Thanksgiving

Carver went home with his mom this morning. It was a bittersweet day for us--a little more bitter than sweet. We are sadder than we imagined we could be, but at the same time we are so grateful that we were able to take care of Carver for the week we had him, and we are happy for his mom to have him back. We have no regrets over the events of the past week and our involvement in them. He was a joy to have in our home, and we hope and pray that God will use this situation to draw his mom to himself. I'm sure the sadness we feel can't be compared with what she felt when giving him up.

I (Jill) am not usually an overly emotional person and don't cry often. However, I am finding that I can barely stop crying since yesterday. I have found great comfort in Psalm 56:8 which says "You have kept count of my tossings; put my tears in your bottle. Are they not in your book?" I know that God sees and cares, and in the midst of my sadness I have great hope and much comfort.

In preparing for adoption, we went through training, read books, and talked about the importance of guarding our hearts until any potential adoption was finalized. We have learned much by actually walking through this process, and God has been so gracious to us. When we first learned that Carver's mom chose us to adopt him, there was much uncertainty as to whether or not she would go through with it. God helped us to guard our hearts, and there was really not much of an emotional struggle. After Carver came home with us, however, we found that we had to open ourselves to him on a deeper level to really care for him. Even though we knew the adoption could still fall through, every day we had him brought us more hope that he would stay, and we loved him like he was our own. We are not sorry that we did this, and though we are experiencing much sadness now, there is much joy and hope in the midst of it.

We know that God does all things well, and we know his plans are perfect. Thank you all so much for praying for us and encouraging us. It means more to us than you can imagine. We hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving tomorrow. We will be spending it with our families and giving thanks to God, "who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?" (Romans 8:32).

~Jill and Stephen

Goodbye

Friends,

We just received a call from our social worker. The birthmom has changed her mind, and Carver will be going back to her tomorrow morning. As you can imagine, we are very sad and disappointed. We were so hoping that that the adoption would go through, and Carver would be staying with us. However, in our sadness, we have hope that God has a plan, and somehow this is all a part of it even if we don't see it right now.

Yesterday, I (Jill) was praying for the birthmom, knowing that she was having a really difficult time. God brought this verse to my mind: "The Lord is near to the brokenhearted, he saves the crushed in spirit." As I prayed this verse for the birthmom, little did I know that I would find such comfort in these same words today. The rest of the passage says,

"The eyes of the Lord are toward the righteous
and his ears toward their cry....
When the righteous cry for help, the Lord hears
and delivers them out of all their troubles.
The Lord is near to the brokenhearted
and saves the crushed in spirit."

Psalm 34: 15-18

Please pray for us as we take this precious baby back to his birthmom tomorrow. We hope to invite her to church and reach out to her in other ways as God leads. Please also pray for Grant, as he really wanted Carver to be his little brother. Thank you, friends, for your love and encouragement.

Love,

Stephen and Jill

Baby Days

We're sorry for the lack of posts...our days have been pleasantly filled with caring for Carver and catching up on a little sleep. We absolutely love having him here--he has brought such joy to us! Both of our families have had the chance to meet him, and they are in love with him, too.

We took Carver to see our pediatrician several days ago, and we were all watching Grant talk to him. Carver was looking directly at Grant, and all of the sudden he smiled at him! We were all so surprised! Even the doctor saw it, and we asked her if babies could really smile at only two weeks. Her reply was, "Well, he just did!" He is such a happy baby who only really fusses if he's hungry or needs a diaper change. And talk about an eater! Today he ate six ounces in one of his feedings! We think he's going through a growth spurt as babies often do around two weeks.

We will try to post some more pictures soon--he's growing every day!

Brotherly Love

Homecoming

Today we brought Carver home. We are thrilled to have him with us. He seems to be an easy-going fellow who likes a warm bottle and loving arms. That's good, because we just can't put him down!







We love him so much!

Placement Eve

Tomorrow is Placement Day! (That's adoption lingo for "the baby is coming home with us" :) We're so excited, and can't wait to see how much the little guy's grown since we last saw him on the day of his birth. He will be two weeks old tomorrow. We will be meeting with our social workers and the birthmom at 2:30, and then we'll get to take him to his new home.

Let the flurry of newborn care begin! Check back soon for pictures of our new family...

The Big Day is...

We got a call from our social worker today, and everything is going as we had hoped! The birthmom is still planning for us to take the baby, and the day will be next Wednesday, November 18. We are so excited and can't wait to take Carver home! There is a slight possibility the day could be moved to Thursday, but for now the plan is Wednesday. After we bring him home, the birthmom will have one week in which to change her mind. That means that by Thanksgiving we will know one way or another. We continue to pray that God's will would done, and he would make it clear to all. Please continue to pray for us and for the birthmom. God has been so gracious to us in this whole process. We have had so much peace and joy, and we truly want what's best for this baby and his sweet mother.

On another note, we wish again to thank all of you who have contributed to our adoption fund. Amazingly, we have raised almost 3/4 of what we need to bring Carver home. We plan to take out a loan for the remaining $5,000 and repay it with the tax credit we should receive next tax year. In six months when the adoption is finalized, we will need to pay a comparatively small attorney fee. We know that God will continue to provied the funds for this fee and other costs involved with feeding and caring for a baby.

So for now we continue to wait, hope and pray. We will update when any more news is heard.,

~Stephen, Jill and Grant

Baby Pictures

This sweet baby boy was born November 4th at 8:00 PM, weighing 8 pounds, 14 ounces, and 21 inches long. If he is to be ours, we will call him Carver John Taylor.

The Baby

Exciting news: the baby was born at 8 something this evening weighing over 8 pounds! He is doing really well. Jill was able to see him and hold him not long after his birth--such a cutie with a strong pair of lungs and lots of hair! We are still at the hospital hoping that Stephen will be able to see him before we're kicked out. Amazingly, Jill was able to be in with the birth mom for most of her labor until it was close to time for delivery. This was an amazing gift, as the hospital has a very strict new rule that only one person can be with the mother because of the possibility of H1N1 exposure. We are so grateful for a safe delivery for both the baby and birth mom, and we can truly say that we will be happy with whatever happens. The birth mom is still planning on adoption, and she is receiving good support from her roommate and friends. Either way, the baby will be going home with her for the first few days. We have some adorable pictures that we hope to post tonight or tomorrow...stay tuned!

Update

We just got a call from our social worker, and the birthmother is in labor at the hospital! I (Jill) am off to the hospital to wait, and Stephen will meet me there later. We will hopefully get to see the baby soon after he's born. However, if the adoption goes through, we will probably not get to bring him home for several weeks as the birthmother will be caring for him for the first week or so. Please pray for all of us, and check back for updates!