Anna Belle's Story Part 2

On the night of Tuesday November 4 we met with our social worker Danita for our international Ethiopia adoption we were pursuing. She was contracted out by our adoption agency Children's Hope International. It was a wonderful meeting. We spent 3 hours with her in our home and we really clicked. Before she left we talked to her about what she does and about the domestic adoption agency she has. We asked her about placements she had made and she shared some great stories with us. After she was gone Johnathon and I talked and I was on cloud nine saying how great the process was going and how painless the home study was. Johnathon, on-the-other-hand, was quiet like in deep thought.

He broke his silence with, "I'm not so sure about all this". Practicing the art of biting my tongue, I asked him to elaborate. We spent about 2 hours discussing his thoughts and feelings and mine and basically he said after hearing Danita talk about local placements for adoption he started to think maybe we should reconsider domestic adoption. He communicated that he was completely on board for Ethiopia, but out of the blue started having second thoughts. So together we prayed for clarity. We asked the Lord to speak and give Johnathon a clear word as to what we should do.

Wednesday morning while we were at work Johnathon got a phone call from his friend Eddie who had recently adopted a baby boy. He and his wife had received a phone call from their social worker that morning about a 9 month old African American baby that was being placed for adoption and needed a home asap. They told their SW that they would call a friend who was open to adopt an AA baby (That would be us). So Johnathon received that call and talked to Eddie to get whatever details he had. Eddie gave Johnathon his SW information and come to find out their SW was Danita! After J got off the phone he walked into my office, closed the door and looked at me like he had just met Jesus. He said "you are not going to believe the phone call I just had". He explained everything to me. I said "You got some clarity now??"

We called Danita. The details were that the birth mom knew she could not provide for her baby and knew she needed to place her for adoption. Danita was going to meet with the BM on Thursday (the next day). If the mom signed the surrender papers Danita would pick up the baby that night. We were scheduled to fly out Thursday morning to Dallas to go visit my sister and her husband Marcie and Zach for a little vacation get-a-way. Danita said that if we decided to adopt the baby we should not cancel our trip because it was still not for sure that the BM was going to sign the papers; however, if she did sign them it would probably be best for Danita to keep the baby for a few days to observe her.

So we prayed and talked and prayed. Talked to family and close friends and prayed some more. We made the decision late Wednesday night that we wanted to adopt her. We called Danita Thursday morning on our way to the airport to tell her we wanted to adopt this little baby girl. She began rejoicing over the phone and saying she just knew this baby was for us, but didn't want to say that before and influence our decision.

So we went to TX over joyed and a little shocked at what was about to take place. We received a call late Thursday night confirming that the BM had signed the papers. We spent the next few days preparing as much as we possibly could in TX for the arrival of our baby girl. Believe it our not it was really great to be TX during that waiting period. I thought I would have been freaking out not being at home getting everything ready but, I was so glad that Marcie got to be a big part of the whole process. It was also a huge blessing because Marcie's mother-in-law is a Jesus loving Martha Stewart and she taught me how to sew while we were out there and we made all of Anna Belle's bedding and pillows and window toppers. That is something I have always wanted to do, but have never learned. I always thought it would be so special to make everything in my child's room and it was the hand of the Lord that He would answer that silent prayer deep in my heart. Now do not be fooled Mrs. Toni (aka Martha Stewart) did ALL the hard work Marcie and I just played a part and learned a lot.

Family and friends at home went to our house and cleared out our guest room, moved all the furniture to my parents storage unit and painted her bedroom pink. My sister brought over all of her daughter's hand-me-downs and a handful of toys and bottles so that we had the necessities.

That brings us to Sunday, November 9, 2008: we boarded a plane and headed home to meet our little girl for the first time (Danita did take some pictures and sent them to us Saturday night and that is when we saw how absolutely beautiful she was). We arrived at home by 3pm had a million butterflies in our stomachs and waited till 6:15pm when Danita pulled up in our drive way with our baby. We finally held her in our arms still shocked and completely over joyed that in less than a week our lives went from baby less, hoping and praying for God to give us a child, to completely filled with love and devotion for our precious Anna Belle.

Needless to say it was a wonderfully crazy first week filled with many unknowns and so much love, happiness and joy that I cannot think of a better way to have received such a blessing.

ENJOY THE PICTURES

In TX late Thursday night receiving the call from Danita that Anna Belle was for sure ours!!

The next day we hit the town to go shopping and pick out paint colors

Johnathon's Parents said they would like to paint the room for us while we were gone so we picked out the colors in TX and they bought the paint in MS

Johnathon said he had never gone shopping for a baby before and it was a must. So we hit up the closest baby boutique and this is what he picked out all by himself...soo cute!

Picking out fabrics for the baby room!!

Sew sew sew....

Even Johnathon got in on the sewing...he was sewing the bumper pads together

Seeing Anna Belle for the FIRST TIME!!!!

This is the beautiful baby we saw... With her birth mom

Finally in our arms and our home!!

Oh so perfect!!

Anna Belle's Story Part 1

Anna Belle was born on January 21, 2008 and I believe her birth weight was 5lb 6 oz. Her birth mom (BM), Dekotha, had kept the pregnancy a secret in hopes that it would be easier to place her for adoption without family and friends trying to convince her otherwise. She did; however, tell the biological father who choose to leave and not play a part.

Dekotha had Anna Belle and left her in the care of the State of LA to be placed for adoption. As it is law a social worker later met with Dekotha to counsel with her to make sure that adoption was indeed what Dekotha wanted to do. At that time Dekotha and her 4 other children were all living in a FEMA trailer. When the counselor met with Dekotha she advised her that Anna Belle should be placed back with her family. Dekotha agreed and the state returned Anna Belle to her. Dekotha named her "Beauty Adream".

When Anna Belle was about six months old her BM tried again to place her for adoption with a lady that lived in their neighborhood. They tried it for about a month or two and when the social worker came to counsel with Dekotha for that adoption it was Dekotha who said it was just not going to work. She said she saw Anna Belle so much it was too hard to not have her with them. It was especially hard on the other kids. So for a second time Anna Belle returned to her birth family. Dekotha said every time she looked at Anna Belle she felt sorry for her and it just made her sad because she was so little and sick with Eczema. AB never laughed or smiled and Dekotha knew she had to do something to help her. She knew AB needed more care than what she was able to offer. In order for another adoption to work she knew she was going to have to use an agency.

Dekotha saved every penny she could for a few weeks until she had enough money to get a phone. Once she got the phone she pulled out a phone book one Saturday and started down the list of agencies calling every one of them. She continued to get Voicemail and she would not leave a message. She said the one that answers I know will be the one. That is when she called Acorn Adoption Agency and spoke to the most wonderful person in the world, Danita our social worker, who was to conduct our home study on the following Tuesday.

To be continued...

too cute

She is Too cute for words!

Anna Belle Faye

Wow what an amazing life change! It is no mistake that the Lord set Anna Belle apart for His purpose and for our family!

Today makes 11 days of having her in our life and words cannot truly express how great it is to hold her in my arms. She is so EXPRESSIVE! So very lovable, observant and tiny. She loves to crawl around and will probably be walking this month. She loves to be held and talked to. The great thing is she hugs and kisses! The kisses are more like licking vs a lip smack ;-) She is very content and enjoys reading books with me. I have attached some pictures from the shower my family and friends had for us. She literally opened presents with me for almost an hour. It was the cutest thing ever! Thank you Brittany for such good pictures!!

**Disclaimer: she was having a bad hair day so please don't judge the fro. Also her little head band was a little too big and continued to fall off.

admiring the quilt Aunt Marcie MADE!!

she loves to sit on her knees it is so cute

playing "peek-a-boo" under the dinning room table

so sweet and serious

Below are some random snap shots:

mommy's first try at pigtails

day 2 she started to smile and laugh with us

That's all for now. I have been at home this whole time and not at work and our Internet is not reliable so I have not been able to get on and post. Hopefully that will change soon.

Major Adoption Update

In a nut shell our lives have turned upside down in the best way possible in a matter of 2 days!!

On wednesday morning (yesterday) we were contacted by a couple we know that recently adopted locally. They were calling to tell us about a 9 month old baby girl that was being placed for adoption and needed a home quickly. Their social worker had called them to see if they knew of anyone who was looking to adopt. Come to find out their social worker is the same lady that we have met with for our homestudy. I will call the social worker D* for now. We immediately called D* and got the details which I cannot go into on the Internet at this time due to confidentiality, but will share more details as soon as I can. Johnathon and I prayed a lot about it. Talked a lot about it. And believe this little baby is an answer to a lot of our prayers. So on Monday November 10th we will get to meet her. Her name will be Anna Belle it means Grace, Favor and Beauty. As we believe through her - God's Grace, God's Favor and His Beauty is being revealed. 

We are in TX right now visiting my sister and just received the phone call tonight that the birth mom did the most courageous selfless act possible and signed the papers to place her baby for adoption.  Please pray for this birth mom because I'm sure she needs the Lord so much right now to comfort her. 

We cannot post pictures right now mainly because we don't have any and because of confidentiality. But don't worry you will see pictures as soon as I can post them! 

We are very excited and cannot wait to meet our baby Belle!

I am going to try and get some sleep now.

More to come

I know it has been a while I plan on updating soon!

Adoption Update

Well there is not much to update just a few logistics.

We got our finger prints back from the FBI! I was told that it could take up to 8 weeks so when we got them back in less than 2 I was shocked. We both had our physicals done. Tomorrow we go to the health department for: Drug, HIV and TB testing. Once the results are in we will send it all off to Bethany and that will complete all the paper work (for now).

Next steps:

• Joint Interview with Bethany Christian Services
• Complete book reading assignment: Dear Birthmother
• Second Group Meeting (TBA) with other couples and BCS facilitator
• Begin working on Profile and Birth Mother Letter

It has been really great talking to friends and family and receiving so much support and encouragement. I didn't realize how impactful it would be to hear all the positive support. It really helps and makes me feel like we are not alone while trying to navigate through some very uncharted waters.

A BIG thank you to everyone for your encouragement and support!!