Reed's Story

Ok, I wasn't going to blog tonight, but I can't help myself. I can sleep when I'm dead, right? So here's the crazy story of our life the last few days.

On Wednesday night (Rachel's birthday, by the way), my phone rang at 8:15 pm. It was our adoption caseworker, Lauren. I thought it was odd that she was calling so late, but honestly didn't think anything exciting was about to happen. I answered and Lauren asked me if Mike was with me. Then I knew something exciting was about to happen. I ran outside to where Mike was doing some yard work and we listened as Lauren told us that there was a couple up in Salt Lake who suddenly decided to place their baby for adoption. The baby was a little boy, born on the 19th (two days earlier). The couple had spent the day looking at adoption profiles. Our's was only the 4th one they looked at, and they knew we were the ones. Lauren asked us to leave as soon as possible and drive up to University Hospital to meet them. She said that if things worked out, we'd be doing an adoption placement the next day at 9:30 am.

Woah.

I'd heard of adoption stories like this, but never, ever thought it would happen to us this way. And it had only been 3 weeks to the day from when our application was approved. Whenever people had asked me when we might adopt, I'd always say, "Who knows. It could be anywhere from a few weeks to a few years." I really never thought the "few weeks" would be the reality. But back to the story.

So Mike and I told Lauren that we needed to pray and would call her back in a few minutes. We knelt down in our bedroom and prayed, while Rachel wailed outside the door (getting ignored is not fun, especially on your birthday!) We honestly didn't know what to think, but when we asked the Lord to guide us and help us know if this was right for our family, we both knew the answer. We got off our knees and starting packing our bags.

We decided to drop Rachel off at Mike's parents, who live in north Utah County, and also come back there to stay the night instead of driving all the way home after. I ran around like a crazy person, talking to myself, trying not to forget anything when my brain was going a mile a minute. We rushed out the door, stopped at a store to get some flowers, dropped a very confused Rachel off with Kyle at Mike's parents' house, and headed up to Salt Lake.

We met with Shelah and Chris, and some friends they had there supporting them, and talked for a little over an hour. They were so nice, and it was a good visit. We got to see the baby, and he was simply adorable. By this time, it was late, and we left to let them rest. Lauren told us to be at the hospital the next day at 9:30 to do placement. Wow. We got back to Mike's parents' at about 1:00 and tried to sleep. I think I may have gotten about an hour and a half of sleep, in 20 minute intervals, that night. I just couldn't turn my brain off.

The next morning we drove up to the hospital again and waited. Shelah and Chris were obviously going through a very difficult time. After a lot of waiting, and signing a bunch of papers, it was time. We went into the room and talked with them for a little while, shared some tears and hugs, and then all of a sudden, we were parents again.

As we drove home, we talked about how this was the most surreal feeling in the world. Less than 24 hours before, we had been just going about our day, celebrating Rachel's birthday and thinking that someday we would hopefully be blessed to have another baby. And today we were driving home with a son.

In some ways it was really great - we skipped the months of worrying and waiting. Instead, all of those feelings and emotions were crammed into a 24 hour period. Can we say exhausting?

Plus, we hadn't even been home since we left the previous night. We were in no way prepared to bring home a new baby. No diapers, no formula, no clothes, nothing. Fortunately we did have our car seat, but that was pretty much it. Fortunately, our hearts were prepared, and that's all we really needed. Also, ever tried to name a baby in less than a day? After throwing around a couple names as we drove, Mike asked what I thought about naming him after his father, Reed. I said that sounded great - one, because I like the name Reed, and two, because I love love love my father in law. His middle name is Wesley, which is a family name from his birth father. Turns out the naming was easy after all.

And now we're home, and it's been a day since we've had him in our family. What a joy and a light he is in our lives and in our home. We ADORE him. We can't believe he's here. It's amazing. It's a miracle.

The outpouring of love from our friends and family has also been incredible. Neighbors have already brought dinners by (thank goodness!) and kind and generous friends have given clothes and supplies. Countless others have expressed their congratulations and joy. I can't tell you how blessed we feel.

Our house is a mess, there's laundry piled everywhere, and I think I'm about to fall over and sleep right here on my keyboard.

But we're so, so happy.