Heading Home

This is just a quick post to thank you all for praying--our Interstate Compact went through really quickly, and we are headed home tomorrow (Friday)! We are driving and will be stopping over with some dear friends tomorrow evening, then returning to Virginia on Saturday.

Miles had his first big outing today at the Georgia Aquarium which he loved :) He seemed to get as much attention as many of the fish did.

Virginia, here we come!

First Week with Miles

Today, Miles has been with us a week. In some ways it has flown by, but in others it has seemed quite long (especially at night :). Miles is such a cute and happy baby, and we love every minute with him--even the 2 AM feedings. Recently he has had some minor tummy troubles with gassiness/burping, but we're hoping a change in formula and some other small adjustments will help him.

We heard from our adoption agency today that Georgia has given approval for us to leave the state, and now it's up to Virginia to let us return. We hope to hear something by Thursday, and then we will return home over the weekend.

This past weekend my parents drove down to visit their new grandson. It was so nice to have them here, and we all enjoyed Baby Miles together.

We have a specific prayer request for all of you who are so faithfully praying. We have recently learned that the termination of birthfather rights might not be as straightforward as we had originally thought. At this point this isn't a big cause for concern, but it could potentially make it so the birthfather rights aren't terminated for another month and a half. Please pray that there won't be any issues with this, and that it can be done quickly.

Thank you all so much! We can't wait to introduce you to our little man.

~Jill

Pics

We've been snapping pictures every chance we get, and here are some of the most recent. Enjoy!

After Bath

Thoughtful Miles

Mommy Time

Smiles

Winking Already!!??

Baby Miles

Hi Everyone!

Sorry it's taken a little while to update. Our day yesterday was wonderful but very, very long. We logged a lot of miles on our rental car.

The doctor's appointment went great, and from there we signed placement papers at the caring home, and then headed to the family's home where we are staying. After dropping off Anna and Grant, we headed back to the other side of Atlanta to meet the birthmom. We ended up not doing dinner as she was tired and had a long day, but we talked for a few minutes in a parking lot. We are so grateful we had the opportunity to meet her and express our thankfulness for the precious gift we have received.

Miles is on a good eating schedule (thanks, Norry! :), and he did quite well last night. The only thing is that he thinks 3:00 AM is party time, but we have plenty of time to work on that. He has been awake a lot today, so maybe he'll be worn out tonight. We still can't believe he's here with us for good. Grant loves having a brother, and even shared his new train with him. If you know Grant at all you know that he loves diesel trains, and the fact that he shared on his own initiative is quite significant.

We are so grateful to be able to share our joy with all of you. God has been kind to us in so many ways, but today we are especially thankful for God answering our prayers and bringing us Miles. We will put more pictures up over the next few days.

~Stephen, Jill, Grant, Miles, (and Auntie Anna)

A Big Day

Hi Everyone!

Here we are in Georgia, and today is our big day. We had a wonderful trip yesterday and some time in the evening last night to just hang out and get ready for today.

As of 12:00 AM this morning (or last night, if you prefer), Miles's birthmom can't change her mind--her revocation period is over.

Our social worker called yesterday, and in addition to getting to meet our precious little boy today, we will also get to meet the birthmom. We were expecting to get to do this at some point, but not necessarily today. So, here is our schedule:

!:00--meet the caring home mom at the doctor's office for Miles's first check up (we're so glad we get to go to this with him)

3:30-4:00--go back to the caring home and meet our social worker there for the official placement

7:30--meet the birthmom for dinner with Miles and the social worker

Thank you all so much for praying for us. We are so excited and overwhelmed by God's goodness. We will add some pictures from today when we have a chance.

~Stephen and Jill

Moving Ahead

Hi Everyone,

We just wanted to let you know how things are going. We have purchased our plane tickets, and we will be meeting Baby Miles for the first time on Tuesday, July 20th. We will arrive in Georgia on Monday afternoon, and Tuesday will be the official placement. At that time, the birthmother's revocation period will have ended. We talked with our social worker yesterday, and she feels very sure that the birthmom is confident in her decision and will not change her mind. Of course anything can happen between now and then, but there are some circumstances we aren't able to go into that make that extremely unlikely.

We had the hardest time coming up with a name we liked for him. Although we had a list of names to pick from, once we saw pictures of him they just didn't seem to fit. Last night we decided on the name Miles, and we are really happy with it. The caring home mom said that the name suits him really well.

Miles is growing quickly and doing great. He is already over his birth weight!

We have several prayer requests, and we would so appreciate your prayers. First, please pray for Grant. This past year has not only been emotional for us, but for him as well. I don't think we realized how difficult it is on him until the other night. During dinner, Grant stopped our conversation and said, "let's pray that our baby comes to be with us soon." We did that, and then again he stopped us and said, "and let's pray that the mommy doesn't change her mind." As we talked with him, it became clear that he is afraid we will get the baby and will have to give him back like we did with the first baby. We were able to explain to him that once we go to Georgia and meet Baby Miles, we won't have to give him back. This seemed to comfort him.

Also, please pray that our paperwork would go through quickly (and close to a weekend), so we can bring Miles home, and so Stephen won't have to take off much work for travel home. Stephen's work has an office not far from where we are staying, and his boss is graciously allowing him to work from there. We are planning to drive home, so Stephen will have to take some time off for that.

Thank you, friends!

More pictures :)

Picture...

Here is our adorable little guy! We have several names we like, and we're in the process of deciding which to pick.

He was discharged from the hospital this evening, and the social worker said all the nurses were sad to see him leave because he's such a good baby. He's already eating three oz. or more at feedings (which is great for him being so little), and sleeping four hours.

This is starting to feel a bit more real. Even though it's strange to think, over the past six months we've become used to waiting. It has been so hard, but it had become familiar. Now we feel as if we're emerging from a fog into the new and unknown. Our comfort and hope is in the fact that nothing is unknown to God, and adoption is his idea in the first place.

I (Jill) was also able to visit for awhile on the phone with the very kind lady who will be caring for our little one over the next 10 days. She was so warm and joyful, and it was obvious she knew what she was doing. We are so blessed to have this option of him being cared for during this time, although of course we would love to see and hold him now.

We will hopefully have more pictures soon.

~Stephen and Jill

Tuesday, July 20th...

is when we will get to see and hold our little boy for the first time. We just got word that our birthmom signed the relinquishment papers this morning, and our baby should be discharged from the hospital tomorrow. He is doing so well--eating like a champ!

We are thrilled and a little in shock. We have gone into this situation knowing that at any point it could fall through, especially after learning some additional information about the birthmom's situation. However, things have kept moving forward, and praise the Lord the baby is healthy, strong, and perfectly formed. We learned that despite his early birth his APGAR score was 9 and 9!

Please continue to pray for us as we are now in a flurry of figuring out how we will go to Georgia and return home. We are still discussing our options, and at this point we are thinking we may fly down and drive home. Thanks so some kind, generous, friends of friends, we have our housing situation taken care of while we are there, and that is a huge blessing.

We hope to have some pictures to post tomorrow!

~Stephen and Jill

Baby Born!

We just talked to our social worker (whose name is Charlotte for future reference), and she said the baby was born at 1:50 AM this morning, weighing 5 lbs, 8 oz! It sounds like everything went well, and when he was born it appeared that he was closer to 36 weeks gestation instead of 34. He didn't require oxygen or even need to go to the NICU, so we are extremely grateful for all of your prayers. He is being checked out by the pediatrician now, and if everything is ok he should be released in the next day or two.

At this point the birthmom will sign paperwork tomorrow morning that releases the baby to the agency, and after 10 days we will go to be with him until the paperwork goes through that allows us to bring him home.

We are really excited, and will keep you posted on details!

~Stephen and Jill

Baby News...

Hi Friends,

We have anxiously awaited this day to find out more about our birthmother's due date and the baby. She had a doctor's appointment this morning, and we got a call from our social worker shortly after. She said the doctor sent her on to the hospital since her water had already broken!

I just received another call from the social worker, and the birthmom is now in full labor and expected to deliver soon. We are excited but also a little concerned, as she is not due until early to mid August. However, the doctor was able to do a sonogram before sending her to the hospital, and the baby appears to be already well over 5 pounds. Also, the birthmom has a history of delivering early, and her other babies were born at this weight, all healthy, and without complications.

Please pray for us tonight as there are many uncertainties. We are so grateful that the baby appeared healthy in the sonogram. Please join us in praying that the baby would be fully developed and able to eat, breathe and otherwise function without any complications.

We will be sleeping with our phones on tonight, as our social worker will call us with any news. Oh, and in case your wondering......




It's a boy!!!!!

Waiting...

Hi Everyone,

You're probably wondering why you haven't heard any updates from us in awhile. At this point we are just waiting. We found out last week that the baby may not be due as early as we originally thought. We hope to know more on Wednesday after the birthmom has a doctor's appointment.

In the meantime, please remember us in your prayers. If this adoption is successful, we will travel to Georgia for up to two weeks, and we are trying to prepare for that while not knowing exactly when that will be. Once the baby is born and released from the hospital, he or she will stay with a family in a "caring home" for 10 days. Georgia is similar to Virginia regarding the birthmother's revocation period. After the 10 days have passed we will travel to Georgia and stay there until we receive approval from the state and are able to bring the baby home to Virginia. (We also had the option to go to Georgia immediately after the baby's birth and be there during the revocation period. However, we--and our agency--feel strongly that we should not do this, for both emotional and financial reasons. If we were to be there during the revocation period, we would risk losing our travel expenses and becoming attached to the baby when we had no guarantees that the baby would be ours. Our birthmother was so gracious about this and agreed to let the baby go to a caring home during the revocation period.)

We are cautiously hopeful that we will be able to adopt this baby, but we have learned through previous experiences that many things can happen, and we are enjoying each day we have together in the meantime. Our desire to adopt is still strong, but it has been tempered by the many events of this past year. Please pray that God would continue to give us hope and joy as we wait, and would fulfill this desire that we truly believe he has given us--to adopt a baby.

Thank you all so much for your prayers, and also for just asking us about how things are going. We are grateful for friends like you.

~Stephen, Jill, and Grant