Finalization!

Around 2pm on 6/23/16, we finalized our adoption of Amos over the phone!

Other photos from the day:

Waiting for the call

Right after!

Clip of the finalization call

Post Finalization Partying!

Meeting Amos

December 28th our Amanda text messaged me to say she was going to the hospital because she thought she might be in labor. I spent 90 minutes getting ready to fly out, just in case it really was labor. It turned out to be just a false alarm, but it really helped me prepare!

December 29th Britt got a rental car and left in the afternoon for Florida. The idea was that he would get to Florida on the 30th, go stay with our friends Chris and Tracy, and wait for Amanda to go into labor.

December 30th:
5:09am I received this message:

I immediately jumped out of bed and started getting packed, called my parents (to come watch the kids) and called Britt. No one answered my calls, so I continued to prepare to leave. I went to buy a ticket, and the website froze up, but eventually it worked (or so I thought). 
7:15am: I had put my phone down while running around preparing but when I finally checked my phone, I got this text: "He's here! Born at 6:57". I couldn't believe he was ALREADY BORN! So fast! I called Britt (who was back on the road driving to Florida) to tell him Amos had been born. :D

8am: I was finally able to contact my parents as well, and they arrived by 8am. I said goodbye to the kids, and jumped in the car with my dad.
8:30am: I arrived at the airport and tried to check in, but the kiosk wouldn't let me. I stood in line with my dad for a while, and it turned out that when the website froze, it changed my ticket! So the ticket I paid for was for TWO WEEKS from the day I needed to fly. Fortunately, they were able to change my ticket (for a price, ouch), and put me on an 11am flight instead of the original 9:30am flight.
3pm: I FINALLY landed in Florida! By this time, Britt was in the Tampa area and arrived at the airport shortly after I landed. He picked me (and all my stuff!) up and we made our way to the hospital in the next town over.
4:30pm: We finally got to the hospital. :D We went in and met Amanda and her sister, and spent some time chatting while waiting for them to bring Amos in. He was getting his first bath, and then had to spend time under the warmer before he could come back. 
5pm? They brought Amos in! :D Britt and I got to spend the next couple of hours holding him while we talked to Amanda and her sister. We took a lot of photos but didn't share them until paperwork was signed two days later. Here is one photo from right after we met him: 

He was so sweet and tiny! :D They gave me a bottle to feed him with and they told me I got him to drink more than he had all day, but he wasn't happy to be eating. :p Little guy just wanted to sleep.

As I sat next to Britt while he held Amos I said to him, "This feels like a dream. Doesn't it feel like a dream? This whole thing just doesn't feel real!" :) That night we went back to the hotel nearby and had to figure out how to sleep despite so much excitement. I could not WAIT to get up in the morning and head back to see him again. :)

The next couple of days we spent divided between the hotel, the hospital, and running errands/eating out. On new years eve, our last night without Amos, we went to see The Hobbit at the theater by our hotel. :) They told us they might release Amos that night but then the doctor decided against discharging him, so we saw the movie after all. I drove Britt crazy by text messaging photos of him to my family and generally text messaging through all the battle scenes ("Britt! I can watch it later, Amos is more exciting!!"). 

January 1, 10:00am: We got to the hospital and waited in the lobby for the lady from the attorneys office to arrive with witnesses so birth mom and us could sign paperwork. They got lost, so we waited another hourish.
1pm: All of the paperwork was finished and we were released to go with Amos! Leaving the hospital was so strange. We walked out with Amos' birth mom Amanda in a wheelchair, a nurse carrying Amos, and Amanda's sister as well. We stood outside while Britt and Amanda's sister pulled up the cars, and then said goodbye, hugged, and drove away.  

He's here!

Amos Jordan born December 30 at 6:57am, 5lb 14oz and 17" long!

We are so in love!

Fully Funded!

Wow! What a crazy 5 days!  

In the past 5 days you guys have donated the $5,000 we needed to cover all of our legal fees! 

Our adoption puzzle fundraiser is complete:

Now all that is left to do is pack up next week and drive down to meet baby!

We are so incredibly thankful to everyone who has donated to our adoption, and that we can bring this baby home without going into debt!

We can't express how thankful we are to everyone who has shared our story, prayed for us, and donated. :) We have been amazed time and again by the generosity of our friends, family, and strangers too!

I will keep this blog updated as we travel to Florida and will be sharing photos of Amos too, as soon as I'm legally allowed to. :D

Thanks friends!

14 days!

We are getting so incredibly close to meeting our little guy! In 13 days we will be driving to Florida and in 14 days we'll be at his birth.

The funny thing is that somehow the wait is harder even though we are so close. Time is FLYING by, but yet it can't go by fast enough. :)

In the past month:

• We received a grant for $2,500 from Gift of Adoption.
• We set up the crib and prepped all the baby clothes for the trip.
• We had our homestudy update visit with our amazing and wonderful social worker.
• Izzy turned 3 and Rachel turned 30!
• We raised about $1,000 in donations and sales from Rachel's etsy shop.
• We sent out fundraiser letters with our Christmas cards.
• We talked with the expectant mom via text message and decided to name baby Amos Jordan! 

At this point we need about $5,000 which is amazing considering we started out needing $29,000! We technically are not sure whether we will be able to use the $7,000 grant we have from Show Hope, so it's possible we'll need to raise that $7k after the $5k we're trying to raise now. It's pretty overwhelming but we've come so far! I just have to keep that in mind. :)
A question I keep hearing is "What will you do if you don't raise the money you need?". Well, we HAVE to have $20,000 when we sign papers in Florida. So we will use our last resort and get a loan for whatever money we don't raise. We are hoping and praying that the money will be raised and we won't have to go into debt for this adoption.

If every one of the 205 people who "liked" our facebook page donated, we'd have the $5k we need. Thinking of it that way, it seems like a reachable goal.

Thanks again to everyone who is praying for us and to those who have donated and shared about our adoption! :) We really appreciate all of your help & know we wouldn't be able to do this without you.

Gift of Adoption application, and the Auction.

I have been meaning to update this for a couple of weeks...

We found out that we didn't get the Gift of Adoption grant BUT we were able to resubmit our application so that they will be able to reconsider us next month on November 7th. Whew! We're super hopeful that it will work out and we can have a chance at that grant!

The adoption auction went very well! We received about $1,400 that we were able to put into our adoption fund. :) We can't say enough how thankful we are to all of the amazing shops and friends who donated the items in the auction. If you want to see the auction album, you can still go to: www.tinyurl.com/maheradoption and the links to all of the shops etsy accounts are on the photos.

We are down to the last couple of months(ish) of waiting to meet this baby. :) I'm so excited. TIME IS FLYING BY and I'm trying to make sure we have all our ducks in a row. We just started our home study update in preparation for the ICPC (interstate compact for the placement of the child) that we'll need when we go to Florida and to bring him home. 

I can't wait for December, but I'm also thankful that we have time to get everything done without running around like chickens with our heads cut off. I mean, I wouldn't MIND running around if it meant meeting him a little earlier... but I can wait. :) 

fundraising and things

The other night I received an email from Gift of Adoption asking us to update our info with them before they review our application and consider us for a grant! I'm so hopeful that we will get a grant and knock out a chunk of the legal fees we owe.

For those who are counting, we are about $11,000 from paying the remaining legal fees! After that, we'll need to pay for travel and post placement visits ($275 each x 7!). Legal fees are due when we go get baby at the end of December, so that's our big focus right now.

The fundraiser we are working on right now is an Adoption Auction over on facebook. It's at www.tinyurl.com/maheradoption and it will begin October 2nd and run through October 5th. There are a lot of amazing things in the auction for bidders around the country as well as some especially awesome things for people who live in the Cincinnati area. :)

We'll get back to the puzzle fundraiser after this one is over with... but meanwhile, look below to see some of the items in our auction. :)