It's a Boy!

I know many of you have been praying for us through all the drama we've experienced in our adoption process.  Those prayers have finally been answered! We switched to the domestic infant adoption program with our agency in December, and we have some wonderful news to share!

At 3:38 pm on Friday 2/3/12, James called me and asked if I had seen the message from our agency about a new cold call situation. I was at work, and I had not seen it. I was on my way to the hospital to deliver medications to a transplant patient. I asked him to read the post to me. It was about a newborn baby boy right here in the St. Louis area. (FYI - A "cold call" is when the birthmom has no contact with the adoption agency prior to the child's birth. She contacts the agency soon after the child is born.)

On my way to the hospital, I prayed and asked God to let my heart and James' heart be in agreement if this baby was to be part of our family. After I was finished at the hospital, we decided to ask for more information on the case. By the time my shift was over, we had received the second email. We talked things over that night after dinner, and we decided to proceed. I sent the social worker a text message at 9:42 pm saying that we wanted to be considered for that child.

Saturday morning (2/4/12), James and I were getting ready to go to the YMCA.   At 9:58 AM we got a call from our agency telling us that we had been chosen to parent this little boy! Three of the social workers that have been walking down this road with us, and praying for us were on the phone - they all wanted to be able to deliver this long awaited news! It just did not seem real.  After spending almost three years trying to adopt a child from Ethiopia, our son was born 30 minutes from our home. My head started swimming.  There was so much to be done before we brought this baby home. The nursery was a mess. The furniture was partially taken apart and none of it was in the right place. We didn't have an infant car seat. We didn't have diapers, wipes, or bottles. We needed a name! We didn't have a single boy name picked out.We made plans to meet our social worker and the hospital at 2 pm so we could meet our baby. I went on to the YMCA, hoping that getting some time in on the elliptical would help me think clearly.  (It helped, but not much. Ha!)

While we were getting ready to go to the hospital, we talked about a name.  We threw several options around, and we were able to make a tentative decision.  We left for the hospital and prayed on the way there.























We spent four hours at the hospital with our little man that day. We both fed him, and changed his diaper.  By the next day, we had decided on a name -

Samuel Stephen

Samuel is after James' maternal grandfather.  His name is Carl, but he is known as Sam to many. He was the youngest of five children, and his momma was out of baby names when he was born.  His still didn't have a name by his second day of life. His siblings started asking their mom what they were going to name the baby.  She said -"Anything but Sam."  Well, siblings being siblings, they started calling him Sam.  He is 85 years old, and he is still known as Sam.  Little Samuel, may you have the long life, devotion to God, and wisdom that your Great-Grandfather has had.

Stephen is after my dad and after Samuel's Godfather.  My dad has a kind heart, and he is ever ready to tell someone about Jesus.  I've heard him tell telemarketers that they need Jesus. Part of his speech that he gave at my rehearsal dinner was the Gospel.  He also enjoys entertaining the kids at church - Samuel, I bet the first time you met Santa it will be with your Grandpa dressed up playing the part. Early in our adoption process, we had to name a guardian for our future child. We prayed about it, and the same two people kept coming to our minds - James' youngest cousin Stephen and his wife Elizabeth.  They prayed about it too, and they agreed.  I was at a St. Louis Blues Hockey game when Stephen called me to tell that he and Elizabeth wanted to be our child's Godparents. Stephen has an adventurous spirit, a heart for the Gospel, and the willingness to serve God and follow him where He calls. He and Elizabeth went to Kenya on a dental mission trip this past summer.  Samuel, may you value obedience to Jesus above all, may your tongue be a quick to speak of Jesus as these two men, and may your feet be swift to follow the call of Jesus wherever He may take you.

Samuel, people all over the world have been praying for you. People all over the US, friends in Canada and Ethiopia.  When we started our adoption process, we thought we'd be adding a little brown-skinned girl from Ethiopia to our family.  After suffering through four failed referrals Ethiopia, we just didn't know why God did not see fit to add one of those little girls to our family.  He knew all along when you would be born and that you were meant to be our son.

"For this child I prayed, and the LORD has granted me my petition that I made to him."

1 Samuel 1:27 (ESV)

Thanks be to God from whom all blessings flow!

Nursery in progress

 Despite being back on the waiting list for a child, we have continued to work on the nursery.  I really didn't want to be in this place, with a room full of furniture and no child to go with it yet.  I was ready to get my house back in order though.  We had bought some of the furniture this summer.  It had been downstairs in pieces in the dinning room and office.  James put it together a few weeks ago before Thanksgiving.

Finally put together!

James' aunt gave us this pretty daybed.  We have set it up in the nursery too.  I still need to get a dust ruffle for it.  It is a trundle bed. 

James' paternal grandmother gave us this little quilt.  It has letters and little teddy bears on it.  I think it matches the bedding nicely.

Crib is Up!

 James was able to put Samantha's crib together today.  I helped him a little, but he did most of the work.  He did a good job.  And with no instructions at that!  Since we bought the crib off of Craigslist, instead of buying it new, it did not come with a manual.  The doggies were very curious about what James was doing.  He explained to them that the crib is where Samantha is going to sleep.

We are planning on leaving the walls blue even though we are going to be bringing home a girl.  I've never been much of a girly girl, and I'm just not into pink and frills.  We had the room painted right after we bought our house, and I picked this color out with a nursery in mind.  We have a framed Dr. Seuss print that we bought at an art gallery in Sedona, Arizona in 2007.  I matched the paint to the blue that is in the print.  The room will have some feminine touches, just no pink.

The crib fits perfectly in this little nook in the room!

Nursery Furniture

We are beginning to set up Samantha's nursery.  About a month ago I got a Pottery Barn Kid's catalog in the mail.  I found a few things in there I wanted to buy for the nursery, particularly a changing table that has storage towers on both sides.  However, I can hardly stomach paying full price for Pottery Barn furniture.  So I started looking on Craigslist.  I found someone who was selling the very same thing that I had seen in the catalog.  They also had a crib and some nightstands, and the price was right.  We made an appointment for the next day to see it, and we took cash with us.  We got the crib, changing table, and two night stands for less than what the changing table would have been if we had bought it new!  Here's a couple pictures of what we got.  (These are Pottery Barn's stock photo's - our stuff is still sitting downstairs unassembled.)

I have posted these next two photos on Facebook already, so you may have already seen them.  I got two lamps from JCPenny website (not available in stores) and I got the bedding on sale at Pottery Barn.

In this picture is a set of towels and washcloths with "One Fish Two Fish" on them, a Cat in the Hat pillow, a fitted crib sheet, and a set of twin size sheets.  We are going to put a twin size bed in her room so one of us can sleep in there if we need to.  After sleeping in a noisy orphanage some kids have a tough time getting used to sleeping in a quiet room by themselves.