Gwen's Family
Our most recent adoption journey began in late 2017 with paper work and home visits. By late 2018 we were certified to adopt and started applying for adoption situations. At least once a month we’d receive an email letting us know that we had not been chosen. The second week of September we unexpectedly lost a good friend of Abby’s. In the wake of that sadness we received a phone call from our social worker letting us know that a birth mom from Alaska had chosen us and wanted to talk with us. We were elated! That joy helped ease the loss of our friend. The birth mom started having some complications and was scheduled to be induced early. We flew my mom in to take care of the kids and Craig and I traveled to Alaska with Vivian in tow. On October 1st I headed to the hospital to be with the birth mom through labor and delivery. Just after midnight a beautiful baby boy was born. I was able to cut the cord which was a first for me. They gave me a hospital bracelet linking me to the baby since I was to be his mom. It felt unreal!
Baby was having trouble oxygenating and was sent to the NICU. At birth moms request I went with him. I rested for a couple of hours and then went back to the NICU. I fed baby, talked to doctors and nurses and then FaceTimed with Craig and Viv. Viv sang songs to baby. We were in awe of this new little man. Then a call came to the NICU asking that I come out to speak with our social worker. “The mom has decided to parent” Those words stopped my world. I was shocked! We traveled last minute to Alaska...in October! No way. Another social worker , Stephanie, called us a few minutes later to commiserate... “Go climb mount Denali and scream from the top of your lungs, THIS SUCKS!”
I remembered an email about a baby girl born in Texas who was in need of a forever family. I asked Stephanie if she would show our profile to her birth mom. She agreed. Then we gathered our things and left the hospital empty handed. We spent the next few days touring Alaska, crying our eyes out and freezing our bums off. We prayed desperately for relief from the deep grief...first losing Abby’s friend and then losing a son who was only ours for a few hours. We returned home at midnight on Saturday night, October 5. On Sunday morning we received a call from Stephanie, “Are you ready to do this again? The Texas mom has chosen you and wants to meet you later this week.” I nearly dropped the phone... “Yes! Of course we’ll meet her!” The words to describe the next few days are “cautiously optimistic”. We told our 4 oldest kids about the baby and that we might adopt her but we didn’t want the younger kids to know anything about it in case it didn’t work out. On Thursday October 10, Craig got up to take the kids to school. On the way our van broke down, like completely broke down and had to be towed to a shop where it stayed for nearly two weeks...but I digress. This incident helped me feel like we were on the right track with this baby because satan was trying to get us to give up. We drove to Fort Worth, Texas, several hours later than planned yet still making it on time, to have dinner and meet a new mom and her baby. We were hyper emotional from the loss we’d experienced over the last few weeks. By the time we sat down at the restaurant we could hardly stand it. We were so nervous we were shaking and in tears. The menu had scriptures written in it... “For with God nothing shall be impossible. (Luke 1:37)” That scripture has been my screen saver on my phone since we started this adoption journey over a year ago. It brought me great peace. When Shaula walked in with her sweet baby I could hardly stand it. Shaula was beautiful! Her love for her baby was apparent as she cradled and fed her. Craig and I were both able to hold the baby while we talked. As dusk approached we decided to say our goodbyes and planned to meet at the attorneys office the next day. We could hardly believe how much had changed in the last week. We went straight from the restaurant to Walmart to buy a few essentials... car seat, diapers and formula. I made sure to hang on to the receipt, just in case. While in the store a huge rainstorm began. Epic flooding ensued as we practically floated to our hotel. We were drenched by the time we sat down in the room and called home to tell my mom and the older kids how it went. The next morning we got up early and headed to the attorneys office, arriving there around 9. We filled out our part of the paper work in a room completely separate from where Shaula was working on hers. I felt the overwhelming heartache that she must have been feeling. I also felt nervous that she’d change her mind, I couldn’t blame her if she did...she had every right to...but I didn’t want her to. Around 1:30 we got the call that Shaula has finished signing and had left the building. Now we could come into the office. The office staff was holding our sweet, perfect girl. They handed her to us and took our picture and we left. We hadn’t even opened the box with the car seat. We got things all set up and began our drive home...still cautiously optimistic that things would work out...the clock was ticking on the birth moms revocation period. She had 48 hours to change her mind. We celebrated when Sunday came, the revocation period had passed! I felt the caution leave and have been overwhelmed with optimism. Little Gwennie is a joy. She is the beauty from months and months of ashes.
October 2020
October 2021
Gwen has been such a blessing to our family! Thank you for helping to make her adoption possible.
The family at Chuck E Cheese
Gwennie and her “best friend”!!
Being fitted for her own wheels thanks to the Childrens lighthouse for the blind.
Learning to pull herself up. She’s pretty proud and so am I.
Pictures from a neighborhood buddy walk last weekend.
June 2022
Summer Magic
SEPTEMBER 2022
Gwen just turned 3. She loves jumping on the trampoline, swimming, and playing with her siblings. She is such a joy to our family. Life would not be the same without her.
