BABY, BABY, BABY OH!

It always amazes me how in seconds your life can be completely changed, either for the better or for the worse...

Thursday afternoon at 3:15 I was doing some last minute tidying, getting ready for my piano student who comes at 3:30. The phone rang. It was John. He had forgotten his phone at home so he was calling me from his bosses number. He usually calls to check in when he forgets his phone. I was happy to hear from him as we hadn't talked all day. After we exchanged hello's he says "So Social Services in Regina called. Somebody picked us. You need to call them right now."
I just about dropped the phone. I think I stumbled through a few "Are you serious?" and one very emphatic "You'd better not be joking!" (I knew, of course, that he wasn't, but I was in a bit of shock.) I looked at the clock. 3:20. I had 10 minutes before my student was coming. We hung up and I dialed the man in Regina, hands shaking. He informed me that a baby had been born mid-March very premature, and had been in the NICU since. The baby was doing really great and was almost ready to be released. The parents had chosen us to adopt the baby. He said all the information about the family and the whole situation were in an email, and we were to read over it and get back to him on Friday. He also said that because this was such a time sensitive situation, the costs were being lowered. In normal circumstances, we would get the referral while the mother is still pregnant and we'd have some time before the baby was born, but in this situation this was obviously not the case.
Tears started streaming down my face as I tried to take in what he was saying. All I kept thinking was "The baby is already born! It's already here!" This was completely not what we were expecting at all. We were warned that we might have very little time between the referral and the birth, but we thought we'd have at least a couple weeks. I hung up with the man in Regina, quickly shot off a few texts to family members to pray, and then my student showed up.
The next half hour was the longest of my life! I'm pretty sure I should reimburse her for the lesson because I don't think much teaching was happening. I couldn't stop shaking and I fumbled over my words. My student must've thought I was going crazy! All I could think about was that email. I needed to see that email.
As soon as she was out the door, I grabbed the computer and opened my email. Attached were several documents about the baby's condition, the parent's medical history and other important details. I opened the first attachment and the first thing I saw were the words baby GIRL! GIRL!!!
I read all the other attachments. It is an extremely sad situation. Both birth parents are homeless and jobless. The mother is 30 and this is her 11th pregnancy. 6 babies were aborted and this makes 5 that she's given up for adoption. The mother is in a wheelchair with nerve damage due to a car accident when she was a teen. Her labor came on so quickly that she ended up giving birth to the baby in an abandoned warehouse, assisted by the father. An ambulance came soon after and rushed them to the hospital. Baby girl weighed 2lbs at birth but has been thriving in the NICU and now weighs 5lbs. Both parents said they wanted their baby so much but they knew they could not give her the life that she deserved. I cried reading all of this. My heart is broken for them. John came home and we went through it all again together, although for both of us, we knew we were going to say yes before we knew details. I want us to be her family. This morning I called Social Services back and said YES!
On the one hand my heart is brimming with happiness but my heart is also broken knowing that my baby is here, alive, but so far away from me. The one thing I was looking forward to with this adoption was being there from Day 1. We missed out on so much of Cassidy's first year, and I was excited to get to do it all right from the beginning. So it was hard for me to learn that Baby Girl has already been alive for 2 months, although at 5lbs she's smaller then most babies at birth. I just want to get to her as quickly as I can.

So...that's where we are now. Our life changed, just like that. I am waiting to hear from our agency with all the details, such as when do we leave, costs, etc. I don't know for sure, but it sounds like we'll be taking off sometime this next week! This is insane!!
I am overwhelmed with God's goodness to us. Cassidy was our perfect Christmas gift and this one is my perfect Mother's day gift. Such gifts.
I promise to keep you updated once I know more about the situation. Please pray for us. Pray for Baby Girl. She is already doing well, so continue to pray that she gains weight and keeps progressing. Pray for her parents. They need it. Pray for us as we have alot to figure out in a short amount of time! Our immigration papers haven't come yet and we need those to bring her home, so pray that the gov't will be speedy in getting those here to us. We are so thankful for all your support. Look what your prayers have already done!

VEGAS BABY!!!