Lunch with Holly!!!

Today we met Holly and her family for lunch at the "Homestead Restaurant". Holly brought her mom, dad, grandma, grandpa, sister and niece. Tommy's parents met us there too. My parents would have but they were out of town for the week. TJ and Tyra were in school but Braxton got to come. It was a good lunch. I of course had a hard time shutting up again. I did eat my soup but I boxed up my sandwich for later. Who wants to eat when you can talk, anyway? This is us with our new birth mom Holly! She truly is one of the sweetest people I have ever met. All of her family was wonderful too.

This is a picture of everyone there. It was so cool because Holly's grandma, Ethel, knew my grandma Dona. They used to work in the mutual together way back when. So there again, is another common person between us. It really is CRAZY, but I am loving it! It just makes us feel more like family already.

Here is Braxton holding Holly's niece, Brianna. Isn't she cute? I have a feeling Braxton is going to LOVE being a big brother. As much as Braxton wants to hold our dog Meeko, I am sure he is going to want to be doing everything for the baby too. It will be nice to have all of the help, but on the other hand it does make me a little nervous too.

Holly brought some ultrasound pictures of her little guy to lunch too. The profile turned out pretty good. If I can get a copy of it, I will post it here. I think it would be SO awesome if she could get a 3D ultrasound done. Those ones are so fun! Well, it was a great lunch and it was wonderful getting to know everyone. I can't wait for Holly to meet TJ and Tyra now. Hopefully she'll be able to soon.

A sigh of relief

Ok, so I finally talked to a social worker at LDSFS and they told us that Holly did indeed choose us to adopt her baby!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YAY! They also told us again that she'd like to have lunch with us tomorrow. I feel so terrible, because I have been SO busy and then our internet went down twice during all of this and I haven't been able to email Holly right when I said I would. I felt so bad that I called my social worker and asked if he could get a hold of her. When our internet finally came up, I hurried and emailed her. I gave her our cell phone numbers so she could call us if something like that ever happens again. That was a terrible feeling, not being able to get a hold of her. I just didn't want her to think that I would ever do that to her on purpose.

In her last email, Holly said that she actually had 2 due dates, December 2nd and the 13th. She said that the doctor thinks that it will be on the 13th. So, I have been thinking.... If she were to have him on the 2nd, that is only 5 weeks from today. Holy cow!! That is so soon! Even if she has him on the 13th though, it is still under 7 weeks away. How exciting is that??? I have our babies room all packed with girl stuff still, so I need to completely change gears and get it ready for a little boy. That will be great, because then I can start over and have it be a completely new experience! I am so excited for this little guy to be here, I just can't even say it in words.

Apparently, the kids are getting pretty excited too. Last night we were carving pumpkins and we had some extra ones. TJ said that we should carve one for the baby. How sweet is that? Do you like hid two little teeth? We used our extra pumpkins for our baby, a dog and a cat. It was fun!! Well, I can't wait until tomorrow!!!!!

We were CHOSEN!!! (I think)

Yesterday we got the most awesome email from Holly!!!! I was concerned earlier because I didn't know if she had chosen us for sure or not. But in this email she said, "I know I have already said how I feel about you being my baby's family. I want you to know that now I have no doubt that you are who Heavenly Father wants for my baby's parents. I feel very calm and relaxed about the whole situation and know that I am doing the right thing." So, to me, I am thinking that there is no question as to if she picked us or not. It seems pretty clear that she did. Well, Tommy still won't believe it. I feel so bad, because I know that normally, we would have been able to easily read the writing in front of us, but after the situation with our last birth mother contact, I think we have both become a little skeptic. I am sure for our own protection. Tommy said, to me it sounds like she THINKS that we would be good for her, but it doesn't come right out and SAY that she picked us. HA! HA! He is so silly. I think I will give LDSFS a call on Monday to see if she has told them anything or not. I hope she has. Mainly so we can set our own minds at ease, especially Tommy's.

Holly told us so much about her and her family in her email. Come to find out too, that she only lives about 10 miles from us. Isn't that CRAZY!!!!! I tell you what, that is WAY better then 40 hours across the United States. I think it is so funny that out of all of the birth mothers and adoptive couples in Idaho, that we ended up being a match and live SO close to each other. I really think it's going to be great though and like I always say, everything happens for a reason, so really, who am I to question it?

Holly said that she wants to have lunch with us on Wednesday after her doctor's appointment!! I am so excited! I think we will be able to meet her father too and maybe her grand parents. That will be so neat! I hope they'll like us. The good thing about Tommy is that he is VERY likable and he always knows how to make people feel comfortable. So as long as he is with me, I think we'll be okay. I think it is so wonderful that Holly is going to deliver her baby right here in our little town. How cool will it be, to be able to say that one of our own kids was born in the same hospital I was? So far, all of our kids have been born some where in Idaho. Braxton was born where Tommy was.

Come to find out, Holly and I have two more people in common. Just after we met, she went to a meeting with other birth mom's and Sheena, one of my good friends, put two and two together and realized that she had met with us. Then later, we realized that Braxton's birth father's mom, Kim, knows both of us too! Both of these people made me feel so good about everything. Kim went on and on about how sweet Holly is. I'd have to say, I believe her! I am so unbelievably excited, but I think even a small part of me, still needs to hear it from LDSFS, so I will be calling them as soon as I can.

Our first Email from Holly

I just got an email from Holly. It was pretty short, but it was so sweet. One thing that she said was that when Tommy and I walked in the room, she had a feeling that we were the one's for her son. She also said that she thought that Tommy would be a great dad for him and that I would be a great mom to him too, like I am with our other kids. That made me feel so good. She is so sweet! I am not quite sure if that means she picked us though, or if she just feels good about us but is still trying to decide. I might call my social worker in the morning and see if she has told him anything or not. Well, here's to tomorrow! Wish us luck, or better yet, pray for us and Holly!

Our face to face meeting

Just before we met with Holly and her mom, our social worker talked to us for a few minutes. We had a prayer together, thank goodness, because I REALLY needed it to calm down. When we were just about to go in, I could hardly bring myself to do it. Three people walked into the room before me and Tommy, so I tried to peek around them as we were going in. Right when I saw Holly I got a huge smile on my face. Something about her completely set me at ease. I absolutely LOVED her hugs and her smile. Her hugs reminded me of the hugs that Tommy's sister, Crystal, used to give me and every time she would smile it would make me smile too. It was kind of interesting, because of the way the chairs were set up, I got to sit right by her. It was weird talking to her though, because I had to keep looking over and couldn't look her right in the face, but it was still okay. The social workers were great with getting the ball rolling. Thank goodness they are there or these meetings probably wouldn't go nearly so well.

I feel like Tommy and I did most of the talking. It was really awesome though when the worker asked Holly to tell us why she wanted to meet with us. She said that she felt at peace with us. She also said that she wanted a couple that was out going and who spent a lot of time with their kids and she thought that we were both of those things. The crazy thing is, is that we weren't even in the first group of profiles that were shown to her. My social worker called me a while back and said that he felt strongly about showing our profile to a birth mom, but he wanted to make sure it was okay with us after everything we had just gone through. He said that he didn't show us yet, but if she decided that she wanted more profiles to look at, then he would. Luckily, she did!!

I loved to see how concerned Holly's mom was with the whole situation. I can tell that she already loves that little guy so much. I think she will be a wonderful grandma. We asked Holly if she picks us, if she would like an open adoption or not. She said she doesn't know yet. We completely understand and are okay with what ever she chooses to do. We also found out that she is due on the 13th of December. YAY!! Less than 8 weeks away. Of course, she still has to pick us though. I think part of the reason I was having such a hard time all day is because I knew that she is considering another family also. That really makes things hard.

The whole meeting seemed to go so well, but the last meeting with a birth mom went really well too, so I still am not completely convinced that everything will work out. I hope so bad that she lets us know soon. The thing that is so good about this one, in comparison to going through Parent Profiles, is that I feel like Heavenly Father is SO involved in the whole thing. I feel like, even if Holly doesn't choose us to adopt her baby, then he will still go to the home he is suppose to. That in itself gives me comfort. Before the meeting was over, we exchanged email addresses and I was SO excited! I sent her an email already. I hope she writes back soon!

After the meeting was over, I had to run and speak at another meeting. This was one of the meetings that newly adoptive couples take. I spoke about the red flags of adoption scams and also a little about fostering. It was such a good meeting. I got to hear the adoption story of one of my good friends. It was so neat. She got to be in the delivery room when her little boy was born. I think that was awesome!

After the meeting, a girl from one of the adoptive couples came up to me and said that she needed to ask me a really personal question. Ha! How do you respond to that? She then asked how my meeting went. I told her that it went great and she blurted out, "I know the birth mom!" It was a pretty good conversation. She could only say wonderful things about Holly, so that made me feel really good! It was kind of funny though. It really is such a small world!

Oh, I'm going CRAZY!!!

Today is the big day and I am going CRAZY with nerves. Of course, Tommy is as calm as can be. Or at least that is how he appears on the outside. I am not quite sure why I am feeling so unsettled. After everything that has happened to us recently, I am wondering if it is because of that or if it is something else. I finally called our social worker and talked to him about it, and he said that if I am feeling doubt and fear now, then when we get in the meeting and feel a very comforting peace come over us, then the contrast of the two feelings will make the experience even more meaningful. I hope he is right. I want so bad for this to work out, but it is so hard to get our hopes up again, just in case they don't. I will update as soon as I can after we meet with Holly. I am SO excited and SO SO nervous!!

GREAT NEWS!!!!!!!!!!!

Whi-hoo!!! I am SO SO SO SO SO SO SO SO SO EXCITED!!!!! Even more so, because I just realized that today is the 17th! As some of you may know the 17th is a BIG day for us. For example:

Tommy and I were married February 17th
We got the call about TJ on December 17th
We got the call about Tyra on April 17th
We got our foster care license for Braxton on September 17th
We adopted Braxton on May 17th

And now, TODAY, October 17th, we just got a letter from a birth mother named Holly. She wants to meet with us this coming Wednesday!!!! The social worker asked me if that would work for us and I said, "I don't care WHAT we have that day, we will MAKE it work!!" Holly is having a little boy in December. Right now, I think she is trying to decide between us and another family, but we get to be the first to meet with her, so I pray that she likes us.

Another REALLY AWESOME thing about her, is that she lives in Idaho!!! That means that we won't have to leave our kids to do the placement. Plus, it will be cool to have her close by. I didn't get very much information about the situation, but Tommy will be bringing her letter home tonight, so I might be able to add more later. The social worker said that he would tell her that we would love to start corresponding with her, so I'm hoping that she will email us soon. Holy Cow!!! Did I say already how EXCITED I am??? I can't even sit still. I don't know HOW in the world I will be able to wait until Wednesday. If I get ANY more news before then, I will be sure and post it though. Again, can I just say..... WHI-HOO!!!