Matt and I have been touched by the song, Always Enough, by Casting Crowns. The song has powerful lyrics – lyrics that have spoken right to us and pierced our hearts. This song has taken on greater meaning the past couple of weeks because…
Matt and I are overjoyed to announce that we have been matched! Our baby is due on September 19th!
We’ve been working with five agencies throughout our adoption journey – in Georgia, Arizona, Kansas, and two in Utah. One of the ones we hadn’t heard much from turned out to be the agency who called saying a birth mother had chosen us! When we had our profile shown, we didn’t think much about it. We were in the process of talking with a couple of other agencies about potential situations, so there was a lot going on.
I received a call on April 12th saying that we had been chosen. I was at work when I got the call right before a staff meeting. I don’t remember much from that meeting at all! I called Matt and got to tell him we had been chosen. We set up a time on Wednesday, April 14th to talk with the our birth mother, L. Fortunately, we had work and children’s choir to keep us occupied until the time for our call – 7 p.m. Our case worker facilitated the conversation. Matt and I weren’t nervous…it was more an excited, oh my goodness, we’re about to talk to a birth mother emotion! The conversation could not have gone any better with L. We all connected, and the conversation flowed smoothly. The only problem was that it wasn’t long enough! Matt and I could have talked with her all night. After the conversation, our case manager called L to see how things went. We loved her, and she loved us! L told our case manager she wanted to move forward with us! We took the night to pray and talk through things. The next day (Thursday) we called to say we wanted to move forward also!
At that time, we didn’t know if it was a boy or girl. L had a scheduled ultrasound on April 19th to find out. Our case manager told us she and L would call after the appointment. Well, Matt and I already had plans to be at beach that weekend for a conference. We were going to head down on Saturday, but quickly changed plans to swing through the Prise to surprise my parents. Matt’s parents were down at the beach for the weekend, we were going to get to surprise them on Saturday.
As we got into the Prise, I called my parents and told them to let us in! They were shocked to see us. We told them we had brought their belated birthday presents to them. The second package they opened contained the game, Memory. Matt and I had created “matches” for them to figure out what was going on…keep in mind, they didn’t know why we were there. After a couple of matches and turning cards over, they began to get wide-eyed! After figuring out what was going on based on the clues, we got to fill in the missing pieces! There were tears, group hugs, and screaming!
The next day, we headed down to Gulf Shores. It worked out nicely that Matt’s parents and sister, brother-in-law, and nephews were down there! We arrange to meet them at a restaurant and planned to do the big reveal there. After chatting and placing our orders, Matt pulled out a present. He told his mother it was an early Mother’s Day gift! As the clues were being turned over, his Dad figured it out, but wouldn’t tell anyone else! Once all the clues were turned over, Matt got to share the great news! More tears and hugs!
I left to come back to work on Monday, April 19th. Matt was there until Wednesday, April 21st. Before I left, I purchased two cards – one that said, it’s a boy, and one that said, it’s a girl. I put them in different colored envelopes so that when I heard from L, I could call Matt and have him open the correct card. I got a call at 3:07 p.m. – I was in the middle of a staff meeting. When my phone rang, everybody got excited – the students and staff knew I was expecting a call! The case manager was on the phone with L – L got to tell me it was a GIRL!!! L and I both were very excited, and I got to talk with her some more about how she was doing. Everything looked great, and the ultrasound went well. After finishing talking with L, I called Matt. At first, I couldn’t get him – he was in a session. However, I quickly called back, and he answered! It was such a joy to get to tell him! Later that night, he told me he didn’t remember much of what was discussed for the rest of the day!
We have gradually begun to spread the word about our match. Please continue to pray for this journey– more specifically for L, our birth mother. Pray for her emotional well being, the baby’s health, and for a continued sense of peace. For us, pray also for a continued sense of peace, as well as patience. I have a feeling this will be a long summer! Matt and I have felt your prayers – thank you for being such faithful prayer warriors!
As I mentioned above, the lyrics to Always Enough have really touched us…
In a dry and weary land Lord,
You are the rain In a sea of shattered ones
Your love comes rushing in
You hold the world within Your hands
And see each tear that falls
Through every fire and every storm
You’re always enough, always enough
Thank you, Lord, for walking through the dry and weary land with us. Thank you for wiping the tears – both sorrowful and joyous – from our eyes. Thank you for being enough.
Your love is peace to the broken
Faith for the widow, hope for the orphan
Strength for the weak
Your love is the anthem of nations
Rings out through the ages
And You’re always enough for me
Thank you, Lord, for providing hope. Hope for all people. Hope for babies who need a home. Hope for mothers unselfishly placing their precious babies for adoption. Thank you for being enough.
You keep my heart in perfect peace
My life is in Your hands
When confusion hides my way
You’re always enough, always enough
Our life is in YOUR hands, Lord. Our precious baby’s life is in YOUR hands, Lord. Thank you, Lord, for an incredible past two weeks – our hearts are at peace. You are always enough. Always.
Your love is peace to the broken
Faith for the widow, hope for the orphan
Strength for the weak
Your love is the anthem of nations
Rings out through the ages
And You’re always enough for me
I rejoice for my Savior reigns
I rejoice for He lives in me God on high,
He has set me free
Worthy is the Lord
Thank you, Lord, for walking through the peaks and valleys with us. We rejoice and give thanks to the Lord! We’ve been chosen and have been matched with a birth mother! Praise the Lord! You are always enough.
I rejoice for my Savior reigns
I rejoice for He lives in me God on high,
He has set me free
Worthy is the Lord
Your love is peace to the broken
Faith for the widow, hope for the orphan
Strength for the weak
Your love is the anthem of nations
Rings out through the ages
And You’re always enough for me
Thank you, Lord, for family who have walked by faith with us. Thank you, Lord, for dear friends who have daily covered us in prayers. Thank you, Lord, for a church family so faithful in encouragement. We rejoice, Lord, for you are always enough.
I rejoice for my Savior reigns
I rejoice for He lives in me God on high,
He has set me free
Worthy is the Lord
In a dry and weary land Lord,
You are the rain
Thank you, Lord, for a connection with a woman who desires to place her child with us. Thank you, Lord, for a woman who is making the most unselfish decision of her life. A decision that will change her life and ours forever.
Habakkuk 2:3 - For the revelation awaits an appointed time; it speaks of the end and will not prove false. Though it linger, wait for it; it will certainly come and will not delay.
Thursday, April 29, 2010
Monday, April 26, 2010
Day 414 - Part 1
Hello, my name is Melissa. I am a bad blogger. Please forgive me for leaving you hanging. A lot has happened since January 7. I’ll do my best to recount everything.
As I referenced in the last post, we did get a call about a situation on December 25th. If you’ll recall our case manager told us not to expect to hear from her until after Christmas. So, throughout Christmas, I wasn’t as “attached” to my phone as I have been the past several months. In fact, I even turned it off for awhile…on the 25th. We left my parents’ house after lunch on the 25th to go and spend a couple of days with Matt’s parents. Once we arrived at Matt’s parents, I turned off my phone (I don’t get the greatest coverage there, so my battery drains down pretty quickly). We spent the afternoon and evening playing games and enjoying family time. Late in the day, I turned my phone back on and had a message from our case manager. In short, she had a birth mother in labor that she thought we’d match well with…she had tried to call us earlier, but couldn’t reach us. So, she called another waiting family, and they were considering the situation. My heart sank – why did I turn off my phone? However, I would soon learn the Lord knew why. After the baby was born, the folks who had received the first call changed their minds, so the social worker called us back on December 27th to see if we were interested. Due to some health concerns with the newborn, we decided to pass on the situation – that was very hard! However, I followed up with the case worker over the next week and found out that the first folks that were called did indeed decide to adopt the child! What an answered prayer – we were very concerned about what was going to happen to this precious baby. While we knew it wasn’t the situation for us, we desired for that precious baby to be placed into the right family.
Another agency called on New Year’s Eve! A birth mother was set to deliver on January 5th. After hearing the specifics of this situation, we felt this was not the situation for us either. Both of those situations would have had a quick turnaround – as in, we would have left immediately to fly to make it in time for the births. I began to wonder if the Lord was trying to tell us something. At that time, we didn’t have the nursery painted or any of the bedding ready (not that you need that to bring home a baby to, but we just hadn’t made much progress in the nursery lately). Those phone calls jolted us into action! The nursery was painted within two weeks, and the bedding was taken care of as well.
Remember the situation we got called about on December 16th? Well, we were actually called again about that situation again the second week of January! The birth mother wanted to talk with us. A whole new set of emotions – we were going to get to talk with a birth mother. We prayerfully prepared for the conversation and had a great conversation with her. After the initial conversation, we were definitely interested and were ready to move forward and talk with her again. Except, we never heard from her again. The social worker tried and tried to reach her – even the Director of the adoption agency tried. No luck at all. Her due date came and went – I held onto hope we might hear from her around then. Nothing. To this day, we don’t know what happened. I catch myself wondering about that precious baby quite often.
That’s all for right now! Thank you for your continued prayers and encouragement!
As I referenced in the last post, we did get a call about a situation on December 25th. If you’ll recall our case manager told us not to expect to hear from her until after Christmas. So, throughout Christmas, I wasn’t as “attached” to my phone as I have been the past several months. In fact, I even turned it off for awhile…on the 25th. We left my parents’ house after lunch on the 25th to go and spend a couple of days with Matt’s parents. Once we arrived at Matt’s parents, I turned off my phone (I don’t get the greatest coverage there, so my battery drains down pretty quickly). We spent the afternoon and evening playing games and enjoying family time. Late in the day, I turned my phone back on and had a message from our case manager. In short, she had a birth mother in labor that she thought we’d match well with…she had tried to call us earlier, but couldn’t reach us. So, she called another waiting family, and they were considering the situation. My heart sank – why did I turn off my phone? However, I would soon learn the Lord knew why. After the baby was born, the folks who had received the first call changed their minds, so the social worker called us back on December 27th to see if we were interested. Due to some health concerns with the newborn, we decided to pass on the situation – that was very hard! However, I followed up with the case worker over the next week and found out that the first folks that were called did indeed decide to adopt the child! What an answered prayer – we were very concerned about what was going to happen to this precious baby. While we knew it wasn’t the situation for us, we desired for that precious baby to be placed into the right family.
Another agency called on New Year’s Eve! A birth mother was set to deliver on January 5th. After hearing the specifics of this situation, we felt this was not the situation for us either. Both of those situations would have had a quick turnaround – as in, we would have left immediately to fly to make it in time for the births. I began to wonder if the Lord was trying to tell us something. At that time, we didn’t have the nursery painted or any of the bedding ready (not that you need that to bring home a baby to, but we just hadn’t made much progress in the nursery lately). Those phone calls jolted us into action! The nursery was painted within two weeks, and the bedding was taken care of as well.
Remember the situation we got called about on December 16th? Well, we were actually called again about that situation again the second week of January! The birth mother wanted to talk with us. A whole new set of emotions – we were going to get to talk with a birth mother. We prayerfully prepared for the conversation and had a great conversation with her. After the initial conversation, we were definitely interested and were ready to move forward and talk with her again. Except, we never heard from her again. The social worker tried and tried to reach her – even the Director of the adoption agency tried. No luck at all. Her due date came and went – I held onto hope we might hear from her around then. Nothing. To this day, we don’t know what happened. I catch myself wondering about that precious baby quite often.
That’s all for right now! Thank you for your continued prayers and encouragement!
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