24 hours...

I can hardly believe it was just 24 days ago!  It seems in the blink of an eye our life has turned upside down and we are on the fast track to baby j.  Just 24 days ago we met a precious woman whom we have grown to love in ways I cannot begin to explain.  And in less than 24 hours from now we will be holding a precious baby boy.  All of this comes with such a range of emotions it is overwhelming at times.  In the midst of it all we feel complete peace.  So much preparation and prayer have gone into these past 24 days, I promise to blog about it sometime soon.

We have received many questions related to what this weekend will look like and the best I can sum it up is to say that adoption is risky.  It is a different kind of normal and the unknown leads many to a sense fear.  Without going into great detail I want to let you know what this weekend will look like for us, so perhaps you might know why it is so important that you keep praying.

I am not at liberty to share a great deal so please bear with me, I promise to explain more as time goes by.  We will be welcoming baby j into the world tomorrow!  Baby j will be here, but he will not legally be ours for a period of time until papers are signed and filed with the court.  This will be a minimum 72 hours, with no maximum specified.  Because of HIPPA (privacy law) we will not be able to post pictures of baby j on any public medium.  We know how excited everyone is to see him, that time will come.  Once the papers are signed he will be the newest addition to our family and then it is just a matter of finalization with the court, which takes places later down the line.  We are not sure what day we will be bringing baby j home, but we will let you know.  I apologize this is so vague, I cannot wait to share the whole story with you, but for now this is the best we can do.

Unfortunately we have a bit of bad news.  In talking with our adoption counselor yesterday it has come to our attention that, due to HIPPA laws, it would be best to shut down facebook for the protection of all involved. Heathers facebook will be shut down by the close of the weekend as we still want to be able to give updates on when baby j arrives.  We will have a Hope4BabyJ facebook page as well as our blog, but the only way to find out how baby j is doing will be by email.  If you would like to be added to the email listing, shoot Heather an email at hope4babyj@gmail.com.  Make sure you identify who you are in the email or we wont be able to add you to the list.

Like I said before this is a different kind of normal, it is not as simple as just bringing baby home from the hospital, but we would not change this for anything.  I know all of this probably brings about more questions than answers.  To each of you reading I have but one request, lay your fears at the feet of the Lord and pray for each of us as we walk into the journey that lays ahead.  Please pray for the birth mother, baby j, our adoption counselor, doctors, nurses, extended family and for us.  God has held each of us to this point in our life and HE holds these next 24, 48, 72 hours and beyond.

So I leave you with this, as I was writing this blog it brought to mind a song by Switchfoot called "24".  It has absolutely nothing to do with adoption or babies, but happens to be one of my favorite songs.  May it bring a smile to your face and peace to your heart.  Oh and as for baby j's name....you will just have to wait until tomorrow :-)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OLagfciU_PU

With much adoration to a God who is doing so far above and beyond all we asked or imagined, I say Good Night!

Love you all and thank you for the continued prayers,
heather