Baby Brother!!

You know, I'm learning that a phone call really can change your life.  2 years ago a phone call changed our lives and a week later we had a chunky, beautiful baby sister to lavish our affections on.  We watched Madison transform flawlessly from a stinker-pot into an amazingly sensitive and loving big sister.  We witnessed miracle after miracle over the next year as we finalized our first adoption, had Maelee sealed to our family for eternity in the Temple and felt the peace that only the Spirit can bring.

Last week, another phone call changed our lives again.  Our adoption caseworker called last Tuesday to let us know that a 17 year-old birth mom was interested in us and wanted to meet.  Her baby boy is due in December, and she kept coming back to our profile.  Hannah {our caseworker} told us to bring the girls to the face to face visit so that the birth mom could see us as a family {at first I kept thinking "Oh, heavens!" but the girls were AMAZING!}.  That night we explained to the girls that they might be getting a baby brother for Christmas and Madi started screaming in excitement, running around the room and shouting, "A baby brother!  A baby brother!  I FINALLY get a baby brother, just like ALL my friends have a baby brother!  YAY!!  I'm just so excited!  Maelee, I'm getting a baby brother, and YOU'RE getting a baby brother too!" here, she gasped in shocked realization, "We'll BOTH have the SAME baby brother!  You'll finally get to be a big sister like ME!!  Aren't you so excited?!?"  Maelee was beyond startled at Madi's random burst of giddiness, and it took us about 4 more times of explaining it to her before it finally 'clicked' for her...  "Maelee, do you like babies?"  "Uh-huh!"  "Do you want a baby to live here with you?"  "Uh-huh!"  "Do you want the baby to be YOUR baby?  YOUR baby brother?"  {BING!  That's where the light went on!}  "Beebee brudder?"  "Yeah!  A baby brother!"  Aaaaand cue random burst of giddiness, take 2: "Beebee brudder!  Beebee brudder!  Beebee brudder!  Manny! {Madi}  A beebee brudder!  Yay!!!" as she runs around clapping her hands and dancing with glee.  :O)  Gotta love my drama queens!

That night, as I was tucking the girls in bed, Maelee starts whimpering.  "No, Mom!"  "Baby, it's bed time - what's wrong?"  "Beebee brudder, hug?"  {BING!  Light on!}  "Sweetheart!  Your baby brother isn't here yet!  He won't be here for a few months, ok?"  She's straining to see around me, positive that her baby brother is just outside the door and that she, indeed, needed to give him loves before going to bed.  At this point she starts crying, "Beebee brudder!  Hug!  Kiss beebee brudder, Mom!"  I held back my giggles as I comforted my young daughter and explained gently that he's not here yet.  I tucked her in and left the room with a smile on my face.  For the next 20-30 minutes, those giggly girls talked and sang all about their new baby brother they were hopefully getting for Christmas.  :O)

We agreed to meet them Friday for lunch and decided to head down Thursday night to crash at my sister's to make the trip easier on the girls {in the hopes that they would then be more pleasant at the restaurant!  LOL}.  We drove out to the shopping center where the Olive Garden was {YUM!}, and thank heavens there was a Ross there because Maelee somehow ended up in the car without her shoes on!  {Clever way to get new shoes, why didn't I think of that?!?  :O)  Haha}  They had ONE pair in her size in the color we needed to match her outfit, whew!  {I SWEAR I saw her put her shoes on at Yvette's... oh well!}

With that crisis averted, we headed over to Olive Garden to wait with Hannah.  Every time someone walked in my nerves went crazy!  We were SO nervous to meet her!  When she and her mom and step-dad came inside, I could swear that I knew them from somewhere.  They looked SO familiar - Clint said the same thing later.  And let me just say that she is beautiful!  You can BARELY tell she's prego!  They were all {this will sound SO cheesy} really lovely {told ya, total cheese but it's really the best word to describe them!}.  We sat down and immediately started exchanging questions.  Clint and I didn't want to ask TOO personal of questions, because we didn't know how sure they were about us and we didn't feel that it would be appropriate to bombard them with questions that if they didn't choose us, we didn't need to know... ya know?  Clear as mud?  :O)  The girls were awesome and provided some entertainment at {most of} the right times, and were sweet and adorable the rest.  The more we talked with them, the more we really liked them and the more we hoped beyond hoping that we were the right family and would have more opportunities to get to know them better.

We found out that the baby is due just after Christmas, but her doctor is going to induce her a week early if all is going well.  It was fun seeing how much we have in common with them.  There were a few lulls in conversation, but Hannah came prepared with a few questions for us - which, if I'm being honest {always!  LOL}, caught us off guard a little.  I wish we had had a heads up so we could have better prepared our answers - put a little more thought into how we would say what's in our hearts instead of feeling so tongue-tangled.  Although, we came away feeling good about what we DID ask and how we answered their questions.  There were a few things we wish we had thought to ask, but all in good time, eh?

Two hours later, we took a few pictures and said goodbye.  As we drove away, we had a million feelings and thoughts racing in our minds.  Re-playing conversations, 2nd guessing ourselves, feeling calm, worrying, feeling peaceful, happy with the visit, wishing we could have visited longer and suddenly... exhausted!  We had planned on driving straight home {a 3+ hour drive from lunch} to try and make it home for Madi's soccer practice, but decided to spend the afternoon at Yvette's house instead.  The girls were ready to run wild for a little bit and going for a swim sounded pretty nice {one of the perks of visiting family! LOL}.  About an hour and a half later, we were watching LINGO... when Clint's phone rang.  He didn't recognize the number and it stopped before he could answer it.  Then my phone rang with the same number.  Clint's eyes got wide and he told me to "answer it quick!" 

I am so thankful we found ourselves SO tired after the face to face.  If we had decided to drive straight through, we would have been in a no-service area and would have missed another call that changed our lives, forever.  My nervous "hello?" was greeted with absolutely wonderful news; when they got home, her mom encouraged her to pray about us.  Heavenly Father answered her prayer with the assurance that we are the family for her son.  Holy waterworks!  I burst into tears and wanted to reach through my phone and give her the biggest hug I could manage!  Clint could tell what was going on and got the biggest grin on his face and started dancing with excitement!!  {Super cute, let me tell ya!}  We are beyond thankful to our Father in Heaven for this amazing opportunity.  We have waited so long for a baby brother, and to have this miraculous gift only 3 months away is... indescribable.  We are on a major happiness high right about now and just hope that we can be the best adoptive family for this awesome birth mom and her family.  We haven't had any contact with the birth father or his family yet, but we also hope to be able to meet their needs as well.  We are SO excited to welcome this precious boy into our family.

We know without a doubt that Heavenly Father is a God of miracles.

Madison was our first miracle. 

Maelee was our second miracle.

Baby Brother is our third.