We thought it was the right time to go ahead and share our BIG NEWS here on the blog! We have been matched with a birthmom and are expecting a little girl at the end of March! We are so excited and still processing what it might be like around here with a GIRL!!!! Our birthmom, I will call her Miss L on the blog, is from Cincinnati and we have talked on the phone once and done a little bit of emailing back and forth. She is very sweet and confident about her decision to choose adoption. We were officially matched with Miss L on January 2nd...what a great way to ring in the new year! We shared the news with our families, but felt like it might not be best to go public with anything until we had talked to Miss L. There was something about that phone call that seemed similar to making it past the first trimester in a biological pregnancy. The anticipation of that call was a bit of an emotional roller coaster. We rescheduled 2 different times before we were able to connect with Miss L. Our social worker reassured us that this wasn't abnormal and happens more often than we probably thought it did. Turns out she had gotten hit with the flu pretty badly and was trying to catch up on sleep. We were finally able to talk to her on January 13th and it was so great! Yes, it was definitely awkward at times, but overall it was so reassuring to be able to talk to her and get to know her a bit. She was very curious about what it is like in Kansas and we tried really hard to convince her it wasn't all farms and tornadoes out here! We spent this week sharing the good news with the people we wanted to share it with in person before sharing the news publicly online. We have a couple of really specific prayer requests to share with you: -Please pray for Miss L! Pray for her health, her heart, her family, and anything else that is laid on your heart. -Pray for baby girl! We don't have many medical records, so there isn't anything specific other than her general health. -Pray for our finances. I will share a more in-depth post about our finances, but we still need to raise about $7,000.
Thanks for joining with us in this journey! We couldn't do it without you!
Kirby and I wrote our letter to the birthparents last week. How do you encompass everything you are thinking and feeling into a simple letter?! It is definitely not possible. But we pray that we portrayed enough of ourselves that a birthmom will fall in love with us, over time we will build that relationship, and eventually she will see the part of our hearts that couldn't be put into that letter.
Dear Birthparent,
Right now, you are probably making about a million tough decisions every day and there is no easy way to just make them go away. So, first off, we want to thank you for even considering adoption for your child. We recognize the weight that comes with that decision. We pray for you often.
Secondly, we want you to know that we plan on welcoming birth parents as an extention of our family as long as that relationship is healthy and loving. We want you to know that staying in touch is important to us. There is great potential for an adopted child to have questions of a birth parent years down the road and we hope those conversations can even happen with you if that is your desire too. Along the way we want to use letters and emails with pictures as baby steps that hopefully lead to Skype or Facetime interaction if that is a possibility for you. We are not only open to, but hopeful of, future visits as well.
Now let us tell you a bit about ourselves and our family. We have been married for 5 1/2 years and have two sons, Jaxon (4) and Hudson (1). We are all excited for a new baby in the family! Jaxon is a GREAT big brother and Hudson even met a 4 month old friend recently and has become very excited about little babies. Our boys love to play with each other, sneak each other food at the dinner table, and watch movies together. They can't wait to add a new baby brother or sister to the mix!
(From Kirby): Cara is a wonderful mom and very patient. She is gifted with children and that is one of the qualities I noticed first about her. She wants children to be heard and loved. She is also passionate about education and has a knack for making learning a lot of fun. She enjoys cozying up in a blanket with a book and a coffee, while I prefer playing basketball or waching football with a dozen friends, and I like how we balance each other out in ways like that.
(From Cara): Kirby is such a great guy! He is a very fun dad-always wrestling, playing ball, riding bikes, or whatever other fun things might be up his sleeve! He loves people and has never met a stranger. While we are so different in who we are, God knew what He was doing when He put us together! I couldn't imagine what my life would be like without him.
We plan to be very open about how our family will be put together through adoption. We want our child to know that their birthparents love them and made brave decisions for their sake.
We have prayed for whoever our baby is, not knowing when or where or from who this baby's journey would start. We know that choosing who will raise, love, protect, and guide your baby will be a hard choice, so we are seeking to join in this journey with you for your baby.
Love,
Kirby and Cara (Jaxon and Hudson, too!)
The same weekend we wrote this letter, we watched a beautiful documentary on a woman's journey to find her birthparents. Watch it. It is free on Hulu and WELL worth your time. Here is the trailer to help pique your interest...
