love never fails...: March 2009

Today is such a wonderful day. Our precious Ansley Grace is offically ours. Brit flew to Texas and went before a judge and it is now offical. I wanted to share the story of how we were blessed with Ansley.
It all started on Tuesday September 16, 2008, when we got a phone call while we were eating dinner from Terri at Baby Butterfly's letting us know that a baby girl had been born on September 14th and wanted to know if we were interested. We said we were definitely interested and asked if she could find out more information about the baby (health, health of birthparents, cost of adoption, drugs/alcohol, etc.). She said she would get back to us shortly. We talked about it during dinner and we were getting very excited. The birthparents had already signned their rights away, so that meant if they choose us, they couldn't change their minds. This was a huge deciding factor for us. Terri called us back to let us know the baby was doing great and her apgar scores were a 9/9...so good. The cost was $15,000 more than we had budgeted so we weren't sure what we were going to do since they would need the money ASAP. We prayed about it and then called our parents. We knew that if God meant for us to have this baby, he would make it happen. Well, he did. Our parents were so supportive and let us borrow the money (which we are still paying back). They told us not to worry about the money but to focus on the baby. So we did it, we told Terri to submit our "book" (a story of our family) to the birthparents. Terri told us they would be making a decision the following morning. Well, we waited all morning and did not hear anything. We called Terri and she informed us they were having a really hard time making a decision so they wanted to look at 5 more family profiles (they orginnally wanted only 5...now they had 10). That made us feel like we didn't have a chance since they wanted more. She told us they would probably wait to make their decision on Thursday. Well, Thursday came and went without a decision made. They were scheduled to meet with Courntie and Taylor (the birthparents) on Friday morning at 9:00, so in my mind I thought we would know something either way by lunchtime. I spent the entire day with my dearest friend Angie. Everytime the phone rang, we jumped hoping it was Terri...it was not. Courtnie and Taylor did not show up to meeting so the agency gave them an ultamadian and said if they did not make a decision by Saturday, they would pick the family for them (which would be us). Well, Saturday night at 10:30, we got the call to say we had been picked and we could come get our little girl. It was the most amazing feeling! We told Braden the news and he was beyond excited. He just kept asking when we could go get her. It was a priceless moment that I will always remember when we told him he was going to be a big brother. We told him to get a good night of sleep and we would leave in the morning. He said " how are we going to get there?". It hit me...how would we get to Texas? Would we drive or fly? What do we pack? It was so overwhelming. We stayed up until 1:00 packing some but thought we really needed to get some sleep. We would tackle everything in the morning. Well, at 8:00 my dad called us.

Nana and pop were in Colorado at the time but dad was able to get us on a flight with his Delta miles that would leave Atlanta at 12:20. Wait, did I hear you right....did you say 12:20? Like in 4 hours, or 240 minutes??? That meant we had 2 hours to get everything packed and in the car. Angie said she would drive us to the airport and then drive our car back here. We started packing for our trip to go get our baby girl who we had never met but were so deeply in love with already. We knew we would be in Texas for about 10 days so there was alot of stuff we needed but Brit kept telling me..."there will be a Target or Babies R Us out there, if we forget something, we will buy it out there". He kept me calm and in control...well, for those of you who know me well, I like to have everything planned but this was definitely not planned. It had been 4 days since we received that phone call about our baby girl. These are pictures of us at the airport. They are the last pictures taken of us as a family of 3. We were off to get our little girl to make it a family of 4.

Braden was so excited to get on a "jet" airplane.

Well, we made it to the airport with NO time to spare. When we sat down on the airplane, they were shutting the doors. At that moment, I could finally breath and think about what was happening. Could it be, were we going to be parents to a little girl....it was so amazing. This is the first picture we got of her. She was beautiful.

We arrived in Dallas Sunday afternoon and prepared for the big day of meeting her. We went to Target to get diapers, bottles, diaper cream and toys. Braden picked out the cutest toys for Ansley. He knew exactly what she would like. Our hotel had a pool so we went down there for the night. As you know, we have a waterdog who would rather be swimming than just about anything. We played at the pool for an hour or so and then back to room to get some rest. 5We were so excited and exhausted at the same time. We woke up the next morning and we were gitty with excitement. We ate breakfast (well, I didn't...my stomach was in knots), the boys loved the breakfast bar...Braden ate everything in site. He especially liked the waffle maker and strawberry sauce. We arrived at the hospital around 11:00 and we were so nervous. How would Courtnie and Taylor be? All of our nerves went away when we saw our precious gift from God in that hospital room. She was wrapped up in a beautiful blanket with her little fingers sticking out. Courtnie was holding her and I wanted to run over and give her a huge hug for picking us. We sat down and talked with them for a couple of minutes before Courtnie asked us if we wanting to hold her now. She handed Ansley to Brit first because I had the camera and was so nervous I thought I might drop Ansley. Here is that moment...

We will always cherish that time we were able to spend with Courtnie and Taylor. They are wonderful people who made the hardest decision they will ever have to make in their lifetime. We are so thankful that they wanted us to be Ansley's parents. We left the hospital and went to grab a bite to eat...we were starving. It was our first meal as a family and it felt good. After our lunch, Ansley was ready for her lunch. I took Braden out to the car with me while Brit payed the bill. When we got to the car, Braden asked if he could feed her. How could I resist? Here are the first pictures of Braden feeding Ansley in the backseat of our rental car.

He was a natural big brother!! Look how gentle and proud he is.

We stayed in Dallas one night before heading down to Austin to stay with our dearest friends James and Becky who were so gracious to let us in their home for 5 days. We will forever be thankful for that time we had with them. Here are some pictures with them...

We stayed in Texas until the following Tuesday. We were so excited to be home with our new baby girl!! She did not cry the entire flight home. She is such a good baby. We love her so much and feel so blessed that God gave her to us. She is truly a blessing from above. Our life was crushed when God took Caleb and Samuel to heaven to live. I held on to this bible verse..."I know He has plans to prosper me and not to harm me; to give me a future and a hope." Jeremiah 29:11. I had to remain strong in His faith but it was very hard. I didn't know why He would take our precious boys but I knew He wouldn't leave us stranded. When we got that call on September 16, 2008, I felt God's arms wrapped around me and telling me this is it. I have peace with the boys and know that they are in a better place than we are. We will reunite one day and I will hold them and tell them how much we love them.

We are a family of 6, but 2 of them our watching over us in Heaven. We are now complete and feel so grateful for life. Thank you to everyone who supported us last year with thoughts and prayers!!

Lord, you have shown me that when this life is empty, you will fill. You have walked with us in a way we could never have imagined. What seemed like a cross to bear has now taken the shape of a great blessing which we are honored to have been a part of. Thank you, Lord. You are the light of our lives, now and forever.

(Philippians 4:4-7)

4 Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say rejoice! 5 Let your gentle spirit be known to all men. The Lord is near. 6 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Today marks the one year anniversary of Caleb and Samuel's birth. We will never know why God choose to take our babies to heaven until we are able to hold them again. We could not have made it through this year without the support of so many friends and family. We are so blessed to have so many people who care about us. This is a poem that was written by Alex and Julie Vann (dear friends of ours)...

GRACE

God, our hearts are filled with sorrow and heavy-laden,
Despite our pain, You’ve given us Ansley and Braden.

Receive our hurt, oh God of care,
We know our twins reside with Jesus in heaven up there.

After the storms and troublesome hours,
Swiftly to heaven, Samuel and Caleb rest in Your power.

Cascading tears streaming down our faces,
Perfect Gift Giver, you’ve given us a son so tall and a daughter full of graces.

Eternal Father, Your Only Son knows our pain,
Because of Christ’s hope, our twins we’ll see again!