"It's Getting Real Now, Isn't It?!"

I spent some time this morning on the phone with an adoption specialist from our agency. She was walking me through the matching process and telling me what to expect. I had a lot of questions for her. At one point in the conversation, I was so tongue tied and couldn't get the right words out to ask my next question. I said, "I'm sorry. I'm not finding the right words." The sweet lady on the other end of the phone laughed and said, "It's getting real now, isn't it?"

YES! So real! Unbelievably and overwhelmingly REAL!

The way the matching process will work is that we will receive birth mother profiles via email as the agency receives them. The profiles will just be facts about the expectant mother and the baby. We'll find out the birth mom's first name, race, race of birth father, gender of baby if known, any known medical conditions that could affect the baby, and any drug use in the expectant mother. (There could be NO medical or drug information, but the agency will tell us any pertinent information that could affect the child's health.) We can spend a little time discussing the information we receive. Then we can decide if we want to be considered by that birth mother or not. If we say no, no big deal. They will send another profile when they get one. If we say yes, they will present our adoption profile to the birth mother.

At this point, the birth mother could have a few profiles to view. She will make a decision, and from there we could meet her, or not. It's all a case-by-case situation.

The agency does not begin matching birth mothers with families until they are at least 20 weeks pregnant. In other words, when we are matched, we will only have a MAXIMUM of 20 weeks until the baby is born! It could be much less! Once a match occurs, things happen quickly! She could be 20 weeks, or she could be 39 weeks! There's no telling!

The conversation I had with the adoption specialist was wonderful! It was exciting, and I hung up the phone and was filled with hope! Within the next couple of weeks, we will begin receiving profiles. We COULD match within the next month or less! Or we could match a year from now! (Honestly, I think it's going to be a lot sooner than a year, but only the Lord knows the timeline!) After the call ended, I immediately called Austin to tell him every detail! We're ecstatic!

I'm not going to lie, as excited as I am about potentially matching soon, I'm also nervous! My head is spinning! I keep thinking, "What if we match with someone next week and they're due a week later?" We have NOTHING for a baby! No car seat. No crib or baby bed of any kind. No baby clothes. No diapers. NOTHING!!! If we match and still have several weeks before the baby is due, we'll have some time to prepare, but what if it happens suddenly?! How much time will I be able to take off work? Surely not the typical 6 weeks that other mothers receive. Typically day cares won't take a baby until they are at least 6 weeks old. What if I can only take off 3 weeks? What will we do? Who will watch the baby during the day? What day care will we use after that? It's all SO CRAZY! I have answers to none of these questions. I work for a wonderful school district, and I know they will do what they can to help me with time off. We have the most amazing family, and I will never have to worry about having a plethora of babysitters! Not only do we have wonderful family, but incredible friends as well. If an emergency placement happens, which I honestly don't expect, but if it does, we have a village of loved ones who will be beating down our door to help us supply baby clothes, diapers, etc. I'm a thousand percent confident that no matter HOW it happens, it WILL happen, and it WILL be wonderful!

Here's what we need! PRAYER! Please, please, please PRAY for the birth mother who will choose us. Pray for her health and choices, and pray for the baby's health. Pray for wisdom for Austin and myself as we look through birth mother profiles of information. Pray that we make wise choices about who will be the right fit for us. Pray for our nerves, especially mine! That police officer of mine is so calm all the time, but I'm a worrier! Just PRAY! It's powerful!

We are so excited and nervous all at the same time! The unknowns are huge, but we have complete and total trust in God's perfect will and timing!