Our Baby Boy Is Due Any Day Now!

It has been a long time since we have updated our blog. The last time we talked about being matched. Well since then we have met with the birth parents 3 times. In July we went to the beach and we had a blast! Later in July we met up for Mexican food and played at the park with their little boy. And in August we went to Castle Park in Riverside. Matt and I took our niece Kallie with us and she got along great with the birthparents' little boy. It was so fun to watch them interact. We went on a few rides, played in the arcade, attempted miniature golfing with 2 kids :) and played at the water park.

We get along with the birth parents and their little boy so well. We know that God has placed us in each other's lives for a reason. We decided that after the baby is born we are going to keep in contact with them and meet up occasionally throughout our son's life. They are giving us such an amazing gift and we feel so blessed!

Last Wednesday, September 14, the birthmother went to the hospital with contractions and pain but then we found out that it was a false alarm. We still communicate with the birthparents and they are telling us that they think that the baby will be here soon.

In the meanwhile we have fully prepared our son's room. We went through the whole nesting process and now we are anxiously awaiting the arrival of our little man! =)

WE HAVE BEEN MATCHED!!!!!

      At about 8:25am on Wednesday, June 22 we received a call from A is 4 Adoption telling us that we were having a baby. We had been matched! I was so excited and called Matt right away. While he was at work I had to get all of the information about the birth parents together so that Matt and I could review it before making our commitment. My mom and sisters were in Mexico visiting my grandparents so I connected with my dad and we called her to get her feedback on the situation. Being the cautious mom that she is she told me "You better run this by Darlene before you make your decision." You see Darlene is our adoption lawyer and my parents neighbor/friend. I was hesitant to call Darlene because I din't want her to tell us that it wasn't a good match. But I knew that if we were going to do things we needed to do them right. So I called Darlene and she said that she would call Lori at A is 4 Adoption to get all of the details and then she would call us back. After a day of waiting (which felt like forever), Darlene was finally able to get a hold of Lori and called us telling us that it was a great match. What a relief both Matt and I felt. I think after I got off the phone I did a little happy dance because I couldn't contain all the excitement.
   The next couple of days we filled out paperwork and anxiously waited for the night of our meeting. We decided to make it on my birthday because Matt already had taken the day off and what better birthday present than meeting your future baby' s parents! On June 30th at 5pm we met the birth parents, their 1 1/2 year old son and the birth father's mom. It was such a surreal moment. Both birthparents were so sweet and their son was adorable. We were all kind of nervous but after awhile we all opened up a little more. We exchanged phone numbers to make sure that we keep in contact before the baby is born. Before we parted our separate ways the birth father said that he was so happy that he picked us and knows he made the right choice. The whole experience was very emotional as Matt and I definitely feel as though God has called us to this family. We have always believed that God has already chosen our baby!
   After that night we made sure to go to the bank and figure out a way to get the $8,000 we needed for the birth mother expenses. We were fortunately able to also refinance Matt's car even though we have just paid it off. We told each other that if we cannot find the means then it is God's way of telling us that this is not meant to be. But God has been opening so many door for us to be able to adopt. We now have a total of $26,000 in loans for this adoption but we know God will provide. We have been very blessed to receive monetary donations by family and friends as well as donations for our garage sales. And we are continuing to raise money through donations, car washes, garage sales, etc.

We ask that you continue to pray for us through this amazing journey.

Our baby boy is due Oct 7th!!!!

We chose our adoption organization!

Last Friday we went up to the O.C. for two appointments with adoption organizations. We first met with A is 4 Adoption. After sitting down and talking to them, we realized that this was exactly where God wanted us to be. We decided to go to lunch after to discuss it more and decided to go with them. We ended up canceling our appointment with the other organization we were going to meet with later that day. It sounds kind of crazy but we both looked at each other and said "This is it" After weeks of researching and contemplating different places we both felt at peace with our decision to go with A is 4 Adoption.

We are in the process of finishing our Dear Birth mom letter and our picture collage that we will send to A is 4 adoption on Monday morning. Then they can show our profile to potential birth moms and we wait. While we wait we will continue to fill out paperwork to finish our home study through Hope4kids. It has been so amazing how many supportive people we have encountered through this process. We have made new friends with an amazing couple who is also going through A is 4 Adoption and they have been helping us through the paperwork process and have also been great emotional support. We are also so thankful for our family and friends that have been so supportive through this process.

We are so excited and are hoping to get matched soon! Now we need to make sure to fund raise like crazy so we can afford to adopt a beautiful baby. Once we are matched we have to come up with an additional $7,500 plus birth mother expenses. We are certain that God will provide, He always does! Please pray for us through this process!

God's Plan

 

 A year after Matt and I got married we began trying to get pregnant. We were so excited to start our family. We continued to try but no luck. It was a very emotional time, especially watching a lot of our friends get pregnant while we couldn't. After 2 disappointing years of trying we finally decided to go to a fertility doctor to get tested. So, last summer we went through all the testing to find out that medically there is nothing wrong with us. We were told that after so many years of trying we should do in-vitro. We just didn't feel like that was the right choice for us. 

After praying about it we both felt that God was calling us to adopt. If there was nothing wrong with us and we hadn’t conceived then it was God’s will. We have been talking about adoption for over a year now, but now we feel like it’s God’s time for us to go forth with adopting a beautiful baby boy or girl. 

Matt and I are so excited about this adoption process. We have been researching several adoption agencies and facilities. We are very blessed to have an adoption lawyer that is also a family friend. She has been making sure that we are equipped with sufficient knowledge. Matt and I have narrowed our search to 2 adoption organizations and we are meeting with both on Friday so we can make the best decision. We will keep you updated on our choice. We are hoping to sign with someone by next week!

How it all started

The story of how Matt and I came to be is such an amazing gift from God. Matt and I attended the same high school for four years, but we didn't actually meet until our first year of college. The funny thing is that we are both from Escondido but didn't meet until we both were in Irvine at Concordia University. God is so amazing that way. He was waiting until we were emotionally ready for each other. You see, my younger brother ran cross country with Matt in high school. So when my family came to move me in, my dad and brother were bored with getting my room ready. They decided to go wander the grounds. My brother recognized Matt from a distance and the shy guy that my dad is ;) he decided to flag Matt down and told him "Didn't you run cross country with my son?" They talked for a little and then my dad quickly returned to my room to tell me about his encounter. The next day, as I was walking with my roommate, Matt stopped me and told me "Hey when you talk to your brother tell him I said hi" Romantic right? :) For the next couple of weeks he would look for me and ask me about my brother. We slowly became friends and in October of 2001 we started dating. We not only were boyfriend and girlfriend, but we were best friends. We got married in July of 2007 and have been happily married ever since.