Adoption Update - Our first match

For those of you who don't know, we were match with birth parents April 9 and we found out she was due around April 20. Of course when I got the call Shaun was out of town. He left that morning and wouldn't be back until Sunday the 11th. So we get the call and of course I start crying - I had a lot more emotions than I thought I would have. Shirley from Love Basket gave me all the details including their phone numbers so we could call them since we weren't sure we'd be able to meet them before the birth. I couldn't wait to tell Shaun but knew he was in conferences so I sent him a text. He called when he had like 2 min. to talk to I just said "We've been chosen!" I finally got to talk to him later and we decided we would drive to St. Louis (were the birthparents live and our home town) on Monday so we could meet them before Shaun had to leave for another conference in D.C. on Wednesday.

So we talked to them Sunday - I was so nervous, what do I say, will she like me - all these things were going through my head. We talked for about 5 min because we were both so nervous and knew we would see each other on Tuesday. Shaun had a really good talk with Rodney, the birthfather. He was way more confident than I was.

So we hit the road Monday morning, something we said we would never do again. Oh, and the kicker, we know have 2 good size dogs that were traveling with us. JoJo, our pup we got in January, who is about 40 lbs. and Cody, who we inherited back from Shaun's mom and stepdad, who is over 100 lbs (we're working on a diet plan). So most of our stuff had to go on the roof. It was cramped but we all did good. I think Owen only said "I can't do this anymore" a hand full of times. He's now moved up to "Are we there yet?" which started 20 min after we left the house.

We drive through the night, stopping for about 2 hrs to try and get some sleep - yeah right. I can't sleep in the car for anything. First Owen pees on me b/c he is in front on my lap, then after the clean up we finally get settled again and the pups think it's time to wake up and eat breakfast (it's like 2am). We get them settled down and fall asleep and then comes the garbage truck and of course we're right by the dumpster. Needless to say I didn't get any sleep and Shaun might have gotten an hour or so. We forge on.

We get in to STL about 8:30/9am, unload, take Owen to daycare (Shaun's aunt owns), sleep for about an hour (Shaun got to sleep a couple of hours), get a hair cut, then get ready to go meet the birthparents for dinner with Jo and Shirley from Love Basket. I was so nervous I think I was have panic attacks but dinner went great. We all talked about everything and felt we had a great connection. Brittany, birthmom, told us some of her family, including her mom, was wishy-washy about the situation, which we knew ahead of time. But she told us she felt adoption was the best for the baby.

So here's where everything starts to go down hill. Brittany missed a couple of meetings w/ Love Basket and they can't get a hold of her. Shaun talked to Rodney Saturday night, after he gets in town from D.C. - he tells Shaun Brittany is having a hard time especially with not having support from her family. I talk to Brittany on Sunday and she feels she is being torn in all directions (between her family and Rodney). I let her know she has to be at peace with her decision and to focus on what she thinks is right for her and the baby. There is a lot more but this is the gist of it.

Monday we get the dreaded call (actually Shaun did) that she has decided to parent. She said she really liked us and didn't have any reservations about us but she just wasn't at peace with the decision. Which we were ok with because we know God will bring us the right child at the right time. We decided to stay in STL for the rest of the week to relax and visit family. Then we took off again for El Paso on Friday. This time we decided to stop over night which help a lot. And we also got Dan Brown's "The Lost Symbol" on audio book (17 1/2 hrs worth) so we listened to that the whole way. So were back home and back on the market. I told Shaun we'd either get matched again next week or in 6 months.

It was a very crazy and emotional trip but totally worth it. I think it would have been much worse to meet them at the hospital for the first time, meet the baby (a boy by the way), and then have her decide to parent. So there you have it - our first major adoption experience. Shaun jokes he feels we deserve twins now. I don't know about that.

The random pics -
- Owen on the way to STL. He still loves his boppy.
- Owens favorite ride at Americas Incredible Pizza (virtual roller coaster)
- Dinner at a hibachi restaurant (Owen's first time)
- Go carts with daddy