Answered Prayers- Meeting Lyla- Day 1

Wow.. what a FULL 2 months it has been for us! I have wanted to blog a million times, but for some reason I always had an excuse not to. Not sure why... because I love blogging about our adoption and our lives.... We'll just say we have been busy falling more and more in love with our sweet girl!

I guess I should start back at the beginning!!

Jan. 16th, 2012... Martin Luther King Day:
I had the day off of work and the kids were home from school. Clint had to work.
I love days off... means sleeping in, running errands, and just doing whatever you want! This one would be different!
I was asleep, with my phone on silent, when Clint came in our room... frantically trying to wake me up. I was in a daze. I wondered what in the world he was doing at our house at 8:30am waking me up on my day off!

"Our daughter was born this morning. Our caseworker just called and Lyla was born! Get up, we have to go get her!".
That was the start of a total crazy fit....
I wasn't ready
I wasn't packed
We were supposed to drive
No money for plane tickets!
What is going on
breathe
breathe
I remember running around my room getting clothes together, but really not doing anything at all (I would regret that on day 7 when I had NO CLEAN clothes to wear!). My sweet friend (and neighbor) Kerri came over to help get things in order with me. Man I love that girl!
I took a shower, ran around some more, packed a little (and I mean a little) and started to get travel plans under control.
Sweet Kerri sat in my room with a notepad and pen taking notes on what all had to happen since we were leaving 2 weeks earlier than expected. We are truly blessed to have such wonderful friends!
We managed to book a flight out that afternoon at 3:15 that would arrive around 11pm! It was going to be a long day of flying! We had to book a rental car and move our hotel dates around... but somehow (well, we know how...with GOD) we were able to get everything done and walked out the door for the airport at 1:15!Yes, that's us.. at the airport.. with our empty stroller/car seat and the look of excitement/fear on our faces (and my unfixed curly hair..cause who has time to fix their hair when they are hurrying to go get their baby!?)

Our flights were uneventful and we were holding it together quite well. When we got there it was a little past10:30pm and we had to go get our rental car and pray that the hospital would still let us come meet our precious girl even though it would be well after 11pm when we got there.

When booking a rental car, I wasn't thinking "size"... I was thinking "cheapest". So there we were, trying to CRAM all of our stuff in a little Ford Focus. Super cute car...but not sure how people with children do it! We wondered how we were ever going to make it BACK to the airport with everything PLUS little Lyla! We got a good laugh and we needed it! Here is the back seat of the Ford Focus! The trunk was completely packed as well!Around 11:30pm we arrived at the hospital. It wasn't far from the airport and was only 5 min from our hotel. I can't even put into words the feelings we were having walking up to the hospital.
When we got to the labor and delivery floor, there was a small group of nurses there. We explained who we were and why we were there and they were expecting us (thank you God)! I have to add: the little old nurse that walked us down the hall toward the nursery thought she needed to share .... so she said, "Were you not able to have children of your own?"....
Ummmmm, nurse lady..that's totally inappropriate and none of your business!

She continued on to say, "Now, do you all know that she's dark?"
HuuuuuuuuHhhhh? What???? My baby is dark...? NO WAY!? LOL
Come on old lady.... just hush it and GO GET MY BABY!


We could see through the window that they were just finishing up her first bath. They took us into a small room and had us wait for her there. Soon, they wheeled her in.

She was the most beautiful thing we had ever seen. She was TINY and precious. The nurses went on and on about how sweet she was.
They placed her in my arms and it was amazing. Finally, we were there.... holding our baby girl.

We got to feed her.....


And just sit and take it all in....

We couldn't believe how much hair she had!!!! She was BEAUTIFUL!Before we left for the night (it was past 12am!) a sweet nurse came in and asked if she could take our first family picture....

That first meeting was so wonderful and felt like a dream! We were finally with our daughter. God had this planned all along... and I trusted Him, and He didn't let me down!