This, that, and the call

I wanted to take a minute to give a heartfelt 'THANK YOU' to each and every family that has donated to our fundraiser. We have been so humbled by every donation. As I said on FB, every 'little bit' DOES help. No donation is too small!  If you were thinking, "Oh man! I really wanted to donate, but forgot," there's still about 30 pieces left. I can't wait to share the whole picture. I am more excited about getting it framed and on the wall above the crib! It will be beautiful. On another thank you note, my friend, Kimberly has graciously offered to give 100% of her Valentine photo mini session procedes towards our fundraiser! Wow! Head on over to Eden Grace Photography to find out more. She will also be doing our newborn pictures which I am so excited about because of that precious little crown I mentioned in the last post!  She is a fellow adoptive mom and I am always thankful for this connection with others.

After much anticipation we finally got a call from our caseworker. Not the birthmom is delivering call, but an update nonetheless.  Birthmom is doing well and has dialated to a 3.  As soon as she goes into labor, the caseworker will call us and we will head to the hospital as quickly as we can. Thanks to several friends we have a plan A, B, and C for Natalie depending on the time of day when we receive the call.  She will stay with one of them until family can get here to hang with Natalie and wait on us to come home.  Wait time will be 48 hours after delivery plus drive time with a newborn!  Without sharing too many details the best part of the phone call today was about the name we have chosen: Joaquin. When the caseworker shared our chosen name with our birthmom, she told her that the name had a special meaning for her so she really liked it. Wow. That's God's hand at work. Out of all the names we could have chosen, for that one to be special to her gave me chills. God is real and alive friends!

Our situation this time around is a little different in that I won't get to be in the delivery room, and we won't be staying at the hospital like we did with Natalie (which means hotel and food costs).  I am ok with this because God already gave me that gift. Now my gift is experiencing pregnancy. Well not really, but we get to wait on the excitement with bags packed by the door for that "moment" when we frantically grab those bags and head to the hospital. We get to anticipate that moment at any time! Kind of exciting=)  God is good.

However, we also have to remind ourselves in this excitement for us, others are hurting.  This is not an easy decision or process for the birthmom.  If she commits to this placement, she will experience loss.  She will grieve.  And we will grieve for her. Please join us in praying for her emotions and stability. I am thankful she has a support system that will be there for her during her ups and downs.

Thank you for praying with us and for us.