K-

We started our road to adoption at the end of March, 2003. We had talked to friends who adopted previously and told them of our plans. They invited us over for "Adoption 101." Let's discuss our lives over a pot of chili, shall we? That we did. They were great. Any question we had was never a dumb one. Then there was a clincher. "Hey, so the biological mom to two of our children is pregnant again. We didn't want to have anymore and we don't want you to feel obligated, but would you be interested?" Sure! So, they hooked us up with their homefinder from the county. She hooked us up with the initial class. You have to go to that, be fingerprinted and have a background check. If you pass that, they'll let you proceed. Can't blame them. Then came the class work. We were told that the baby would be born late August-early September. We needed to get on the stick to get these classes and coursework and general paperwork done.

We had something to consider in all of this (well, more than just this, but this was a main problem in our scheduling anything)-- my husband's work schedule. At the time, he worked for a park system that scheduled their programs 6 months in advance. Since they were in print, nothing ever got canceled-- sickness, weather or otherwise. You know what? God provided. The classes that we had to attend fell on all of the right days and Saturdays that Hubs had off. It was absolutely amazing! The coursework was 6 weeks of Tuesday evenings and a lot of Saturdays. Hubs had his CPR and First Aid current because of his job, but I was not. We both had to have physicals done, have a homestudy and fill out stacks of paperwork. We hit a glitch with the homestudy because I didn't have a big enough fire extinguisher and I didn't have an escape route posted at the bottom of the basement steps. (Um, we have a 1000 sq foot ranch and the outside door was at the top of the steps.) We had to have the fire department back out one more time and we were fine. Two days after our homestudy was approved, we got a phone call about our baby. Interestingly enough, we were just on our way out the door to pick up baby furniture at Babies R Us. Our baby wasn't due until December. "Expect a call from Thanksgiving to Christmas." It gave us some extra time to get a few more things ready and to take a few more classes (to get them out of the way.)

Thanksgiving came and people started wondering. I had been keeping somewhat close tabs on K-'s first mom via her record. I would call or e-mail back and forth to let the county know her whereabouts. You see, she had been in and out of jail for a variety of reasons. K- was to be her 7th child and she had somewhat of a reputation with the county.

We got a call December 18. The homefinder apologized that it wasn't the "it" call, but she wanted to call and let me know that she had a visual on K-'s first mom and she was very, very, very with child. Good. She's still on the bake. I'll never forget. I was downstairs in our basement making Christmas cookie boxes.

Hubs and I were spinning around the house that Saturday. In retrospect, I think that we were nesting, but didn't realize it. I had a cold coming on and felt kind of crubby, but pressed on and went to work that Monday. When I got in my friend, the staff seamstress, handed me a note. (All the while saying, "What the heck took you so long?") It was from our homefinder. I called and it. was. the. call.

Our baby was here.

Our baby was a little girl.

Our baby was going to be ours that day!

So there it was, three days before Christmas and I went dashing out of work announcing to my boss, "I just had a baby! Don't I look darn good?!" (Only I do recall not having said darn.) I wanted to tell Hubs in person. I was so excited that I pulled out in front of a car and almost got creamed. When I went in, I went as straight faced as I could be. I bypassed the desk. I ignored the questions that they were asking and went straight in. He thought something had happened to his dad. Then I told him. "We have a little girl and we need to go pick her up!"

I had gotten the message at 10 AM. I got to hubs by 10:45 AM. We needed to get back home to get the necessary phone calls. (We had no cell.) We had a flurry of phone calls from both the county and the family. I swear that mom would have rented the Goodyear blimp if she could have. We couldn't find Hubs' mom. She was out shopping for our new-to-arrive baby. Then we got the time-- 3:30 PM. We had one hour to run to the store to get our blessed little bundle an outfit. We ended up at Value City, which I have no idea of why. Hubs picked out a beautiful green dress for her for Christmas, because he told me the one I picked looked like a doilie on a grandmother's dresser. We also picked up a home going outfit. It was three days before Christmas and the racks were stripped clean. Hubs found an outfit that he loved. It was a 3-6 month outfit. It was tiny. How far off could we be? We scooped up a stuffed Moose, her Christmas gift, the couple of outfits and ran back home. (Let's face it, what do you buy a newborn for Christmas when everything you have for them is sparklingly new anyhow? Her gift was a home!)

Then it was time! When we got there, we laughed hilariously. This was the scene that we came to at the maternity room doors:
The maternity room doors were wrapped up like a big gift, and as we awaited the arrival of the social worker, I had Mark snap this picture. Our gift was just beyond those doors.

We went in. I distinctly recall that we were both just very quiet. Very respectful. We were doing jumping jacks inside, though. The nurses were so wonderful. They could only sing the praises of our baby. You see, K- was left behind by her first mom. For a variety of reasons, her first mom knew that she would not be permitted to take her with her, so she left the hospital 12 hours after birth and left her in the care of the nurses and doctors.

I can't tell you how much we thank her for that.

Then they wheeled her out. In our photo library, this is titled "The first time we saw you."

So tiny and so sweet. She was born 6 lbs and 11 oz. 19" long and just a petite little thing with ski feet. The 3-6 month outfit was huge. It almost swallowed her whole. It made everyone giggle, though!

But, we were in love. More tomorrow.