It's a BOY!

As many of you know, we have finally been officially matched with a birth mom. Here's a little bit of the story behind our decision.

After our return from Minneapolis, we spent a lot of time talking and praying about what we should do. We went over each situation and looked at the pros and cons (you can't be too surprised by that). It really seemed as though they were perfect opposites. Where one situation was strong, the other was weak; and vice versa. In either scenario, we knew that we would have to put our complete faith in God to see us through. There were unknowns with both birth mothers, so we had to decide which we were more comfortable with. To be fair to both birth moms, we wanted to have a decision by the end of the week.

Matt had a chance to speak with Brooke (birth mom in Tucson) on Thursday. He asked her questions, answered questions, and they even joked around about how ASU beat UofA in football recently. Brooke assured us that she had no hard feelings. :) After the conversation, he called me and said that he felt that this was the right situation for us. I agreed, and so here we are!

Brooke is due in mid-January; they are giving us the 10th as an estimate. Honestly, the baby could come at any time. We will be driving down to meet Brooke and the counselor on December 20th to discuss our "covenant." That is an agreement that we make with the birth mom regarding the openness of the adoption. We'll talk about how many visits we'd like, how many letters/updates each year, and the birth plan. It sounds like we'll have the chance to be in the room when he's born, and then we'll be able to stay at the hospital until he is released. We're really excited about that! When we talked with Brooke in November, we were all on the same page regarding visits and updates. We don't anticipate any difficulty in coming to a concensus. Our counselor says that Brooke is really excited that we want to move forward, especially since we are the only couple she had selected.

It is hard to describe how we are feeling right now - excited, anxious, nervous, unsure, terrified, unprepared, elated...you get the point. It is a very strange feeling, but it is amazing. We have a lot to do over the next few weeks. Luckily, Matt will be going on Christmas break after this next week, so he'll have time to do some painting and preparations in the room. So many people have stepped forward in various ways to help us prepare, and we are so grateful for that. I don't know where we would be without the love and support of our family and friends.

I will do my best to continue posting updates as they come. Once he arrives, we'll get as many pictures out there as possible. :)

Please pray for:
-Brandon & Heidi (birth parents in MN), as they look for other options.
-Brooke and the baby, as her due date rapidly approaches.
-us, as we try to prepare for this joyous event.