We're in Georgia

It has been a long two days on not-so-pleasant roads, but we have arrived safely in Augusta, Georgia, the birthplace of our son! And in 12 hours we expect to be holding him in our arms. But who's counting!

So, it's 2 am, and I managed to sleep a sound 3 hours, better than the last few nights, and I anticipate, better than the next several nights as well! What a great time to fill in our blog readers with a few more details.



But first, one more picture - Bryan's favorite:
Poor little boy wearing pink jammies!

Brett's birth mother, Ms. April, did not have an adoption plan in place when she gave birth. What that means is, she had not contacted an adoption agency to get any resources or to choose a family for her baby. At the hospital, she made them aware that her wishes were to place her child with an adoptive family. The hospital randomly contacted An Open Door Adoption Agency. Believe it or not, even though Bryan and I had only been waiting for 6 weeks, we were the family that had been waiting for a boy the longest at our agency, and since Ms. April did not wish to choose a family for her baby, Brett became our son! We did not know about him until Ms. April had signed and the 10 day period for her to change her mind was up.

And that is why on Wednesday I was blogging about our Christmas traditions and on Friday I was posting pictures of Brett! On Thursday, An Open Door called and left a message, and we were not able to return the call until Friday morning at 8 am. I instantly knew the baby Debbie was describing was our son, and called Bryan at work to tell him he was a daddy. Pictures and reports were sent via email and by 9 we officially accepted the baby as ours, and by 10 am, I had grandmas screaming in 3 states!

What comes next? Today at 2 pm we are scheduled to meet Brett, his foster mom, and our case worker. We will sign some papers, and though it is just the beginning of more paperwork, we get to take placement of our son at that time! We will hang out in Georgia for a week or so while paperwork is being filed with the state of Georgia and then the state of Minnesota. We are hoping to be home by Christmas, but there is a possibility the paperwork will take longer than that.

I'm still pinching myself.

Our Little Christmas Gift!

"I have prayed for this child and the Lord has granted me what I asked of him.” 1 Samuel 1:27

Brett was born on December 2nd in Georgia! He weighed 7 pounds 3 ounces and was 21 inches long. We got the news at 8 this morning!
He has very long fingers and Debbie at An Open Door tells us Bryan is going to have a tall son!
Alice, Brett's foster mother wrote this about Brett on Wednesday:

"He went to the doctor today. She said he's great. He weighs 7lb-12oz and is 22½ in. long...He is eating 4 oz or more at a feeding and sleeping at least 4 hours between feedings. He has a very sweet nature, is staying awake a little more and is a sound sleeper. He talks in his sleep! He is quite hot natured and doesn't like to be overdressed. He is a back sleeper -- really prefers it. Cord is gone; he has had a good bath and really seemed to enjoy the water. I think he was trying to swim."

Brett, Momma and Daddy are coming...we can't wait to hold you in our arms!

Christmas traditions

I love celebrating holidays and especially Christmas. One of my favorite things about celebrating Christmas is having special traditions. We have some that we have continued from childhood, and we have some that we've started since we were married. Here are a few:

The Advent Calendar

Bryan's mom always gets us an advent calendar. A few years back, she decided we were getting too old and didn't get us one. I had to correct her. And every year since, it is on our doorstep before December 1! We always laugh at how much she spends on shipping it!

Coke and Cookies

We drink Coke and eat fudge covered oreos while we decorate the tree. We buy the Christmas edition coke bottles and save one every year. "2003" is missing...

Ornaments

We buy a new ornament that helps us to remember a special memory from that year. Last year we picked out the baseball guy because we went to the Baseball Hall of Fame for vacation. We haven't bought one for this year yet, but Bryan says it will be a Packer one to commemorate that they clinched the division.

Stockings

This tradition sorta just happened, which I think are the best ones! I bought these cheapo stockings at the dollar store shortly after we married and hung them up. One said "Joy" and one said "Noel". The next day, I came home, and Bryan had altered his "Noel" stocking with duct tape. He didn't think it was fair for me to have a personalized one!

The Greatest Gift

We just started this tradition last year. The first gifts under the tree are these gold boxes. There is one for each family member (2 this year, hopefully 3 next year!). Inside each gold box is a portion of the Luke 2 passage. When we open gifts, the gold boxes are the first gifts we open, and we read Luke 2 to honor the greatest gift of our Savior born in a manger.

all the pieces of the puzzle

I have had a few people say to me, "I thought you'd have your baby by now." While it is true that Brett could come at any time, there are so many pieces of the puzzle that must fit together for Brett to find his home in our family.

Here are just a few pieces of the puzzle that factor into how long we wait:

1. Gender preference. That we are specifying a boy eliminates about 2/3 of potential situations-many expectant mothers do not know the gender of their baby.

2. "Openness" preference. We are choosing not to pursue a fully disclosed adoption where there are continued visits between the adoptive family and birth mother.

3. Special needs/drug exposure. In these areas, Bryan and I must make very difficult decisions about what child God has prepared us to parent.

4. Budget. This is a big one. We have this much money and many situations require THIS much money.

5. Expectant mother preferences. It is our hope that every expectant mother will have a few families to choose from for her baby. Many times an expectant mother will desire a certain race, religion, family size, geographic area, etc for her child.

6. Major changes in international adoption. All 3 of the "giants" in international adoption are experiencing major changes. Families just entering a China program can expect to wait 3-4 years. Guatemala adoptions are expected to shut down at the end of the year. Russia is experiencing major slowdowns. (Liberia, too!) As a result, many families (like us!) are reconsidering a domestic adoption.

7. Thousands of agencies. The number of agencies doing domestic adoptions across the US is overwhelming, as we have spent hours and hours researching which ones are a good fit for us. So far, we have selected 2 to have our life books at. We chose them because they very actively recruit families for babies who are black, and have comfortable fee structures. Consequently, they do have a nice "pool" of like-minded families for expectant mothers to choose. So, while, nation-wide, there is definitely a need for more families willing to embrace the joys and challenges of adopting a child of minority, there are enough families at these two agencies.

That is why Bryan and I decided to register for a referral service. Referral services network with agencies across the nation who need families for particular situations. Betty (the nice lady from the referral service) gets calls from these agencies, and then sends out emails to the families who have registered with her. If the situation seems like a good fit, then the family is connected with the agency.

In just two days, we have received five emails from Betty! So far, all the pieces of the puzzle have not fit together in any of the situations, but, it has only been two days!

Please pray for us as we are going through this process. It is very difficult to pray over an empty crib every night and wait patiently for God to unite us with our son.