Hello, Sunshine!

Sorry I've been a little MIA on the blog! Life got really crazy really quick! So for those who haven't heard yet OUR DAUGHTER IS HERE!!! Miss Emma Grace, aka Emma Sunshine, was born June 30th.  She wasn't due until July 21st but her birth mom had low amniotic fluid so her Dr decided it was best to induce as soon as she reached 37 weeks!

Here's a quick timeline just so you can see how crazy it was:

June 23rd- routine Dr appt, Dr decided to do an unscheduled sonogram because of something he didn't like during his exam. Ultrasound tech says baby's heart rate is a little low (it was in the 120's and BM was contracting so I'm not sure why they said it was low but anyway) and that the amniotic fluid was a little low too.

June 24th- I get a frantic call from BM that the Dr office wants her at the hospital the next day for another ultrasound. I try to reassure her that if something was really wrong they wouldn't have her wait a day to go to the hospital (as I'm trying to also calm and reassure myself!)

June 25th- Take BM to the hospital for ultrasound. Tech tells us amniotic fluid is even lower and Dr is recommending delivery at 37 weeks.

June 26th- Another Dr appt, Dr wants another hospital sonogram the next day and if fluid is too much lower he would induce immediately.

June 27th- Take BM back to the hospital for the sonogram. Fluid is just high enough to hold off the induction until Monday, when she will officially be 37 weeks. (and I breathe a huge sigh of relief because did I mention Justin was in INDIA this whole week!)

June 28th-29th- Try to scramble to get ready for Miss Emma's arrival!

June 30th- Arrive with Birth Parents at 9 am, Dr begins induction and about 12 hrs later she was here! We waited until Birth Parents and Emma were settled into their room and then drove home around 1 am. It made my heart hurt to drive away from the hospital without her. We were so in love with her already, being apart was so hard!! :(

July 1st- We drive back to the hospital with Hannah and spend the day with BM and Emma. My sister Jessica came up that afternoon and took Hannah home with her so we could stay into the evening with Emma.

Jessica holding Emma. Hannah was a little excited if you can't tell!

July 2nd- Finally discharged around 5 pm! It was a tearful good-bye with Birth Mom and that was hard but I can't tell you how awesome it was to finally be bringing her home!!! (I don't think I could have handled another long drive home without her!)

July 3rd-4th- Adjusting to life as a family of 4 (little sleep and LOTS of coffee!!)

July 5th- Drive to Leesburg because Justin was the speaker for that week at Camp Horizon. (definitely not my first choice to take a 1 week old to a week of camp, but sometimes you just gotta do what you just gotta do!)

July 8th- I got sick and had to drive home with both girls for a couple days so I could go to the Dr. (HUGE thank you to my mom and Jessica for spending long days AND long nights to help me with the girls! I definitely could not have survived the next couple of days without them!)

July 10th- Drove back to camp with both girls to finish up the week there.

July 11th- Justin gives his last message around 2 pm and we can finally go home and just be able to focus on our girls and our new life together as a family of 4! (not that it wasn't great to be a part of the ministry at camp but boy were we exhausted!)

July 13th- My sister threw us an awesome baby shower/BBQ/party! (which we thought would be perfect timing a week BEFORE Emma was supposed to arrive, but hey it just turned into a "come meet Emma party")

So yeah, life got a little busy, a little crazy, and a whole lot more wonderful! We are so blessed to have Miss Emma here! And so overwhelmed by all the love and support of our family and friends! (especially my sister Jessica who took care of Hannah A LOT, and brought us dinner, and threw us an awesome party, and was just all around amazing!!)

We also got some great news from our adoption agency that our total amount due was LESS than we thought (mostly because of Emma coming early so we owed one month less for birth mom living expenses). Our church family has been so generous and we are ALMOST to our goal! I'm still selling things in my Etsy store (ShopOneTwentySeven) and Justin is working whatever he can (which unfortunately has not been as much as we would like but the Lord is faithful and He will provide!)

Thank you so much for all your love and support! We know many of you are faithfully praying for us and please continue to pray, we need all the support we can get! God bless you all!

Pure Joy

   It can be easy sometimes to get caught up in the stress and anxiety of the adoption process. How are we going to pay for it? Is the pregnancy going well? Is the baby going to be healthy? How well are we going to transition from a family of 3 to a family of 4? These things swirl around in my head about a million times a day. And when I give in to the worry and the anxiety, I lose the joy of the situation as a whole. This is a miracle! A straight up miracle that we have even been given the opportunity to adopt this baby! A gift straight from Heaven. This adoption is happening because God ordained it. He will provide just as He always has.
   I was just going about my day this morning and from the other room I heard Hannah singing a song about her sister's adoption. What a sweet reminder of the great blessing we are receiving!  I tried to catch it on video and this was the best one I could get (please excuse the messy hair!).

   So the next time I'm feeling stressed and completely overwhelmed. I think I'll take a minute and watch this video again and just praise God for all He has done, all He has given us, and all that He will continue to do!

“The Lord has done great things for us, and we are filled with joy.” 

-Psalm 126:3

31 Weeks

from the "I'm Expecting" app

31 weeks as of yesterday! I went to the Dr for a check-up and sonogram with our birth mom yesterday and I feel very blessed to be able to go to so many of the prenatal visits. It is such a relief every time I go. It can be so stressful having so little control over our baby's environment. I know the birth mom does the very best that she can and we do the very best we can for her but it is still a less than perfect situation. It does cause me more than a little anxiety but I know that God is in control. He has created this precious one just the way that He wants her to be and there is no outside force that can change how He has already decided to create her. I take great comfort in reading Psalm 139:13-16 

For you formed my inward parts;

you knitted me together in my mother's womb.

I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.

Wonderful are your works;

my soul knows it very well.

My frame was not hidden from you,

when I was being made in secret,

intricately woven in the depths of the earth.

Your eyes saw my unformed substance;

in your book were written, every one of them,

the days that were formed for me,

when as yet there was none of them.

(Psalm 139:13-16 ESV)

I know control is just an illusion anyway. Even if I were carrying this baby myself and eating perfectly, taking every supplement, resting adequately, etc. that would not guarantee a healthy baby.  Oh but how I love my illusion!  The whole adoption process has definitely shown me just how much of an illusion control is and taught me to trust Him more. And with every good Dr visit it does get a little easier. Yesterday the  Dr was very happy with the check-up and so far it looks like we will have a healthy baby in July. :) Please continue to pray for us and for our baby. Thanks!

Things I Want People to Know About Birth Mothers

Well I guess this post is really about things I want people to know about our daughter's Birth Mother (but I'm sure it applies to more than just her). Since adopting our first over 3 years ago we've had many comments and questions regarding her Birth Mother. Many assume very negative things about her. So here is what is true about her.

She loves her children very, VERY much. The true, deep, agape love that puts the life and well-being of her children far above her own. I don't think I have ever seen such love and such pain in one person's face, as I see in hers.

She cherishes every moment she gets to be with them however short that time is.

She saves every picture and memorizes every letter she is sent from her children's adoptive parents (which she tells me is not many except from us) and keeps baby books on all of them.

She chose life when so many in her place would not have. And by doing so she has given us (and several other families) the most precious and amazing gift, she made us a family.

She is strong, stronger than anyone else I know. Stubborn too, something we are finding out is very much a trait she passed on to our daughter!

She has had a very hard life, yes one that is in some ways a consequence of her own bad decisions but much has been outside her control as well. Yes we pay her living expenses while she is pregnant. NO SHE DOES NOT GET PREGNANT ON PURPOSE FOR THE MONEY!!! If you could see the great pain in her eyes because she knows she has to give them up, you would never assume such a thing. I'm sure it's nice for her to have a few short months when she is not having to worry about how the keep food on the table or the lights on or a roof over her head. But that does very little to outweigh both the emotional and physical pain that these pregnancies cause her.

She would never choose to become pregnant. She is just very, VERY fertile. She gets pregnant even on birth control! And not to go into too much detail but surgical options were not good alternatives for her either. But what I'm sure she at times sees as a curse has been the most amazing blessing to so many, to me! I'm now a mom! I get to celebrate Mother's Day as a MOM! I get to hear "I love you, Mommy!". All. The. Time. I get to love and be loved by the most amazing little girl ever (soon to be 2 little girls!) And so for that I could never thank or praise her enough.

I know it's easy to think badly of birth moms. I know because I did once too. I'm ashamed to admit it now but it's true. I didn't know what I would think or feel when I met her for the first time. But now after knowing her for over 3 years God has taught me so much through her. So I hope you will read this and see her the way we see her. And maybe think a little differently about our daughter's Birth Mom (and maybe birth moms in general). :)

Here We Go Again!

  We are so excited to be in the process of adopting again! For those who haven't heard the full story (or anyone who has randomly stumbled across this blog) let me begin with how we got here:

January 14th, 2014

  The day we will never forget. Justin and I had been prayerfully considering for months how to proceed with another adoption. International? Domestic? Newborn? Foster? So many options and we felt equally burdened for all of them! We had very little money saved up (having only recently paid off the debt incurred during our first adoption, 3 years ago!) and we definitely felt lead to at least explore the option of becoming foster parents. So we figured maybe that was the best place to start and just prayed that God would lead.
  We contacted Florida Baptist Children's Home (FBCH) and they were about to start a MAPP class (required to be certified as a foster parent) that day! The woman teaching the class was gracious enough to do a one-on-one orientation with us so we could attend the class. Justin and I were both very anxious about the meeting and prayed the whole way there that God would make it very CLEAR whether or not this was how He wanted us to proceed. Well the meeting went great but we were still feeling apprehensive and a bit overwhelmed at all that would be involved. I'm not going to lie, the idea of fostering scared me (a lot!) but I also knew that if God wanted us to do it He would equip us and bring us exactly the situation He wanted for us.
  So we went to class. And that's when it happened. The big, bright, flashing neon sign from God that we had been praying for. I got a text from our daughter's birthmom. It started out pretty generic, how are we doing, how is our daughter, yada, yada... oh ya and "I'm pregnant again"! My heart began to pound in my chest. I showed Justin the text. (I wish I could have taken a picture because the look on his face was priceless). Was this really happening?? I was so afraid to ask but I had to know: "So are you guys going to be able to keep the baby?". Then the rely "We're still talking about it" (my heart sinks a little) "Are you guys wanting to adopt again?" (I thought my heart was going to explode!) "Yes!" and I told her we were taking a class for an agency literally right at that moment! She talked it over with her husband and before we were even finished with our class she had written me back that they wanted to place the baby with us.
  We. Were. In. Shock! But we really shouldn't have been. We prayed and God answered. Boy did he answer! We never imagined we would have the opportunity to do another infant adoption, and better yet our daughter's biological sibling! Now here we are 4 months later, anxiously awaiting the birth of our second daughter!
Please pray for us. We have so much to do to get ready for this adoption, not the least of which is figuring out how we will pay for it! But we know God is faithful and will continue to do more than we could ever ask or think.