a year ago today, our world changed...

A year ago today a lot happened...I woke up excited, nervous, anxious...because a year ago today we went to an ultrasound to find out the gender of a baby that we thought would be ours. We had received a phone call that morning saying to be prepared because the birth mom was really struggling...After thinking about it, we decided to still go to the appointment. We had lunch with her just like we always did before doctor’s appointments. She talked to us about how she was struggling but how putting the baby up for adoption was the best thing for her. As we left the restaurant and made our way to the doctor’s office, my gut feeling wasn’t any better. I can’t explain my feelings but I was genuinely sad...I wasn’t myself. I can’t really explain why....We went to the doctor’s office and the nurse said that the birth mom would be seeing a different doctor today. The birth mom said, “I hope it’s not Dr. ____, because I don’t like her, nor does my sister.” When the doctor came in, sure enough it was the Dr. she didn’t want to see. As we sat in the ultrasound room, I was in front of the birth mom to the side, Kaz was on the other side, and the birth mom in the middle. As the tech moved that wand over the birth mom's stomach, it wasn’t long until we knew it was a boy. A BOY....my heart sank. I was disappointed. I REALLY wanted a girl. Kaz could see the look on my face. I should have been happy but I knew that having a boy would change everything with this birth mom. It would make things harder because there wasn’t a single boy in her family...I knew chances were, this would be last we ever saw of this baby boy. The Dr. saw us after the ultrasound and the birth mom introduced us as the adoptive parents. I still can’t wrap my mind around what happened next...Why, it happened? The doctor told us a story of a child who had been adopted. How brave the birth mom was, and how giving a child up for adoption is such a big decision. That child she was talking about was her child. She had adopted a girl...She talked about the Lord and how He has such a plan for all of us. She even prayed for us.  I had to fight back the tears. At the time, I thought she was saying all of that to the birth mom, but in reality she was saying it to me! 

That night, we found out the birth mom was pretty sure she wanted to keep the baby. Our relationship with her did go on up until she had the baby, but it was never a for sure NO until that night....Feb 9th. 

I can still remember this time last year, so clearly. What I was wearing, where we parked, every detail....After we heard NO, we were sad. We had thought for months that we were going to have a baby around June 18th! What we didn’t know was that WE WOULD have a baby around that time and it wouldn’t be this baby boy....IT WOULD BE OUR SWEET DAUGHTER ANNIE RICE. Like I mentioned, we kept up with the birth mom up until she delivered the baby. She had the baby on June 12th....It was a hard day. We had been on the waiting list for the 2nd time since Feb 9, 2011 and hadn’t gotten one interest from other birth moms...I prayed so hard that we would have a baby soon....On June 13, 2011[the very next day from the birth mom giving birth to that little boy] we got the phone call about our sweet daughter Annie Rice. 2 weeks later, we brought her home. What a JOY and BLESSING she is in our life. A year ago today, I never would have imagined I would be so happy. The Lord’s plan is SO PERFECT and even though the road is not always smooth, I am very thankful for those bumpy paths in our life because they have made up stronger and we have the absolute most precious daughter in the whole world. Her story is perfect and I pray everyday that it brings GLORY to God everyday.