We got a call last Thursday night from our caseworker, Nina. I was freaking out because Jeffrey left 5 minutes before for his Christmas concert. She called to tell us that a birth mom would like to meet with us on Saturday afternoon. The kicker BM was due on Christmas day! Needless to say I was FREAKING OUT and I'm sure I sounded like a babbling idiot. I was in tears...happy tears! We were supposed to leave for Chicago and do our Christmas celebrating with my family. Those plans changed REALLY quickly. I only told a few people about Saturday. Which was really hard at school on Friday. I was pacing, very detached and not myself. I was a mess on the inside! So our neighbor Julie came over with some of her daughters old clothes and helped me install the car seat in the Journey. On Saturday we were SOOOOO nervous. We met with BM and her sister. Once the "ice was broken" we talked like we were old friends. The meeting lasted an hour and a half and our caseworker hardly had to talk. We found out that she had picked us! From Saturday on we would need our bags packed and be ready for a call anytime. Well then comes Monday 2:15am our phone rings. We were ready in 30 minutes and out the door....BM was in labor and we had to drive the longest 2 1/2 hours. We were in the waiting room when we got the word our little girl was born. The nurse came in and took our phones to get pictures! We were parents...our lives were flipped upside down in 2 days time. Most parents have 9 months...we had 2 days. We hadn't really eaten much. Our stomaches were in knots. The glow on Jeffrey's face was priceless. He was finally a daddy. We stayed for the required 24 hours with Miss Micah and then we got to leave after signing a Legal Risk document.
From Jeffrey's post....
"There is still a chance that we will not get to keep her, however. We signed what is called a "legal risk" to get to bring her home and have her here for Christmas. The 72 hours are up on Christmas Day, which would be when the birth parents can sign their surrenders, but the agency feels (and we agree) that knowing you "surrendered" your child on Christmas Day would be too hard to remember every year, so surrenders will be on Friday. After surrenders, she is still not legally "ours"; finalization of adoption will take place in June, which is called a "Gotcha Day". It might seek risky to take her home before surrenders are signed, but our case workers told us if there was any hint that the birth parents would change their minds, they wouldn't let us take her early.
Now, about the birth parents: this whole process us definitely changed our viewpoints. I know this isn't the case with every adoption, and we are quickly finding that ours is unique, but the birth parents, especially mom, are incredibly amazing. They wanted no assistance, were adamant that we make all the decisions from the beginning, stressed to us that WE were the parents, not them, and just made the whole situation so much easier for us than what it could have been. These birth parents were the first ones that have come in to the agency since we were able to be considered in June, and they picked us. We know that's not always the case. Please continue praying for them."
I know a lot of you may have questions about the adoption process. Our situation is VERY unique. Especially with Christmas here...If you have questions please ASK us! We will answer your questions. :)
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