Our Big Announcement!

So... do you all remember me saying that we would be adopting again in the future? And have any of you noticed I have a "ticker" in the top right hand "corner" of the blog that says how long we've been praying and hoping for our second child? Well... I can't believe that I get to say this after only waiting for 6.5 months, but... WE HAVE A DAUGHTER!!!!! So, let me give you the details because really- they are what makes telling you guys things, well, FUN! :-) By the way, this is a long post- but which one isn't with me, right?!?

Can I just begin by saying that I had all these plans of getting to walk you through my "agony" of waiting for a daughter? I was going to tell you all that we were finally HSTK (which means Home Study to Korea) as of Oct 15 AFTER I blogged about Calen's halloween (which obviously, I haven't done yet!). And then throughout the wait, I just "knew" I would share with you that the wait was getting hard, etc, etc. Well, our God- who continually amazes me, had different ideas than I did and I was doing just fine with the "wait"- which was not at all what I was like when we were waiting for Calen!!! But, this time around, well it's been different. I haven't been anxious, I haven't been nervous, I haven't dreamed of our future faceless little one... I've just been content in the Lord and His plans for us! I've been able to be content because I get to see what the Lord has done for us with Calen as our son EVERY DAY I wake up and I am constantly reminded at His Goodness and HIS timing. I have known from the start of this process that the Lord would do things in His time and that the Lord would bless us with our hearts desires. I just never knew that our amazing God would bless us so QUICKLY! and let me tell you- he BLESSED us Q-U-I-C-K-L-Y! :-)

So here's the story. Allen and I decided to get Calen's christmas shopping done early this year. We decided to drop him off in the evening with Nana and Papa on Friday, November 6, 2009 and head to Modesto to get his toy shopping done. I had dropped Calen off while Allen was still driving home and had sat and talked to my parents about my not so good week at work for a little longer than I had planned. As I was driving home, Allen was calling me. I answered the phone and told him I was almost home and that I was sorry it took me so long. He then said, "that's not what I'm calling about. I have some news for you that is going to brighten your long week!" I said, "huh?" He said, "Holt just called. (long pause) and they have a baby girls file that they want us to consider." Me (oh so poetically) "HUH?!!!!? Seriously?" Allen-"Yep. They are emailing her file to us right now." Mind you, this was at 4:50 in the evening on FRIDAY! I raced home to find out more about her, all the while thinking... "no way this could be our girl, it's just too soon! She must have more special needs than we are really willing to consider." After what happened with the baby boy (ezekiel) before Calen, I just couldn't get my heart excited and too involved. (email me if you have no idea what I'm talking about) We asked Holt to NOT send us pictures of her because we didn't want to fall in love with a photo before we were able to seriously discuss her sn (special needs). While reading through her file, I just kept thinking- "I don't understand any of this!" We already knew that we wanted an International Adoption Pedatrician (IAP) to look through her file to give us WORST CASE Scenarios so that we could get a dose of reality. I didn't have the heart to contact the IAP that night so we left the house and went shopping for calen just like we had planned. We kept looking at one another the whole night just thinking "Really? Already?" :-)

The next day (saturday) I found the IAP we wanted to use and emailed her the baby girls info. I kept reminding myself- "she's going to come back and tell us that this baby has too many things going on for us to handle." Well, this IAP is lightening fast with responses and emailed me to say that she would contact me the next day (sunday). I want you all to know, that while I was excited to have a referral, I was also very cautious and really felt like it was a "file" not a baby the whole weekend. I was just so sure she wasn't ours!

Sunday morning rolled around and our IAP called us at 9:30 am! She was honest, frank and gave me news that I didn't expect... she thought this little girl's file looked GOOD! She explained things in every day terms and didn't beat around the bush. Her worst case for this baby girl was maybe minor cerbral palsy or minor learning disabilities that we'd notice between the ages of 2-4. However, she really is very positive that this baby girl is just FINE because of her gains that she has made in the past few months! I got off the phone, stunned, and told allen what the doctor said. We had people praying for us all weekend... The last thing we had to do was see her photos before we said yes and to let the IAP see the photos to make sure she didn't see anything wrong.

Monday morning came and I was on the phone to Holt right at 8 am! Of course by this time, I was dying to see this girl and the people i needed to send the photos were busy! I waited (not patiently I might add) until 11 before I got to see her. I was really nervous to see her because I wanted the pictures to tell me if she was meant to be ours! I just wanted to have an overwhelming sense of calm about her... Well, I did. She's beautiful and I instantly was drawn to her eyes and how "joyful" they were! I waited another 2 hours for Allen to see her on his lunch to discuss what to tell Holt. Our IAP had given the pictures the "clear" and reminded me that the biggest thing with this baby girl was to "wait and see" how she kept developing. Allen and I decided to tell Holt that we would love to move forward with this little girl! I couldn't believe I was getting to say that already!

Here are just a few things I want you all to know about our little girl. Please be praying for her development and for us as we move forward!

*she is a preemie. Not a small preemie I might add- she was born at just about 33 weeks gestational age and was 4.2 pounds! She also spent about 3 weeks in the hospital- but not for anything big! Just jaundice and monitoring to make sure she was okay... At her 5 month check up she was already assessed at being caught up to a 4 month old level- if you know nothing of preemies- KNOW THIS IS GOOD!
*her birthmom smoked
*she has a small hemangioma on her shoulder (a birthmark that will go away as she ages!)
*she and Calen are only 18 months apart in age (YIKES!)
*and a few other things that I won't list on a public website...

We are trying to be "cautiously excited" but the more I look at her the more excited and joyous I feel to have been given a daughter already. So again, I ask that you please pray for her development and for us as we navigate the paperwork, the travel, our jobs, the $ (as we weren't quite prepared for the expense just yet) and most of all the WAIT! Yes, the wait will be harder the more time passes. We are quoted at it being around a 3-6 month wait for her to be in our arms. I think it will be at least 5 months. My prayer for myself is that I can WAIT upon the Lord... Isiah 40:31 says"But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength." When I waited for Calen to come home, I just about went nuts. I'm not kidding either. I remember struggling to get out of bed some days because i was so overcome with "waiting". I DO NOT want to do that to myself, or more importantly to Calen, this time around. I don't want to miss out of my amazing, ramboucous little guy while I'm waiting for our daughter. There is NOTHING I can do to speed up the wait for her to be in my arms... I am at the mercy of 2 different governments for everything to go through for her to even be placed in my arms. And more importantly- God knows when the best time is for her to be handed over to us. So- I pray that I can enjoy this wait. That God can teach me to really give my "weight of the WAIT" to Him and to enjoy my life that is happening NOW and to not "gype" my son of his mommy... Can you all help and pray for that too?

If you've read this far, THANK YOU! We want you to know that we would be nothing without all of your thoughts and prayers and support of our marriage and family! God has blessed us with so much and our "cup runneth over"- so much more than my mind can comprehend some times! We love you and appreciate your prayers so much- please, please keep them coming!

The last thing to tell you is this... our new daughter's name with be KatieJoy Noreen. Yes, KatieJoy is the full first name and Noreen is my mom's beautiful middle name. Calen's name is so meaningful that I couldn't just pick any old name for our daughter. We knew we wanted Joy in the name for our constant Joy in our Lord. However I wanted something in front of it. I love the way KatieJoy sounds and when i found out that Katie means "pure"- it just worked! Her whole names meaning is Pure Happiness and Honor. She IS pure happiness and it is our honor to be the parents the Lord picked for her!

~M~

Oh! Pictures of our sweet girl to come... we need to sign all the official paperwork before I post them here!