A Year since Match Day and Love at First Sight!

** I am posting this late... please forgive me-- we've had LOTS going on. His match day is 4/14 and we met the first time 4/15.***

I'll never forget the day that we matched with Xander. I was working part time, so I drove to our agencies office very early that morning to drop off our profile book after first taking a moment in the parking garage to pray over it. I remember feeling like I was going to throw up. I dropped the book off and practically ran back to the van. Once I was there I remember praying for God to please keep me focused on the tasks I had at hand (driving, work, etc) and checked my cell phone to make sure it was fully charged.


Work was uneventful. I shared the news with some coworkers and they all told me that they were SURE we'd be picked. I thought "Oh that is what they think they are supposed to say, I guess" and kept saying "We'll see--ANYTHING can happen."


At 11am I got off of work and headed home. I regularly checked to make sure I hadn't missed any phone calls.


Brandon went to work, I homeschooled Lainey, and still NOTHING. I knew the appointment was supposed to be while I was at work... and then I started convincing myself that the REAL adoptive parents had already gotten their phone call and they were celebrating.

Then the phone rang. It was our social worker. She let me know that the appointment hadn't taken place yet and they had rescheduled for later that day. I told her to please call my cell phone, repeated my cell phone number twice and told her I was going to run errands to try to keep my mind busy. She laughed, said she understood and we hung up.


And I suddenly felt the intense need to pray for this little baby boy. I prayed hard. I prayed blessings over his future, over his adoptive parents, over his possible future siblings. I prayed for his birthmother, her family, her heart. I prayed that the social worker could comfort her and guide her in her decision making in a way that the birthmother would remember as compassionate, sensitive, encouraging and that the birthmother's decision would be something that gave her peace for the rest of her life.

Then I went one step further... and I prayed for the baby boy. I prayed for the day that he truly understands what it means to be adopted and that he would feel love from three sides.. from his adoptive parents, his birthmother and God. I prayed that he wouldn't feel shame in his adoption, but peace and understanding that this was God's will for his life.

Suddenly, I no longer felt the need to go out. Emotionally I didn't feel like I should go out. Or could go out. Instead I put the girls down for a nap and whipped out my Bible. I read James 1:27 over and over and Jeremiah 29:11... and then I felt a gentle nudge to check my cell phone... and it was OFF.


Flustered, I turned my phone on... and then I heard the chime that I had a voicemail. My stomach dropped.

I called my voicemail. It was Tami and she was following up, but there was no indication of whether or not we weren't chosen.


I called Tami back and went to voicemail.


I called Brandon and went to voicemail.


I called Tami back... voicemail.


I called Brandon back... voicemail.


I began to cry.. and pray! "PLEASE! Someone answer their phone!"


And then the pacing started.. back and forth. Back and forth.... "Please let my phone ring!"


It did. It was Brandon and I totally couldn't read his tone. Finally after what felt like eternity he said "Stephanie... you are the proud mama of a baby BOY!" And I jumped up and down and squealed.. and ran into the kitchen and did a dance right in front of the microwave (and this has become a tradition-- I've had the great pleasure and honor to do my Microwave Dance for TWO friends!)


Next Brandon said to check my email and that Tami had sent a picture of our new son... Brandon and I discussed his name and if we were going to stick with our choice and we agreed that he is indeed, Xander Jeremiah!


Of course, it took forever to load the picture (thanks Comcast!) but would any speed have been fast enough at that point?


I saw these two pictures:


And it was love at first sight.

I was speechless. He was beautiful and perfect. He was my son... my baby had arrived!

I sat on the couch and prayed.. thanking God for the wonderful blessing that I just saw unfold before my very eyes.. and I remembered that God knew for FAR longer than I did that this was my baby boy. I had prayed blessing over MYSELF when I prayed for his adoptive family (in an unselfish way).. and he was the first of many blessings to unfold from our adoption journey. I'm truly blessed indeed!

The next day, I got to meet my new son. I think this one picture says it all.

Thanks for taking a trip down memory lane with me.

~Steph

A Year Ago Today..

A year ago today, I was folding whites during naptime and got a call on our home phone. We rarely have anyone call the home number (most people use our cells out of habit) and I thought it was odd. When I walked over to the caller ID it had the name of an agency we had spoken with a few times on the screen! I thought it was odd and it was almost the close of business for the day but I took a deep breath and pushed the button on our speaker phone and sat in the floor. We were having trouble with our handset so thank God for speakerphone!

Tami, the socialworker, introduced herself and asked if we would be interested in presenting our profile for a week old, biracial baby boy. She also gave me some information on the birthmother, the situation and some health concerns. I said yes. And there was a long pause. Tami said, "Shouldn't you call Brandon and ask him?" Oops! I said yes and let her know that I'd call her right back. I called Brandon and I was talking so fast I had to repeat myself several times. I confessed to him that I said "Yes" and that Tami said I should call him and he laughed. He said "Way to go with your gut!" (I'm typically an overthinker when it comes to big decisions.) He said to call Tami back and tell her that we both said yes.

After I made that phone call we went into overdrive. Our profile book was at the printers! And it had to be at the agency the next morning! Brandon took some personal time from work and picked up our profile book. I don't think either of us slept a wink that night. I dropped off the profile book at the agency the next morning. And the real wait began... The next day we got the best phone call of our life....

Wordless Wednesday

Easter/Anniversary Recap

Sadly, we didn't make it to church since I was up with cramps/braxton hicks/contractions for a few hours in the night. I drank alot of ice water (thinking I was a bit dehydrated thus causing an irritable uterus) and that caused me to need a potty break every hour on the hour afterwards. It was a long, lonely night, but I was SO relieved that things seemed to settle down.

So no church. :( I was greeted by a very romantic anniversary card when I woke up. Brandon and I celebrated our sixth wedding anniversary today as well as the resurrection of Christ! The kids checked out their buckets and treats.

We slowly got moving and dressed and then headed out to Williamsburg. Brandon found out that the same chain restaurant we ate at on our wedding day, also has a location in Williamsburg so that is what he planned for our Easter/Anniversary meal. It was WONDERFUL!

Before going into the restaurant, we used the beautiful grounds to take some pictures. They turned great!

We ate prime rib, crablegs, peel and eat shrimp, along with various sides and then had quite a few dessert selections to choose from. I had fruit fondue.. YUM!

The girls got a kick out of 'James Madison' coming to talk to our table. Lainey wasn't entirely sure who James Madison was but she still held a little conversation with him and asked him a few questions. She was tickled that he said he owned horses and rode his horse named Virginia to the restaurant.

Afterwards, I showed Brandon a historical resort that I thought he might be interested in. I met my friend, Angie, there the weekend we moved in and thought Brandon would like to see it. Then we drove to Colonial Williamsburg to inquire about the activities there. We are thinking about buying annual passes there (with a sweet discount for being homeschoolers!) sometime soon.

After checking out the information desk and a quick diaper change for Xander, we loaded back into the van and headed home.

Once we got home, the girls did a quick egg hunt with plastic eggs in our yard and a little while after that we colored eggs.

It's been a full day. But I'm SO very blessed to have a wonderful, active family to fill my day.

I hope your Easter was lovely and meaningful.

So loved... by my husband and the King of Kings!

~Steph

It's Tuesday

(Creative Title huh?)

It's also 6:05 am as I am starting to write this blog entry. I've not been to sleep yet and my husband's alarm clock is going off, letting him know that now is the time for all of us to wake up.

I have an OB appt at 8:00AM. Most people that know me, know I NEVER pick first thing in the morning appointments. I'm NOT a morning person and have never been one. I'm not sure I'll ever be one.

But I have to fast for this appointment and well.. I can't very well fast until 2pm or later (my usual appt time of choice) while pregnant... or rather, I can't fast safely while pregnant.

So.. I'm up, about to start my day, get the kids ready, make them breakfast ,while I abstain and then take them to a friend who has so graciously offered to watch my three at a crazy time in the morning, the day after she got married. Seriously folks.. that is friend LOVE!

Then we'll go to the doctor's appointment, I'll drink nasty overly sweetened syrup with no carbonation, have my ultrasound and then about an hour after the last drop of overly sweetened syrup is gone, I'll have bloodwork done.

And I'll do this all on no sleep. I've almost passed out TWICE doing this test for both of the girls and that was with a full nights rest. So pray for me.

Afterwards, my wonderful husband has promised me breakfast or lunch at the restaurant of my choice and we have a few errands to run but we'll have to make it quick because I have a breastfeeding support group meeting at 1pm.

After that, all bets are off for the rest of my day. I'm tired and cranky... and Solomon is using my bladder as a trampoline. But I hope to sneak a nap in at some point.

WOW! It's been a wee bit crazy around here!

Early last week Brandon got word from the place we were renting our moving truck from telling him that we could pick it up on Friday afternoon. So we added a days prorated rent on Wednesday when we went to our new rental office to sign our lease and planned to start our move Friday evening.

Friday afternoon, we picked up our cat, Paulie from the animal hospital. I had a dopey cat in a carrier box, meowing during our move and I've added Dr. Doolittle to my many titles and job descriptions since I am now a pro at giving the cat his meds and don't even have to hunt him down... he comes to me!

We were blessed with two coworkers/friends from the office to come help us when they got off at 7:45pm. The move went pretty fast and we got everything in on Friday night. Everything except my beloved IKEA pantry that was very torn up by the time they got all 220 lbs out of the apartment. Oh well.. people before things right?

Just in case you are getting the impression that everything runs smoothly for the Bee Family, let me fill you in with some details. LOL

1. The pantry fell apart in about 3 pieces AFTER they got it into the truck. It didn't fall apart before they squeezed it out of the tiny doorway... nope. It made it across the apartment, through 2 doorways, down the steps and up the ramp into the truck when it disintegrated.

2. Once they started unloading at the new place, we realized the bunk beds would have to be taken apart more in order to fit around the corner and down the hallway into the girls room. Of course the tools were packed. So the bunk beds were in the living room until Brandon could find his tools. I put sheets and blankets on the mattresses and the girls didn't have furniture in their room until sometime late the next afternoon.

3. Dish could not install our service here the next day. Since they contract out their installations, the Dish installation manager wanted to come make SURE that they couldn't get it in, and so they came by too. No go. We still have Comcast, SIGH!

4. The washing machine in our new place has a broken part. For a family of 5, soon to be 6, this is disastrous.


Okay.. so you get the picture. NOT a smooth move, despite our best attempts to plan ahead. But we were in.

The next morning, I went to Williamsburg (an hour or so away) with the children to meet up with a friend that was visiting from Texas. I had a lovely day with Angie and Cliff and her 12 children and our kids played together beautifully. The moms even got time to talk!

Brandon stayed home to supervise the dopey cat, wait for the Dish installer to try to install and then went to the old place to do a final sweep and mop.

Colonial Williamsburg is beautiful and very neat and I can't wait for Brandon and I to return with the children. A MOM's group that Angie and I belong to has a retreat in Williamsburg each year so we'll be praying over that for next year. We walked alot and the kids slept the whole way home. I was BEAT!

The kids and I returned around 7pm that evening and then Brandon and I tackled some boxes and rearranging some things.

Sunday, I spent the day vegging out. I was afraid I'd overdone it between Friday and Saturday and my body was definitely letting me know to slow down. So I did.

Monday, Brandon had taken a vacation day, so we ran a long list of errands with the children. ALOT got done including:

Sams- Bought a freezer, renewed our membership, and bought some odds and ends.

Food Lion- Bought somewhere around 70lbs of beef that was custom cut for free. A total steal at $1.78 a lb. Saved more than I spent and didn't use a single coupon. Yes, please! We have 10 more sirloin tips that are being ordered for us. We are set for a while.

Came home to unload.

Lowes- 2 extension cords and a nut to fix our table leg.

Walmart- A return

Target- A return, buy a shower curtain, shower organizer, a birthday card, a giftcard, and have an encounter with a Leprechaun... *Tee hee*

Moes- Dinner. Burrito, drinks and chips $5.55. Baby Solomon is in love with cilantro and Mexican. YUM!

Library- return 2 books. I support the library through my taxes and don't need to support them through late fees. LOL It's been a hard concept to implement but I've gotten MUCH better!

We came home and unloaded.

Put the kids to bed and then crashed ourselves.

Tuesday was another slow day. Brandon worked and I completed some paperwork/admin stuff that needed done.

Whooooooooooo! I'm beat but things are coming together!

~Steph

PS: I have a long list of things to write about. Can't wait to get the blog caught up!

A Sermon that Blessed Me

Voddie Baucham is kind of "new" to me. I've only known of him for a little over a year. I missed hearing him at the homeschool convention in 2009 but did manage to catch a sermon when he was a guest speaker at one of our local churches. He even prayed with Brandon and I, when we shared briefly our calling to adopt another child and that I was expecting in June. Ya know what he said? "Ahhh.. just getting started I see." We loved his positive comments and loved that he took the time to pray with us as a long line formed behind us.

Voddie is very "cut to the chase." A friend and I have a joke that when you listen to Voddie, you either AMEN or OUCH. I've done both listening to his sermons. He's a pastor at Grace Family Baptist Church in Houston, Texas. He's a homeschooling father and an outspoken adoption advocate. The Bauchams are blessed with 6 children so far (wink), including four adopted children.

I'm currently reading his book titled "Family Driven Faith," but was sent this link by a friend. I've heard this particular recording a few times, but today it really hit home.

Hopefully, it will bless and challenge you too.

The Centrality of the Home in the Evangelism and Discipleship of the Next Generation

NOTE: This was actually spoken at a Evangelism Conference just for a frame of reference.

(There was a problem with my link before, but it should work now.)

~Steph