (a reason we avoided domestic adoption)? After praying about it and talking, we met with her on Friday, December 12. What an emotional type of meeting to have with someone, but the 3 of us just hung in the best we could! I was so touched by the honesty in our discussion, as we all tried to feel each other out. She was mature, grounded, loving. I had a really good feeling, but could barely enjoy it in my nervousness. What a week! The waiting was grueling. She called me on Monday, December 15 to tell me her Dr. appt went well and the baby's HR was 139. She said she was meeting with another family the next day who would love to adopt the baby. That was the other thing. Justin and I know there are so many people who would LOVE to adopt this child, many with no kids. We didn't want to take an opportunity from another couple, but the way it all came about feels like God found a way to bring us this child. On Friday, December 19th (the Friday before Christmas), while making Christmas cookies at my Mom's house, the birthmother called and told me, "I've been wanting to call you and let you know I want you guys to be the family." "You do?!" I said. Ahhhh, that moment. I called Justin and let him know we were going to be parents again. Our little girl!!!!!!! Then I went out and told my Mom. We went to the Dr. appt last Friday and heard our baby girl's heartbeat. She is fullterm Jan 17th and will likely be induced on January 30th.

Oh, and I found out last night we are now #6 on the girl list for Ethiopia and #8 on the boy list (moved up 1). There is also a baby girl referral that should go out this week. The baby boy referral is 2 months old and we are SO excited for his new forever family. If God's plan is for our daughter to join us in a few weeks, then we plan to put a hold on our Ethiopian adoption for several years until after our China adoption. (China only allows a 6-month hold). Yes, that means I have to do all the paperwork for the Ethiopia dossier again. I haven't screamed about that - I think it's all in God's hands - i'm just following His lead. Can't argue with God, right? :)