Meeting Micah

Throughout Micah's birth and stay in the hospital we saw miracle after miracle and God's hand in every detail- the good and the hard.
Our birthmom was induced on Thursday, March 5th at 6am. Brad and I left Wednesday morning to drive about 12 hours to the area of the hospital. We drove through a crazy March snowstorm. The next day we found out that traffic was stopped overnight on the highway in KY, We literally missed the accident by minutes. We arrived to our hotel around midnight after about 16 hours of traveling. After a few hours sleep (I'm not even sure how we were able to sleep- we were so excited!) we met Victoria, our agency's social worker, at the hospital at 6am. We spent 3-4 hours in our birthmom's hospital room with her and several people in her family. We were all laughing and sharing some sweet moments together. Micah is loved by so many! Our social worker suggested we leave for a little bit and let her try to rest, things started SLOWLY. At 6pm, we got a text from Victoria that said she talked to our birthmom's mom and the agency director and she would call us soon. My heart sunk, I had no idea what that meant. A long 10 minutes later Victoria called and said it was good news, kinda- our birthmom wanted me to be in the room when Micah was born. Our social worker could only be there so many hours, so after asking many to pray with us and a call to a few directors and the CEO, we were given permission. Praise God- what a gift!! Our birthmom has blessed us in so many ways!! She wanted to include us in as much as she could and we are so incredibly thankful!
We came back to hospital and tried to support her as much as we could, we shared more laughs and sweet moments together. She kept assuring me, I felt like I should be the one assuring her but she was so strong and brave about everything. Things were still moving slowly, so we were told to go back to the hotel and wait for a call when things start to progress more. I'm not sure how I even slpet for a few hours, but I woke up worried we missed the call or something around 2:45am. Guess what time her labored picked up?? Around 2:45 she moved into active labor and they were trying to get ahold of our social worker to tell us to get back to the hospital. We got the call around 3:15am and went back to the hospital.  The guys were kicked out of the room around 5am and I was there when he took his first breath at 6:51am. I was able to cut the cord and be the first one to hold him! Such a precious gift!
Brad and I were able to spend the next few hours with Micah and his birth family. We were given a room at the hospital and Micah spent a lot of time with us and his birth family. The first day we were all together most of the day, the next day he went back and forth between rooms. His birth family wanted to love on him as much as they were able. Micah will always know how much he is loved by all his family!
My mom, sister and family, and my sister-in-law and nephew all surprised us at the hospital! They not only got to meet Micah, but they also got to meet his birth family. They were so happy to see so many people loving him and so excited to meet him.
The 57 hours at the hospital passed slowly. We were loving every moment with Micah but wondering in the back of our minds if we were leaving with him. A very real part of domestic adoption is that nothing is final until its final. But Sunday afternoon we left the hospital with Micah after a tearful good bye. It was such a hard emotional moment for everyone. Even the nurse was in tears. She kept telling our birthmom that she was so proud of her and how strong she was. I couldn't even talk. I sent a heartfelt text later on. I have never seen such a selfless act in my life. She trusted us with her son. The most precious gift. As hard as the goodbye was for her she was so strong and so selfless. She loves Micah so much!
We will have an open adoption we will text/email pictures and plan to have visits once a year for at least the first few years. We are so thankful that Micah will have the opportunity to know his birth family and won't have questions about where he came from. We get along great with his brith family, we couldn't ask for it to be any better. We are all connected now because of sweet Micah, and I am thankful! At our first meeting, our birthmom said "We are all family now!"
We are so incredibly blessed that we were chosen to be Micah's mom and dad. Micah will always know how much his first family loves him too! Both families kept saying Micah is so loved! He is indeed!

March Meetcha Days

We met each of our boys in March. We met Jacob on March 25, 2011 and we met Isaiah and Kaleb within a day or two of hanging out with Jacob at the Transition Home. We just met Micah on March 6, 2015.

I love how God is always in the details! March is our Meetcha month for all four blessings!!

The Story Behind His Name

When we met with Micah's birthmom she asked what we were going to name him. We told her two names and her face lit up when said Micah. We then asked her if she would give him a middle name, she was so touched. We explained that all our boys have middle names from their first families and we would like Micah to have one too. As we kept talking she told us that her, her mom, and her sister all have the same middle name- Michelle. That is also my middle name. She said that was her click moment. Our agency social worker had told her there would be a click moment when she just knew it was right and it would click together. We all teared up a little bit. The next day we got a text (through our social worker) that since all the girls in her family had the same middle name that Micah's middle name would be the same as her dads- Scott- which is also my Dad's middle name!! Only God!!!
So Micah Scott was picked in love by both families and means something to both of us!!!
We also picked his life verse:
....And what does the Lord require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy
and to walk humbly with your God.
Micah 6:8

Meeting Our Birthmom

The weekend of Valentine's Day we drove down to Atlanta to meet our birthmom and her family. It was a LONG trip (we drove about 26 hours in 60 hours) but it was such a nice visit! We got to meet 7 people in her family. We all shared hugs, stories, and love for baby boy! Our social worker told us to plan for the visit to be 1- 1 1/2 hours long but we ended up staying almost 3 hours and it flew by! We met at a McDonalds so the boys could play while we visited but after 15 minutes they closed the play area because they had a birthday party scheduled. So we got some food, Kaleb hadn't even taken a bite yet and he threw up all over me and our part of the table and floor. Anyone that was around Kaleb when we first adopted him knows that he used to throw up daily. Thankfully its only a few times a year now but of course it was when we are meeting with our very pregnant birthom and her family. I was really hoping it wasn't the flu, we didn't want our birthmom to get sick. But he ate dinner and was fine the rest of the day. 

We got to talk about so many things that we just couldn't or wouldn't talk about over the phone. It wasn't akward at all. We picked out a name for baby boy together (such a sweet story for another post) that has meaning to both of us. She really feels like extended family!! We love her and her love for our baby boy so much!!! I have heard that open adoption can be such a blessing and I couldn't understand what exactly people meant. BUt now I can see how it can be a beautiful thing! Our son won't have questions about his birthfamily or wonder if his first mommy loved him-he will know she does and be able to find out anything about his birth family that he wants to know!! 

Today is our birthmom's due date, so we are just waiting for the call to come to the hospital and meet our baby boy!!!!!!

Part 2......We Have Been Chosen!!!!!!!

On Tuesday Feb 3rd we got a call from An Open Door. Just as my plan time was starting both my cell phone and school phone started to ring. It was Brad on both, lol. Brad said "I have Tracy on the phone. Are you ready for this roller coaster?" We were just approved with the agency on Friday and they showed our book to a birthmom on Saturday and Monday. They don't tell us when our book is shown, they just call if the birthmom chooses you. Well last Tuesday we were told that our birthmom chose US! Her and her parents looked at 10 books and they said they fell in love with our family and chose us!! She is around 37 weeks!! Tracy said the only catch was that they don't know the gender. The night before we had contacted Tracy and told her that we really felt that we were going to have a daughter and wanted to be shown to girl situations. But as soon as she said they didn't know the gender, we quickly replied that we don't care. A baby is a blessing and we knew that we really didn't care either way. Here was the other catch....we need to whole agency fee asap. They didn't want us to talk to birthmom until they had all the money. Once again we knew this wouldn't be possible without God. If we hadn't had that situation the week before we wouldn't have received that grant. Only God!!!!! Praise God through many different avenues the money is there and we got to talk to our birthmom on Monday night!!!!! It started a little awkward, but it went really great. We planned to have another conference call again next week.
She had a doctors appointment on Wednesday and our caseworker called me and put me on speaker phone. Our birthmom and her mom quickly yelled "Hi Tara" with excitement in the background. I got to hear the heartbeat and hear the doctor saying that everything was looking great!!!! Then she asked if we all wanted to know its gender. All four of us quickly said "YES!!!" It took her a few minutes but then the doctor said "IT'S A BOY!!!!" Our case worker, birthmom and gramnda all started saying "FOUR boys, Tara its #4!" What a huge gift to me!!!!!!!! I'm so thankful she allowed me to experience that with her. We have such a sweet start to a relationship and love her so much!!! Her due date got pushed back a few days and think baby should be here around March 1st!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
We are so thankful for every step of this process. We know nothing is final until its final with domestic adoption. But my good friend Debb gave me the advice that "you won't regret loving BIG!" We are loving her and supporting her and thankful she is including us in this process as much as she can from afar. God has opened so many, many doors and we know we are exactly where we need to be!!!
Thank you for all the prayers and encouragement!!! We are so thankful we serve a Mighty God who is faithful in all things!!!!! 

A Little Update to the Story God is Writing in Our Lives Part 1

We have applied with 3 different agencies just to get our profile book out there. When we were researching agencies we really liked An Open Door but they have a larger commitment fee (some agencies only have like $100 fee to apply and be "active" with them). We decided to try our other 2 agencies first and just wait on An Open Door for now. Fast forward to the first week of Janurary. We were visiting some friends and talking about the whole domestic adoption process. We were saying that we really wanted to apply with An Open Door but the large commitment fee was a big step. We have no extra money in this process and we really wanted to be wise and prayerful about each step. When we arrrived home from our friends house we had a letter in the mail stating that we had a grant from Show Hope that was a little over what the commitment fee was. I sent  a text to the friend we were just visiting and she said this was our sign from God to apply with AOD. I hadn't even thought about that. But after talking and praying, Brad and I really felt that we should send in our application and commitment fee. The ladies at An Open Door have been in excellent communication and so very helpful!! We were excited as she said that 6 birthmoms were going to be looking at profile books in January. It took about 2-3 weeks to get everything sent in and approved so I'm thinking we might have missed being shown to them. In the meantime, our agency in UT called (Wed, Jan 28th) with a situation about a baby girl due in less than 2 weeks and they couldn't find a family for her. This was an agency pick and there weren't any other families being considered at this time. There were a lot of unknowns and risks with that situation but we said we wanted to be considered. We felt good about moving forward even with the scary unknowns ahead. There was also a $10,000 extra fee because birthmom was going to deliver in a different state. Yikes! The financial part is the scary part. The caseworker had made this sound like a less than wonderful thing but we said yes anyways.
On Thursday and Friday we contacted several grants that we had applied for and hadn't heard from yet. We were contacted that a grant was going to cover $10,000!!!!!!!!!!!! What?!?!?! That was a huge surprise and a huge amount!!! Brad got the call that brought him to tears when he was at Walmart. This was another sign the we are on God's path for our lives. Our family was here for Kaleb's birthday that weekend so we got to share the good news and add a little pink to the baby's room. At the end of Kaleb's brithday party on Saturday we got a text that birthmom was struggling with her choice. We were sad but there were just so many doors that God has opened so we continued to trust. On Monday (Feb 2nd) our UT agency called and said that the birthmom was leaning toward parenting and they had some reservations with her. They asked if we wanted to wait it out or look at other situations. I felt like the agency was saying it's not going to happen but I felt like so many doors had opened from God. I mean $10,000?!?!?!?
Part 2 starts on Tuesday, Feb. 3rd.........

Young Living Essential Oils Fundraiser

Have you been wanting to try Young Living Essential Oils and support our adoption at the same time?? For every starter kit that is purchased, $25 goes towards our adoption! Our family has been using YLEO's for almost a year now and we have loved them!! We use Peppermint and Thieves almost daily. We use peppermint for headaches, upset stomach, heart burn, and many other things. Thieves helps build immunity and kills off germs. Each morning we rub Theives and Peace and Calming on the boys feet. Our kids haven't been sick yet this fall/winter. The starter kit also comes with a diffuser ($100 retail price) that we use most days at home. There are so many uses for these oils, Please let me know if you have any questions, I'd love to help if I can!

If you buy the starter kit you will also get access to a Facebook page that has tons of information and a great place to ask more questions!

Use the link below to sign up as a wholesale member and get the starter kit, or as a customer and try an oil or two!

https://www.youngliving.com/signup/?sponsorid=1683596&enrollerid=1683596


I hope you will love using these oils to help you live a healthier life as much as we do!!!

*Disclaimer- these are just the uses we have for the oils, each person is a little different. I'm just a mom trying to keep my family healthy!

Melkam Gena

Today it's Christmas in Ethiopia! We were able to celebrate a few days early with some friends! We made a few favorite Ethiopian foods for lunch. Then we had a little coffee ceremony with popcorn, glass bottles of Coke, dabo (ET bread), and of course apple pie and ice cream. We joked this was a multicultural meal! We are thankful for the Snyder family and that they live close enough that we can get together every once in awhile.