Oh dear! I haven't blogged since December?!? My how things have changed! As most of you know, we just got home yesterday with our daughter, Gracen. We got the call a little over 2 months ago that we had been chosen by a birth mother. Most people around us knew as we were preparing, but we decided not to announce over social media until she was in our arm. Now, it's time to share our story!
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August 1st was our one year mark for being a "waiting family," meaning we had been approved and were waiting to be chosen by a birth mother. The year of waiting had it's ups and downs, but for the most part, it was a period of peace and growth. Then the beginning of August hit, and I began to feel antsy. Our agency was saying the average wait time had moved from 12 months to 24 months, so it was disheartening when one year came and we thought it could be another year.
A friend recently decided to begin the adoption process and was asking why our agency wasn't servicing our area anymore. I was pretty sure it was because the Bowling Green office closed and we had been shifted to the Nashville office last August, but I wanted to be sure so I told her I'd message our case worker. I sent her a message on our parent portal and also checked to be 100% sure we were being shown in the office. A lot of things changed right as were approved and since I was getting antsy, I had fears that maybe there was a miscommunication somewhere. I sent the message and went to bed.
The next morning, on August 26th, I was putting on my make-up and getting ready to go to Paducah with my mom for the day, followed by dinner for our friend Maddie's birthday. My phone rang and I saw it was a Nashville number. I figured it was our case worker calling to answer my questions. No big deal.
She said, "I wanted to let you know that your profile book is being shown in the office...and actually....you've been chosen by a birth mother!" WHAT?!? These are the words we've been waiting to hear for so long! All I could say was, "NU UH!!!" She laughed and reassured me she was not kidding. We had been chosen by a Nashville birth mother and she was due November 1st. She continued to give me some info and said, "Oh yeah, and it's a baby girl!" I squealed! I've always wanted a girl!
I got off the phone and called Brett. By the time he answered, I was bawling and couldn't even get my words out. He knew exactly what I was calling about! I went down to my parents house to pick up my mom and told them and then got in the car to drive to Paducah. I was on cloud nine all day!
I spent the whole day on the phone calling our closest friends and family. We were hesitant to announce it to everyone at first because so much could happen in those 2 months left of her pregnancy. But at the same time, I didn't want to miss this time of celebration and rejoicing! A very wise friend who had been through a difficult pregnancy told me to celebrate each day until God's gave us a reason not to. So, we did.
We started praying each day for baby girl and her birth mother and girl-ifying the gender neutral nursery. We had fun telling people who had been praying and walking through our journey of infertility and the wait with us. So many joyful tears were shed and I got chills every time I said it out loud. God's faithfulness was something to rejoice over and it was too hard to keep it quiet! We were amazed at His timing.
We thought we had a name picked out, but once we started thinking about it, I told Brett it just wasn't the one. This baby girl was going to have a story and I wanted her name to have meaning. We started talking about how God's grace and faithfulness was constant, even during our darkest days of this journey. He loves us with abounding grace and gives us the desires of our hearts when we are so undeserving...so we settled on GRACEN. I love it. We can share her story with her and it will be reminder to her and to us of God's unconditional love and provision for us. We decided on Leigh for her middle name because Brett, my dad, and my grandpa all share the middle name Lee, so we just did the feminine version.
Gracen Leigh is a beautiful baby girl and I can't wait to share more of our journey to bringing her home with you over the next few weeks!
