Thursday, September 18, 2008

Sweet P's Adoption Story

It's another long one. Enjoy ~

Sweet P's story starts a little over a year ago. I was visiting with DH's dad one afternoon at their apartment between his hospital stays (they were living here in McKinney during his cancer battle/treatments). He said, "I had a dream last night that y'all had two daughters." I said, "Lord, no! That's never gonna happen." I decided (in my need to bring peace & spiritual light to the terrible situation) that the two girls were the two babies we lost to miscarriage visiting him so he would know who they were when he got to Heaven.

I really tho't we were done, after all we're getting close to 40 & all. But sometime after FIL passed away, DH said, "I think we should adopt another child." I promptly said NO! And then God spoke to my heart. I was completely preoccupied about this possibility of another child. So on Thanksgiving, I asked DH if he was serious, and before the end of the year we had contacted the same agency that bro't us P2.

We had finished all the paperwork by February, and then settled in to wait. We stated a preference for a boy because we had all boy stuff - clothes, bedding, toys, etc., but I told one of my cousins, "Obviously, if God sends us a girl, we're not going to say no."

A bunch of random details that led to Sweet P's arrival - In late April, we started thinking about buying a house with more yard. I actually fell in love with one, but DH said, "We can't afford an adoption & a move in the same year." I didn't know it then, but DH prayed that he needed to know if we were going to get a baby, preferably sooner rather than later. On May 3, the boys were having one of their days when their "male-ness" was all over the place. Having my fill of testosterone, I said, "That's it, I'm calling the agency & requesting a girl," and we all laughed. On May 5, a friend (mother of 3 boys) & I went out for coffee mostly to bemoan - I mean celebrate our status as mother of boys, sharing story after story of the boys we are trying to grow into godly men.

On May 6 at 4:30pm, the agency called. The conversation went like this:
Hello.
Oh! I'm so glad you answered the phone.
What's going on?
You put down on your application that you were willing to take a multi-racial child.
What kind of multi-racial did you mean?
Why? What have you got?
A little girl was born this morning. She's half Korean and half African American.
Healthy. But you are the only family we have willing to take a multi-racial child.
(Did she say born this morning?) Okay, let me call DH.
The birthmom's about 80% sure she's going to place. I'll call you after I meet with her.
Okay. Sounds good.

I'm sure more was said, but that's the jist. We talked with the agency that evening. The brithmother wanted to sleep on it, so did DH for that matter. We didn't say anything to the boys. I alerted a few of my prayer warrior friends, and that was all we told. The agent sent us a picture taken with her cell phone. Even on that poor quality picture, it was obvious she was gorgeous.

The next morning, we sent P1 to school like everything was normal and DH left for work. At 8:30am, the agency called, "Okay, she's decided to place. She wants to meet you between 1 & 2pm." So exciting! I called DH and started to get myself presentable and arranged to take P2 to my folks.

A little after 9am, the agency called back, "If the baby has a healthy, she's going home today." Excuse me?! This is a whole different thing. It's one thing to get myself ready to meet the birthmom & baby. It's another thing to be ready to bring a baby home. I sprang into action: found the cradle & bedding (she'd just have to live with blue bumper pads); found the infant car seat, cleaned it & installed it; called a friend who had a little girl looking for clothes - the child didn't need to come home naked; talked sister into coming to clean my house, knowing people would be coming by; went & got P1 from school; stopped at the mall to get a gift for the birthmom; dropped the boys at my folks; and met DH at the hospital by 2:15pm.

We met the birthmother & got to visit with her for over an hour. She already had children from 2 previous marriages and said she always knew God wanted her to place this child, that her mistake would bless someone else. She had been adopted from Korea by an American couple when she was a baby.

Sweet P was released from the hospital about 6:30pm. We just showed up at my folks without telling them what was going on, although they had their suspicions. Again by the time we got home, there were balloons & signs, diapers & clothes. By the end of the next day, there was more pink in my house that I ever would have imagined possible.

We are so blessed with these 3 beautiful children that God has given us to raise.

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