Wednesday August 3, 2011
It could not have been a more chaotic afternoon. My sister Elizabeth had just dropped off her kids for about an hour (she had to pick up peaches at our “neighbors” farm) and her poor baby boy Carter was SUPER unhappy……translation bawling loudly. On top of the crying, the kids were all talking loudly because they were so excited to see their cousins. There was such clamor and chatter……..but of course my phone rings. I checked the number and it’s our adoption agency. It didn’t seem all that strange since I had sent our contact (Jane*) an email earlier in the day.
She started off with small talk about busy summer and then she asked me about sending in the updated paperwork that has been sitting on my counter for a week. Jane then said, “I actually really need that paperwork because your family has been chosen!” Ahhhhhh, talk about crazy. I was so exciting. We’ve been picked, we’ve been picked!!! The words we were hoping to hear and yet somehow never thought would happen. I was all tingly down to my toes.
But that wasn’t the end. Jane said not only was our family selected, but that our baby was already born and “you have a daughter” she said!! Wow, oh wow. All I could say was, “really?!?!?, I can’t believe this!” And all I could think was that in God’s time it did happen. Jane then began to tell me about our baby girl. She has dark curly hair and the sweetest face. She was born at 41 weeks and weighed 7 pounds and 14 oz. Her apgars were 8 and 9. It feels so surreal. We have a baby girl.
By the time I hung up with Jane, it was almost time for Stephen to get home, so I quickly made some signs for the kids to hold up that said WE HAVE A BABY. Each paper had one word on it, so each kid got a piece of paper. I told the kids that our Baby Hope was born, but I would not tell them if Hope was a boy or a girl.
Carlos was so sweet. He said, “mommy, I really wanted a boy, but now I know it doesn’t matter…..a boy or girl is fine.” And coming from a die-hard “boys only” just a few days ago, I was really glad.
So we all trouped out to the porch and waited for Stephen to come home. I had the kids sitting on the steps with their signs when he pulled into the driveway. At first Stephen had no idea what was going on…..I had the camera in my hand, so he thought it was just a kid photo-op, but then he saw the signs and turned to me and said, “no way!”
I then had to pack my sister’s kids into the van and take them up the road to meet Elizabeth. And since Eva and Mia heard that we had a baby I figured I needed to tell Elizabeth before the kids spilled the beans. She was as shocked as we were!!
When I got back home Stephen was dying to know all the details, so I told everyone to sit down on the rug and I would tell them all. The kids didn’t need to be told twice…..all four plopped right down on the living room floor and listening attentively. …..except for Ben. He was too excited and kept trying to alternately jump on my lap and kiss me.
Then we started the phone calls. Carlos called my mom and told her….more shock and awe. Stephen called his parents to see if we could Skype, but got voicemail. By this time it was 6:45, so we decided eating was a good idea so I finished getting the spaghetti ready and we had dinner.
But before dinner we got pictures……oh wow, my baby girl is so beautiful! She has a ton of dark curly hair.
Here’s each of the kids meeting their new sister! 
Then we ate dinner. I tried to eat, but honestly I was way too excited.
After dinner we made more phone calls and more phone calls. So much fun sharing our joy!
*Names have been changed
House of Smooches 