Sorry (again) for the delay, but like I said in the last post...life has been a bit hectic around here!
After talking to the social worker, and hearing all the sweet details about Baby Boy M, we took about 2 minutes on a private phone call between Kirby and I to decide that we were in! We both frantically wrapped up what loose ends we could at work and rushed home! I remember walking into my principal's office and mumbling something about a baby born in Detroit...and we were going to go get him...and yeah, this is real and this is crazy...and I'm shaking so much I don't even know what is going on.
Part of what made this afternoon a bit less crazy (if that was even possible), was that we had just prepared ourselves for this trip 3 weeks earlier. We had all the baby stuff ready to go, I had lists written out of what each of us needed to pack, and we had plans pretty much put in place for what would happen with our 2 older boys. The one kink in the plans was that most of that baby stuff we had packed was PINK! I quickly unpacked the pink, left anything that I thought would pass as boyish, and grabbed the big plastic tote we had stored in the basement labeled NEWBORN with baby boy clothes in it. We had to print, sign, and notarize papers to send back to the adoption agency. Those papers, along with a check, had to be put in overnight mail. We had to sign and pick up our tax papers. Somewhere in there the lawyer called and let me know that our driver's licenses had our old address on them, but our homestudy was done in our new house. So, add to the list going to the DMV to get a change of address for our licenses! You know in the movies, when a woman goes into labor and everything goes crazy after that? We never experienced that when I went into labor with our 2 older boys. I guess God didn't want us to miss out on that opportunity. It was so crazy, and our minds were going 100 miles a minute, I remember at one point Kirby just pulled over the car, looked at me, and asked, "Where am I going now? What is going on?" We had to trade out my friends' vehicle that I drove home from work for our vehicle that was parked at her apartment complex. While we were there we gave the big boys big squeezes, showed them a picture of the baby, and told them we were going to Detroit to see if this is the baby God wants to be in our family. We were very careful to assume that this was going to be their baby brother...remember, we had just gone through major heartbreak and couldn't do that to them again.
Once all was settled on the homefront, we ventured off on our 13 hour car ride to meet our newest son! We left town a little bit before 5:00 pm and arrived in Detroit just after 6:00 am (local time). The drive through the night was pretty much a blur. Kirby probably got about 2 hours of sleep early morning when I took over to drive. I'm pretty sure my adrenaline was running so high that I couldn't sleep.
We called the social worker to let her know we had made it to town and she told us to, "hold tight." At this point, we knew the baby's birthmom wanted a closed adoption and no contact with us. We had been told that we would have to wait for her to be discharged before we could go to the hospital. Here we are, in a city unknown to us, feeling lots of crazy emotions, and it is 6:00 in the morning! Check back soon to find out what we did to kill our time...
Monday, June 8, 2015
Wednesday, May 20, 2015
Our journey to Kyson, part 1--THE CALL
I'm sure you have heard the news by now that WE ADOPTED A BEAUTIFUL BABY BOY!!! Kyson Chance LeMoine was born on April 20th and was in our arms on April 22nd.
The story is a crazy one that I have spent a month processing and trying to recover from! I am sorry to have left so many of you hanging without details to the story, but life has been a bit hectic around here! Without further ado, here goes my attempt to tell the craziest story of my life...
Tuesday morning (April 21)
I was at work at the elementary school that I work at, in the middle of state testing one-on-one with a kiddo. For those of you not in the world of education, state testing is a pretty stinkin' big deal. I noticed my phone vibrating and American Adoptions was showing up as the caller. I didn't think too much of it, thought it was probably just our social worker calling to check in. I had sent an email yesterday begging for details on how many expectant families we had been shown to and if there might be any leads on a match. My impatient self was having a hard time with the fact that we had been reactivated for a whole two weeks without hearing anything (trust me, in hindsight I fully see how ridiculous I was being). I was also in the middle of state testing and couldn't exactly just pick up my phone. A few minutes later I noticed a call coming in from the hubs. Hmmm, I thought to myself, something might just be happening with our adoption. A few seconds later I get this text from Kirby: CALL ME NOW. Adoption.
Instantly, I knew something was really happening with our adoption. In my mind, I was thinking we had probably been matched with a new expectant mom; I never dreamed they had the news they did. Eventually we got to a point where the student I was working with could take a break and I quickly called Kirby. He told me that he had set up a conference call with the agency for us at 11:15. They had called him and said they had, "exciting news that we should both be on the phone for." I finished up that day's testing with the student I was working with and quickly sent him back to class. There was a meeting happening in my classroom, so I frantically searched for an empty room to make this oh-so-very important phone call. When we got on the phone with the social worker she said, "Well, there was a baby boy born last night in Detroit and the birthmom has chosen you. Are you interested in hearing more details?" OF COURSE WE WERE INTERESTED IN HEARING MORE DETAILS!!!!
The story is a crazy one that I have spent a month processing and trying to recover from! I am sorry to have left so many of you hanging without details to the story, but life has been a bit hectic around here! Without further ado, here goes my attempt to tell the craziest story of my life...
Tuesday morning (April 21)
I was at work at the elementary school that I work at, in the middle of state testing one-on-one with a kiddo. For those of you not in the world of education, state testing is a pretty stinkin' big deal. I noticed my phone vibrating and American Adoptions was showing up as the caller. I didn't think too much of it, thought it was probably just our social worker calling to check in. I had sent an email yesterday begging for details on how many expectant families we had been shown to and if there might be any leads on a match. My impatient self was having a hard time with the fact that we had been reactivated for a whole two weeks without hearing anything (trust me, in hindsight I fully see how ridiculous I was being). I was also in the middle of state testing and couldn't exactly just pick up my phone. A few minutes later I noticed a call coming in from the hubs. Hmmm, I thought to myself, something might just be happening with our adoption. A few seconds later I get this text from Kirby: CALL ME NOW. Adoption.
Instantly, I knew something was really happening with our adoption. In my mind, I was thinking we had probably been matched with a new expectant mom; I never dreamed they had the news they did. Eventually we got to a point where the student I was working with could take a break and I quickly called Kirby. He told me that he had set up a conference call with the agency for us at 11:15. They had called him and said they had, "exciting news that we should both be on the phone for." I finished up that day's testing with the student I was working with and quickly sent him back to class. There was a meeting happening in my classroom, so I frantically searched for an empty room to make this oh-so-very important phone call. When we got on the phone with the social worker she said, "Well, there was a baby boy born last night in Detroit and the birthmom has chosen you. Are you interested in hearing more details?" OF COURSE WE WERE INTERESTED IN HEARING MORE DETAILS!!!!
Monday, April 6, 2015
Sad news
Friends,
For those of you who have not heard the news...it is official that we lost Baby Girl. This news became final as of today, which is why I waited a bit to post anything. After one of the longest weeks/weekends of our lives we talked to our social worker last Monday and settled on a plan. We reactivated our profile, in an attempt to possibly be shown to other birth parents, with the understanding that we were still "on hold" for this specific opportunity until today. The agency shared with us that they like for adoptive families to remain available for a week past the due date in case the birthmom comes back into communication. Sadly, ours did not :( We have asked the agency to let us know if they ever find out what happened, but we don't really anticipate ever having a clear answer. There is really nothing else to describe the whole situation than to say it is all very strange and we will probably never fully understand what happened. We spent the better part of last weekend crying and losing ourselves in movies. This past week was easier than the week before. We were no longer waiting through every minute of each day and felt good about the decision to reactivate and move on. I think we are moving through some of the natural stages of grief and maybe at some point I will be able to process my thoughts to put together a post on what that looked like for us. For now, we are so so so sad to have lost Baby Girl but we are excitedly praying for the next baby and birth parents that God will bring our way. We are so thankful for the love and support of all of you through this hard time and hope we have better news to share soon.
As always, thank you for joining us on this crazy journey and praying for each step of the way!
For those of you who have not heard the news...it is official that we lost Baby Girl. This news became final as of today, which is why I waited a bit to post anything. After one of the longest weeks/weekends of our lives we talked to our social worker last Monday and settled on a plan. We reactivated our profile, in an attempt to possibly be shown to other birth parents, with the understanding that we were still "on hold" for this specific opportunity until today. The agency shared with us that they like for adoptive families to remain available for a week past the due date in case the birthmom comes back into communication. Sadly, ours did not :( We have asked the agency to let us know if they ever find out what happened, but we don't really anticipate ever having a clear answer. There is really nothing else to describe the whole situation than to say it is all very strange and we will probably never fully understand what happened. We spent the better part of last weekend crying and losing ourselves in movies. This past week was easier than the week before. We were no longer waiting through every minute of each day and felt good about the decision to reactivate and move on. I think we are moving through some of the natural stages of grief and maybe at some point I will be able to process my thoughts to put together a post on what that looked like for us. For now, we are so so so sad to have lost Baby Girl but we are excitedly praying for the next baby and birth parents that God will bring our way. We are so thankful for the love and support of all of you through this hard time and hope we have better news to share soon.
As always, thank you for joining us on this crazy journey and praying for each step of the way!
Friday, March 27, 2015
Another quick update
In an effort to keep you all updated, I want to write today and let you all know that there is still no news to report. Miss L's phone still appears to be turned off and no one has spoken to her since last Tuesday. The social worker was able to talk to her mom yesterday who simply said she would deliver the message that we are trying to reach her.
We have felt like our social worker's are gently trying to prepare us for the fact that this Baby Girl might not be meant to be ours. It is a fine balance as we try to prepare our hearts for that, yet continue to hold out hope that Miss L will choose adoption for this sweet baby.
We continue to hear of more and more people praying for this journey and couldn't be more grateful! More than anything else, we continue to hold onto our HOPE found in Christ...He is the only thing we can be sure of in this crazy world! Our biggest prayer requests at this point are:
-for the baby. Please pray for her health and safety and sweet little soul as she enters a BIG world!
-for Miss L. Pray for her heart, for her delivery, and for her to feel support as she makes the next steps in her journey.
-for us. While we continue to cling to the fact that God is in control, we are sad.
THANK YOU for praying friends!!!
Tuesday, March 24, 2015
No news
No news, is not always good news. There is nothing new to report after today. Miss L is still unable to be reached. It has been confirmed by the hospital that she has not given birth as of yet. We believe that the next time we hear anything will be when/if she chooses to contact us when she goes into labor. So, we keep waiting and keep praying and keep believing that the Lord has a very specific plan in mind for this baby girl.
Monday, March 23, 2015
A Quick Update...
You guys are amazing! The love we felt from all of you after the last post was overwhelming!
Early this morning, I was all prepped and ready for my biopsy when the doctor came in and said he saw nothing he could really see being worth biopsying! He said the cysts and the nodule that he saw in my thyroid are all benign and there was no need to do the biopsy...YAY! I will follow up with another doctor to address the enlarged thyroid, but nothing SCARY for now! Praise the Lord!
In the meantime, no one has been able to get in touch with Miss L today. We continue to pray that she is safe, healthy, and taking care of herself and the baby. While we feel confident that our social workers are doing everything they can to make contact and take care of her, our emotions are starting to take over (well, at least mine are!). In the words of one of the social workers this morning...I think we are all highly concerned but "haven't hit the panic button yet."
Thanks for praying with us...
Early this morning, I was all prepped and ready for my biopsy when the doctor came in and said he saw nothing he could really see being worth biopsying! He said the cysts and the nodule that he saw in my thyroid are all benign and there was no need to do the biopsy...YAY! I will follow up with another doctor to address the enlarged thyroid, but nothing SCARY for now! Praise the Lord!
In the meantime, no one has been able to get in touch with Miss L today. We continue to pray that she is safe, healthy, and taking care of herself and the baby. While we feel confident that our social workers are doing everything they can to make contact and take care of her, our emotions are starting to take over (well, at least mine are!). In the words of one of the social workers this morning...I think we are all highly concerned but "haven't hit the panic button yet."
Thanks for praying with us...
Saturday, March 21, 2015
Great Plans
Friends,
This week has been a struggle. You see, I had it all planned out. Baby Girl would make her arrival on Tuesday, March 10th. Friday, March 13th at the latest. Surely she would be born before Spring Break. That was the week we had as built in time off work (not to mentioned PAID time off). Well, obviously that didn't work out as planned. Moving on to Plan B. Miss L would go to her doctor's appointment on Friday, March 20th and schedule an induction for Monday, March 23rd. That plan may be playing out, but at the moment no one can get ahold of Miss L. It seems like maybe her phone has been shut off, leaving her without access to make phone calls or send emails. AAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!
And, to throw a wrench in all of my plans, I have faced a bit of scary medical news this week. On Monday of this week (the 16th), I went in for an ultrasound on my thyroid. I have been experiencing some weird pain in my throat for several weeks and the doctor thought it might be my thyroid. After my bloodwork came back normal, I figured the ultrasound was just a cautionary measure that would also come back normal. Instead, the doctor saw several large and questionable cysts on my thyroid. I am scheduled to go in for a biopsy this coming Monday (the 23rd) to see if the cysts are cancerous or benign.
So, as perfect as my baby plans had been in my head, they wouldn't have allowed for any of this thyroid mumbo jumbo to even be discovered. It may be nothing or it may be something scary.
Needless to say, my emotions have been all over the place this week. I have been anxiously awaiting news on Baby Girl, trying to make lasting memories with my boys before their sister arrives, and wondering if I might possibly have something a little bit scarier than spiky bouncy balls in my throat. I have really had to rest in the truth that God's plan is WAY better for us than my plan. His plans are GREAT plans. Plans to prosper us and give us a HOPE and a FUTURE.
Thanks for continuing to pray for our journey! We will keep you updated as we have news.
Cara
This week has been a struggle. You see, I had it all planned out. Baby Girl would make her arrival on Tuesday, March 10th. Friday, March 13th at the latest. Surely she would be born before Spring Break. That was the week we had as built in time off work (not to mentioned PAID time off). Well, obviously that didn't work out as planned. Moving on to Plan B. Miss L would go to her doctor's appointment on Friday, March 20th and schedule an induction for Monday, March 23rd. That plan may be playing out, but at the moment no one can get ahold of Miss L. It seems like maybe her phone has been shut off, leaving her without access to make phone calls or send emails. AAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!
And, to throw a wrench in all of my plans, I have faced a bit of scary medical news this week. On Monday of this week (the 16th), I went in for an ultrasound on my thyroid. I have been experiencing some weird pain in my throat for several weeks and the doctor thought it might be my thyroid. After my bloodwork came back normal, I figured the ultrasound was just a cautionary measure that would also come back normal. Instead, the doctor saw several large and questionable cysts on my thyroid. I am scheduled to go in for a biopsy this coming Monday (the 23rd) to see if the cysts are cancerous or benign.
So, as perfect as my baby plans had been in my head, they wouldn't have allowed for any of this thyroid mumbo jumbo to even be discovered. It may be nothing or it may be something scary.
Needless to say, my emotions have been all over the place this week. I have been anxiously awaiting news on Baby Girl, trying to make lasting memories with my boys before their sister arrives, and wondering if I might possibly have something a little bit scarier than spiky bouncy balls in my throat. I have really had to rest in the truth that God's plan is WAY better for us than my plan. His plans are GREAT plans. Plans to prosper us and give us a HOPE and a FUTURE.
Thanks for continuing to pray for our journey! We will keep you updated as we have news.
Cara
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