We can go back as far as 2001 to an Andrew Peterson concert, it was Valentines Day 2001. It was at that concert that Daniel won a date from a drawing we had all entered when we filled out a "data match survey" from the Student Activities Council(?) (was that called SAC?). Anyway....winning this date gave him a good reason and maybe a little more courage to ask me out on a first date! :) [Side note: We had been hanging out for quite a while and we pretty much did EVERYTHING together at this point, however, we never had an OFFICIAL date). We started officially dating in April of that year. This was the start of a lifetime of Valentine's Days for us.........
Fast forward, we got engaged, got married, had our struggles with infertility and then started the adoption process.
February 1, 2006 was our homestudy interview. This is a 3 hour interview at the home. At this point we already had our other paperwork in, this was the last step in the process for us before we could be matched to a birthmother.
Feb. 1-12 (we got two calls about babies that didn't work out)
Feb. 13, 2006 we got a call about a baby girl. We were told she was an African-American baby girl, due to be born at the end of the month. We were asked if we were interested and of course we said "yes". So at that point we got a fax with more information, we signed some papers and we were officially matched and waiting for our baby to be born at the end of the month.
I was so excited that I went out that night and bought some pink things (socks, hats, blankets). Then we had to get ourselves into gear to get our required 24 hours of adoption training finished so we could bring the baby home. We could easily get this done in the two weeks before the baby was born.
Feb. 16, 2006, I was at work in the library at Southern Seminary and Daniel was working there too. I got a call from the agency telling us that there were issues with the birthfather and that they were not longer going to work with this case. So, we were not getting the baby girl.
After Daniel and I got off work we went out to eat. We were sad but not distraught. A bit confused because God had provided the money we needed for fees that were due as soon as we brought the baby home. The check had come either the 12th or 13th. Things seemed to be falling right into place for us to bring this baby home. But, we trusted God knew what he was doing and we were okay.
We got home and Daniel had to go to bed (he had to be at UPS early, early morning), I stayed up and layed on the couch watching the winter olympics with our dog Job. I was also waiting for a phone call from our good friends who were in the hospital waiting for their little one to be born. I got up for some reason and looked at the cell phone. I had a message on the phone. It was from the birth mother advocate. She said the birthmother was about to go in for a c-section and that we needed to call her. I immediately called and she said "You need to get to Bowling Green, your baby is being born and the birthmother wants the family here as soon as possible. How long will it take you to get here?" SOOOOOOOO I was very confused and said, "we were told we were not getting the baby" and she told us things have changed come (we had not heard from the director of the agency but we went ahead and drove to Bowling Green, hoping that we really were getting this baby girl). Anyway, I quickly packed, woke Daniel up, and as we were heading out the door got the call our friend's baby girl, Ruth had been born. I said, "our baby has been born too and we are headed to Bowling Green!" Daniel was so sleepy and he gathered the car seat and other things I asked him to grab but neglected to pack for himself! :)
So our Hannah was born Feb. 16, 2006 - what a day, thinking we were not getting her and then getting her, it was just 3 days after we learned of the match, and a very short 16 days after our homestudy visit! Wow! God is good! God is faithful! He can do "Immeasurably more than we can ask or think"! (Eph. 3:20)
In February 2007 Benjamin was born. This was also completely from God! We were working on updating our homestudy for some twins. The twins didn't work out and the agency told us they had a baby that was born on Valentine's Day and wondered if we were interested. Of course we were! We spent the rest of the month of February and part of March getting the needed paperwork finished so we could bring him home. Though we didn't bring him home in February we did know about him and were working so hard to get him home! He came home at 6 weeks old, March 26.
And now it is February again. A time that I reflect on how faithful God has been to us in the past. I know He will continue to be faithful. It is so hard waiting for another baby. My "babies" will be 4 and 5 this week! I am so ready to have another baby. But, I know that God is good, God is faithful, and God's timing is best. The month of February is a special reminder of all these things for me! I don't know if God will bless us again in the month of February with another baby, but I do know that He will always be faithful to me! That is just His character!
God is always faithful, good times and bad. He will never leave us. He offers salvation to all who call upon the name of Jesus. He doesn't always promise us easy times but he always gives us the grace we need for the tough times. He always keeps his promises and He loves us and I believe he likes to give us good gifts! For His Glory! He has given me such wonderful gifts in Daniel, Hannah, and Benjamin! I can't wait to see what He does next!
I found this verse tonight:
Know therefore that the LORD your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commands. Deut. 7:9
1 comment:
Your family is such a testimony to God's faithfulness to His children. We have been so very blessed by knowing yall.
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