We Meet the Birth Mom!!!

Muir Woods - the Redwood Forest

Bryan eating crab legs!

The Golden Gate was beautiful!

We're in Folsom, California which is a suburb to the east of Sacramento.
Today we meet the birth mom, Ashley, as well as her mom and little girl! We had a great time with them. Was so easy talking with them all. We spent about two hours together. Her little girl reminded me SO MUCH of my cousin, Brianna, when she was about 18 months old. I couldn't stop staring.

Ashley's mom felt much better about the situation after meeting us. She was already amazingly supportative of Ashley and her decision. She teared up a couple of times just seeing how the details were coming together by God. We could see that Ashley knows so clearly that she is doing the right thing and it is the best situation for all of us but at the same time we could see a touch of pain in her heart when we looked closely.

There are so many details ahead. We haven't found a furnished place to stay with a washer and dryer and internet. Also, we found out today another big detail in our plans - Ashley needs to meet with the social worker asap. She'll have to have two meetings with her before things can be finalized in California BUT these meetings have to be 10 days apart. So even if she had the baby today it could take 10 more days to start moving things along in California and then it is on to Georgia which could take 7-14 days even though Georgia officially won't tell the time length.
Please pray she'll meet with her quickly. The social worker is trying to get in touch with her to explain the importance of this meeting.

We're in San Francisco

Bryan in front of the pretty flowers at Fishermans Wharf!

You can see Alcatraz to the right behind Angie.

The view from the Intercontinental Hotels at the Top of the Mark restaurant where we ate breakfast. It was hands down our favorite breakfast ever. The view made all the difference. We literally had the best seat in the house and could see the Bay Bridge from one direction and the Golden Gate Bridge from the other direction.

We shared hot chocolate and ate free chocolate samples here.

SHH! The sea lions are sleeping!

Since our last blog on Wednesday we had a few of the busiest days of our lives trying to get ready to come to California in 24 hours and traveling. The flights to Sacramento looked really bad yesterday for flying stand by so we spent $2 more dollars and changed our flight to San Francisco! This was the Lord because we needed a day or two of down time before heading to Sacramento. We love it here especially the weather ranging from 55 to 70 degrees.

Sidenote - Bryan is watching the GA/SC game while I am updating the blog. This whole experience is like a taste of heaven for him!

Not Two Weeks But SOONER

Quick update - We actually spoke with our birth mom minutes ago and it went GREAT! We absolutely know the reason it went so well is because of the flurry of prayers lifted up since our blog yesterday. I am utterly amazed at how we can feel people praying for us. Peace comes so quick! THANK YOU!!!

But keep on praying. Our birth mom is dilated three cm and with this being her second baby it could happen any time. Since we might be leaving at a moments notice or over the weekend, I will share some prayer request now.

• We'd know what day to leave
• For us to have favor with the hospital staff and attorneys offices
• For us to get a room or some kind of space where we can be alone with the baby and stay overnight until the baby is discharged
• Our birth mom would be ready to waive her 30 day rights when signing the paperwork at her discharge from the hospital
• Our paperwork to be expedited through the California and Georgia legal system. Ten days is generally the least amount of time but we were told to plan to be out there three weeks after the birth.
• That we would find a clean, comfy, quiet place to stay that has a washer/dryer, kitchen and internet for Bryan to check his email for work

Thank you, thank you, thank you again for the prayers!!!! Love to all!!!!

Two Weeks Until We Leave

At this stage our spirit-man which seems very, very deep inside us is saying a resounding "YES!" to adoption and heading out to California but our natural man is saying, "What are you doing? Are you out of your mind?" Our emotions are bouncing around from nervousness to all kinds of crazy things. If and when this all gets finalized it should be cause for the biggest party ever. Hopefully we'll have the energy for this when it arrives! :) Emotions are wearing.

The major reason for our natural man thinking we're crazy is because at the point all communication has been cut off with the birth mom. She's no longer answering our calls. While this presents question marks for us I am feeling for her. Our minds speculate both good and big things. Bottom line is that emotionally it must be really, really hard to give a baby up for adoption. I am feeling for this girl that I have never met. The way I am mentally processing everything is by thinking she's trying to no longer bond with us to help make this process as cut and dry as possible, as if cut and dry is even an option. This total stranger is fulfilling a dream of ours yet as the same time will most likely go through a season of grief in return. Ouch! Life isn't fair.

(I know in our saying communication has been cut off might raise a red flag for some but things like this happen in adoption and the agency isn't moved by it. It's not a great indicator but sometimes the situations that look the best ended up the worse and vice versa. This is one time that you can't be lead by what you see. Only God knows the end results of each adoption situation.)

We have spoken with our agency twice over the past few days. They are trying to feel her out in what is happening in her mind and why she's cut off communication. We'd love your prayers for the Lord to guard hearts as well as hers.

The wild thing is that we had total peace about going with her as a birth mom but yet we don't know the end result. My respect for birth moms rights to change their minds has ironically grown through this. If by chance she did change her mind, it would literally be the most devastating event in our lives to date but yet her decisions must be respected. It will be one of the biggest decisions she's made in her entire life. As we get closer to the day I am realizing the weight of this all the more. (Lord, please lead us all.)

I wish I could be more excited at this stage of the game! Back to my spirit-man, in the far recesses of me I have excitement. But the rest of it has left us kind of guarded, edgy, and maybe even withdrawn. We're just trying to process a lot right now. Again, we'd love your prayers.

Adoption Update

Sunday night we had a call from our agency. Our hearts skipped a beat when we saw the number thinking, "What is wrong?" They told us immediately that they had news but it wasn't bad news. Ashley, our birth mom, was allowed to come back home. There is a long story behind this which there normally is but she will no longer be at the extended stay hotel. What an answer to prayer this is! We all knew that home was the best place for her especially with her being a 17 years old.

But in the midst of the long story she no longer has a cell phone but through our agency we are buying her a pay-as-you-go phone so we can be in touch. Hopefully we'll talk with her in the next few days especially since she was supposed to have a doctors appointment today and we are anxious to hear what the doctor said.

Bryan and I are planning to leave a week or so before the end of September to go out to California. If the baby doesn't come ahead of time, we'll head to San Fran for an early 10 year wedding anniversary trip.

Lots of details are coming together now! In a little over a month we should be parents!!!

The Pre-Shower Relay

The Pre-Shower

The future grandpa practicing feeding a baby. Kinda!

The other future grandpa singing Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star!

The hostesses with the mostesses and me! They all get triple crowns for all their prep work outside on one of the hottest days of the year!

The great debate has begun amongst our families. Will our child be a GA or Tech fan?

We were incredibly blessed! The pre-shower was awesome with 49 people at our house. Due to the 104 heat index the event was moved to our house. Not to mention a storm that wasn't on the rador came in with 60 mph winds immediatley after the best relay in the history of baby showers. We were safe and sound inside opening great gifts when it hit. Perfect timing!