Our 9 Day Stay....

The next day we got to have a "private" hospital room where we could snuggle with Lyla and take care of her most of the day. It was so nice to be alone with her. She just slept and ate.... we never heard a peep out of her. She was SUCH a good baby!

Daddy getting some snuggle time with Lyla on Tuesday the 17th.
Mommy holding Lyla. She was such a sound sleeper and it was really sweet to just sit there and hold her! That's what we did for most of Tuesday. On Wednesday we were pleasantly surprised to hear that we could take her "home" (to the hotel). It was a little scary and surreal, but we felt SO good getting to leave the hospital with our daughter!!!

She was SO tiny in her car seat!
It was pretty cold... so Daddy dropped us off at the door.
Here she is in our hotel room for the first time.

She was such a perfect baby from the start. It was fun to get her out of her car seat, lay her on the bed and just take some pictures. No nurses coming in, no questions to answer, no worries.
I LOVE this picture of her sweet little smile. Her first bottle with us at the hotel.

The next 6 days feel like a blur. We had to wait for our "release" so that we could bring Lyla home. Every day was about the same. We would sleep/nap/get ready and then get out of the hotel around lunch time. We HAD to get out every day. It was hard being cooped up in a hotel room day in and day out for 9 days.
The weather was cold and rainy most days. We would go to the mall or to some random shopping center. Anything to pass the time. We did LOTS of eating. I think I gained at least 5lbs while we were there!! Clint was in heaven because there was BBQ on every corner!

Of course we spent lots of time taking pictures of our sweet girl and updating friends and family on our "coming home" status. Here were some of my favorite pictures:



We had so many ups and downs during our stay. It was exhausting, overwhelming and frustrating... the paperwork issues, not Lyla of course. As each day passed with no word on when we could go home, it was hard not to get discouraged. One thing that was keeping me going was that we had our daughter....there with us.... in the same room....
It wasn't just a "Bold" prayer anymore, it was real. The Lord was faithful and answered our prayers and in such an amazing way...2 days before my bold prayer "deadline". :) He knew.
We trusted in the Him. That's all we could do. We felt helpless, but we knew that this has been God's story for our lives since we started.

Each day we fell more and more in love with our little Lyla. She was SO very good and such an easy baby! She slept well and ate every 4 hours. She was such a little peanut at 5lbs, 14 oz. It was easy to "get to know her"... she was so lovable and cuddly.

The weekend came and went... still not home... still in a hotel room. We were really starting to "feel" it. We were antsy... especially as Monday came and went!
On Tuesday we ventured out for lunch at 5 Guys Burgers (or as it should be called...Burger Heaven), on the way there I had a little melt down with our home study worker and our attorney. I remember saying, "I'm about to start getting ugly and say a bad word". ha.
They were just waiting on a phone call from the courts to tell them that we were cleared to travel.
So as we sat and ate, we waited.... and then at last... the CALL! We could GO HOME!
We rushed around and got back to the room around 1pm. We made very last minute travel arrangements and were able to get on the last flight out of there at 5'something. Whew!
So there we were, getting to go home with our daughter.. 9 days later.

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!

It's been a while...Part 2, the CALL!

Friday, December 23rd, 2011

Friday I had to work until noon. I didn't mind.
My office was quiet and I made lists of things to get done before my sister and her family, along with my little brother, were to make their way into town from San Antonio that night. I was exciting to see them for Christmas and I knew it was going to be a very full weekend!

I emailed with our caseworker a few times. She mentioned that there was a birthmom in North Carolina that they would be presenting us to. I knew not to get too excited. #1, it was Friday...#2 it was the Friday of Christmas weekend and #3 I knew that they would have to overnight our profile and letter....so that was already putting us at Tuesday.

I decided that I wasn't going to get sad or upset that my BOLD prayers were not going to be answered yet again. I thought about my new BOLD prayer and what that would be. Maybe I would pray to know something in the next month, or two.....or three.
I just knew that I couldn't focus on that. I needed to focus on the excitement of Christmas and of Jesus' birth..and of all my family being together. I knew I had to "let go" of the BOLD prayer I had prayed for so long.

I was oddly okay.

I left work at noon and hurried around to get things done.
That evening we went to my Dad's to greet my sister and her family and my little brother. We ate, played with the kids and enjoyed being together. Lots of laughter....lots of playing....

Around 7pm we got in the car to go home.
I did my usual check of my phone.

I had an email.... from my caseworker..... that said "URGENT" in the subject. My heart skipped a beat.
I opened the email and read that my caseworker needed me to call her on her cell, asap.

I was getting more and more excited. Clint was his usual calm, together self. :)

I called her.....and she said, "I have some exciting news for you guys. You were MATCHED with the birthmom from North Carolina".

I think I peed my pants a little.

We were so excited. I couldn't stop squealing and laughing and carrying on. I'm sure our caseworker thought I was coo-coo.
She gave us all the details and I scrambled around to take some notes.
She said that our baby is due via c-section on the 23rd (since then, it's been moved to the 30th) of January!!
Seriously, I had a permanent smile on my face and so did Clint.

and just like that..... MY BOLD PRAYER WAS ANSWERED!
God waited until December 23rd, at 7pm.... Just 2 days before Christmas! He knew I would grow so much in those last few days. He knew that my faith would be tested and that I would grow in my walk with Him.
He KNEW.

We were so excited to be able to call family and close friends and share this awesome story.

It was great to have my family in town. To be able to celebrate with them, face-to-face!

Christmas was filled with so much joy and thankfulness. It was such a testimony to God's faithfulness. We were just so amazed by His love for us.

Since Christmas we have been in overdrive! Clint has worked SO hard on the nursery and it looks awesome! We have the paint done and now just wait for the carpet to come in.

I have done a little sewing too. Since we don't know the gender, I have been a little limited on my fabric choices.... but that's ok! Lots of cute polka-dots!!!
Ive made seat belt strap covers... and paci clips.
My sister bought us a Boppy while she was here, so I sewed a few covers for it!
Penny helped me put together the bassinet. Then I tested it out on her. hee hee.

I have been making a lot of travel lists! We plan to drive to NC, leaving on the 28th. We will probably be there a week (or more). Depending on court and our attorney.
Just praying things go smooth.

We can't wait to share more pictures of the nursery and preparation!

And of course, pictures of our sweet gift from above!
Lyla Rose or Oliver Robinson!

God is Good!

It's been a while.....Part 1

I know, it has been like 2 months since I last posted. Partly because I didn't know what to say and partly because I was afraid to say it. Silly? Yes.

Back in November we were given some updated wait times for the Congo. We were now being told that the wait from referral (remember, we still didn't have a referral and were at #5 for a month) until travel was looking more like 12months or longer! That's a whole year AFTER seeing your precious babies faces until you go pick them up. We were sad about the news and felt that waiting another year (or more) wasn't for our family.
After talking with our agency (more than once) about their domestic program, and learning that there is a great need for families who are open to adopt outside their race.... we knew this was it.

After some paperwork updates and a little shuffle...we were now in the domestic program with One World.
We were happy to stay with our same agency because we really liked working with them and I felt comfortable and confident in the service they had already provided to us.

We had to make a family profile (talk about intimidating) and write a birthmom letter (even more intimidating) and then wait.....
and pray.....
and wait some more.

Many times I have talked about BOLD prayer on my blog. BOLDLY believing that God will move mountains in our favor. BOLDLY believing that this is EXactly what God wants for our family. BOLDLY believing that we will have a baby by adoption and that we will also have an amazing testimony to what God has done for us.
Many times I have stepped out in faith and said, "ok, I am BOLDLY praying that we receive our referral by the end of September." or "Ok, I know September wasn't in God's plan...so i'm BOLDLY stepping out in faith and saying October."
I never gave up on my BOLD praying. Even when they weren't answered. I had FAITH that this is what God wants for us.
Many times I sat in tears and felt the devil trying to get me down. He tried to tell us that maybe adoption wasn't what God wanted. Maybe you aren't even supposed to be a Mom at all. The devil tried, and tried, and tried. Sometimes I had weak moments and would "give in" to the pity party and think that this was never going to happen. Thankfully I have amazing sisters in Christ that stood by me and lifted me up....and reminded me of God's amazing faithfulness and love for me and for Clint.
So..... my BOLD prayer became that I would know "who" my baby is by Christmas. Either I would see their faces (Congo) or I would know something about a potential match with a birthmom. Just SOMETHING.

My faith stayed strong... through every "dangling carrot" moment, through each birthmom rejection....I had faith in God. Faith that he has known since the beginning of time...who my baby is and how we would become a family.
My anthem became the song, "God is Able" by Hillsong (i listen to it as I type this now). The words spoke straight to my heart...

"God is ABLE, He will never fail.
He is ALMIGHTY God.
Greater than all we see,
Greater than all we ask...
He has done great things.

Lifted up, He defeated the grave.
Raised to Life...Our God is Able!
In His name, we overcome... for the Lord, our God, is Able"

That song was on constant repeat on my ipod. I had it on in my car, in my office...everywhere I could. I knew God was able... I knew He would never fail us.
So I continued to BOLDLY pray....."Lord, please, by Christmas"...

On Thursday night (December 22nd) we went to the Christmas service at church (Lifechurch.tv). There weren't many people (because our church does a bunch of services for Christmas)... so we were able to sit up close. Next to our friends, Jeff and Kerri....and right up close to the band.
I felt like the wind was starting to die down in my sails....like I was moving closer and closer to Christmas, and further and further from my BOLD prayer.
God knew this.....
The last song we sang before sitting down was, "God is Able". I looked at my friend Kerri with tears in my eyes and said, "I love this song".

While I sang, I felt like God was renewing my hope. As tears rolled down my cheek, I felt like it was my prayer....my cry out to the Lord.
"Lord, I KNOW you are able.....I KNOW you are ALMIGHTY God....."

The song ended and I wiped my tears away.

The next day was Friday, December 23rd....
(to be continued....)