Okay, so most of you have probably heard this story, but for those who have not I thought it would be good to document it here. Most of you know that Lana and I are unable to have children of our own (through biological means) and this persuaded us to start our adoption papers last fall in hopes that we would be selected as adoptive parents at some point in the near future.
Well after all of the work that it takes to get into the adoption system, we were finally approved the beginning part of December which would allow us to be chosen as adoptive parents whenever a birthmother decided on us. The agency told us that it is typically a year and a half to two years waiting, which we were prepared for but hoped for sooner. Since there is nothing we could do at that point, we were just living our lives as normal hoping that a call would come sooner rather than later.
Well, between Christmas and New Years I received a call from a good friend Lynne asking if we were still looking to adopt. Of course I told her yes, upon which she informed me that her daughters best friend (Stephanie) was looking to place her expected baby with a family and wanted us to meet her. I told her of course and we set to meet on New Years Eve. I immediately called Lana and told her the news and we were both ecstatic at just the prospect of meeting someone.
The day came to meet Stephanie and our stomachs were full of butterflies kind of like what you might feel on a blind date. We met at Lynne's house and we all just talked for about an hour or so getting to know each other a little, then we left. We both thought that Stephanie was just a cutie. She is very quiet and doesn't ask a lot of questions so we didn't know how things went, we just thought that it was great to talk to her. She had told us that she would like to decide on a family within the month so they would have time to prepare, so we thought we would just sit tight and wait to hear from her.
Well, it is now New Years Day and Lana and I are just hanging around the house relaxing and cleaning and stuff when we decide that we should drop off a little thank you note and some pictures at Lynne's house for Stephanie to pick up sometime. When we arrived Stephanie was there, whoa, we didn't expect that and didn't want to seem too pushy or anxious, we just wanted to drop the note by for her.
She said she was glad we stopped by because she wanted to know if we could go to her ultrasound tomorrow to find out what our baby is going to be. (this is where there is a moment of silence, I was thinking why would she want us to go to the ultrasound if she hasn't even decided who she wants the baby's parents to be) So I ask, "uh, what do you mean?", and she repeats "
I want to know if you can go with me to find out what [your] baby is going to be". (okay now this is just speechless silence followed by lots of tears.) By this time all of Lynne's family was around and we were all crying and hugging and just glowing with the news.
The rest of that night seems kind of like a dream. I remember Lana and I went to a local burger joint for dinner and we both could not get the smile off our faces. That is when we asked each other if we had been thinking of any names and I said just one, "Gabe" so that is what we decided on even before we knew the gender. We just figured that if it was a girl we would come up with something else.
The next day at the ultrasound was one of the best experiences we have had together. Stephanie was so generous letting us be in the room and experience that with her, and when we found out it was a boy everything kind of fell into place. I was soooooo excited. Silently I had always been rooting for a boy, but had consigned myself to the reality that we would get a girl because I wanted a boy so badly. I have to say that things have worked out wonderfully for us and that we honestly have felt so blessed and watched over through this entire adoption process, and we simply could not have asked for a better girl to go through this experience with than Stephanie.
