Sometimes...

Most of the time adoptions go smoothly after the match and everything works well.  Sometimes though, for whatever reason the birthmother changes her mind and decides to parent.

We are on the somtimes side of things right now.  We found out this week that the birthmother decided to parent the sweet boy that we were going to adopt.  We are sad and frustrated, but also holding onto our Faith and knowing that he just wasn't the baby that was supposed to be a member of our family.  We are praying for him and hoping that he has a happy life filled with love and laughter, and that the birthparents are content in their decision. 

We are not discouraged.  We know that one day we will get to be parents to a sweet baby who needs us just as much as we need him or her.  This isn't the end of our journey, just a little hiccup.  We are looking forward to Christmas with Benson now that we will be here, and are excited to see his face on Christmas morning when he sees Santa finally brought his presents he has been asking for.

We hope everyone has a Very Merry and Blessed Christmas!

Baby Boy Glenn 2.0!

We got the phone call we had been waiting for on 11/5/2013.  It was our caseworker telling us we had been chosen by birthparents.  I was driving in the car to pick up dinner and started bawling.  Like really bawling, I'm pretty sure everyone at The Grill thinks I am a crazy person.  I called Ben (who was at the gym....yes, he was working out and I was picking up a cheeseburger and fries) and he thought I had been in a wreck because I couldn't even talk.  Carol (our caseworker) told us to wait for a call from Mia (birthmother caseworker).  We were so excited we couldn't handle it.  The next day, Mia called to give us all of the details.  The only worrisome thing is the baby is 25% Native American.  There is a law titled the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA).  Basically this law states that if a baby is an eligible member of a tribe, then that tribe has the final say as to whether or not the baby can be adopted by a person who is not a member of the tribe.  She said all of the paperwork had been sent and received by the tribes and they were waiting on a response.

 

In the meantime, we read over her case file and tried very unsuccessfully to not get our hopes up.  We talked on the phone with the birthmother on 11/20/2013 and everything felt so right.  After the phone call, we were officially "matched" and set about waiting on word from the tribe. 

 

We got word today that per the tribe's laws the baby is not an eligible member.  This means everything is a go!  We are officially going to be parents to a sweet baby boy due in ELEVEN DAYS.

 

We are so extremely excited but also still a little nervous because like all cases the birthmother still has the right to change her mind.  Even though we are nervous we are also CELEBRATING and trying to get everything somewhat ready.

 

Please please pray for us over the next couple of weeks.  Pray for the sweet birthmother as she makes this difficult decision and also for the whole process to be a smooth one.  Also please pray for Benson as he makes his transition into a Big Brother.  Every time we ask him about it he tells us that, “He doesn’t like a baby brother!”  So it could be interestingJ.

 

(Also, to all of the people who have asked me if we have heard anything since the 5^th, I am so very sorry for lying right to your face.  We were not prepared to tell everyone until we had all of the ICWA issues understood.)