Tuesday, February 7, 2012
Prayer request
"Jane" the birth mother is at the lawyer's office right now to sign the paperwork! Please pray all goes well.
Monday, February 6, 2012
Long Story Short....
Today we had some more visitors! Great Gramma Lucille came to visit along with Nana Tootie and Aunt HayHay. Also, Miss Tina Music came to visit as well. She conveniently works in the UK medical center and spent her lunch break with us. Everyone agrees that Levi is a beautiful baby. Not everyone agrees with the name, but as one person said, "It's not [her] baby to name." hahaha. Well said. Also - Gramma admits that he is a "purty baby" - and we all know she'd certainly share her opinion no matter what she really thought.
Everyone is picking their own titles for Levi to call them, so we are honoring everyone's wishes. So, pick your name everyone! Mimi T and Poppa T have theirs. Aunt Wow has hers. Mimi & Papa DeVol have decided that since Rocco & Vinny already call them Mimi & Papa, they will stick with that. Of course, you already know Great Gramma, Nana Tootie, and Aunt HayHay. Hey - no one said the title has to be accurate. LOL!
Levi had a nice day. He sleeps very well, and eats very well. Overall, he's a good baby. I don't know how long that will last - but I hope it lasts forever! haha. He received a few gifts from visitors, so he has a new bed buddy (a stuffed animal), and lots more people who have showed up to show their love to him. He even got to be fed by Aunt HayHay!
As for where we stand with the adoption: I'll try to make a really long story short: After a long day of lots of mis-information, I was able to retain a lawyer (Ross). He is very excited to help and completely understands the urgency of the situation. He is going to work hard through the night to get all paperwork in order and be ready for us tomorrow. I'm trying to make arrangements for the birthmother to meet at the lawyer's office tomorrow afternoon to sign some final paperwork. Ross says that this should be resolved soon. "Best case scenario - this week. Worst case - next week." So, the question still remains of when Levi can leave the hospital or when we can take him to Texas. For now, I'm extending my rental car and my hotel room. All we can do is play it day by day - or hour-by-hour, as the case was today. No planning happening on my end for a few more days.
We look forward to another visitor tomorrow. Aunt Wow is coming! She is perfectly prepared to spoil him rotten.
Until tomorrow - when I have more news. Goodnight! I'm going to try to savor the last few nights of sleep I can get. :)
Everyone is picking their own titles for Levi to call them, so we are honoring everyone's wishes. So, pick your name everyone! Mimi T and Poppa T have theirs. Aunt Wow has hers. Mimi & Papa DeVol have decided that since Rocco & Vinny already call them Mimi & Papa, they will stick with that. Of course, you already know Great Gramma, Nana Tootie, and Aunt HayHay. Hey - no one said the title has to be accurate. LOL!
Levi had a nice day. He sleeps very well, and eats very well. Overall, he's a good baby. I don't know how long that will last - but I hope it lasts forever! haha. He received a few gifts from visitors, so he has a new bed buddy (a stuffed animal), and lots more people who have showed up to show their love to him. He even got to be fed by Aunt HayHay!
As for where we stand with the adoption: I'll try to make a really long story short: After a long day of lots of mis-information, I was able to retain a lawyer (Ross). He is very excited to help and completely understands the urgency of the situation. He is going to work hard through the night to get all paperwork in order and be ready for us tomorrow. I'm trying to make arrangements for the birthmother to meet at the lawyer's office tomorrow afternoon to sign some final paperwork. Ross says that this should be resolved soon. "Best case scenario - this week. Worst case - next week." So, the question still remains of when Levi can leave the hospital or when we can take him to Texas. For now, I'm extending my rental car and my hotel room. All we can do is play it day by day - or hour-by-hour, as the case was today. No planning happening on my end for a few more days.
We look forward to another visitor tomorrow. Aunt Wow is coming! She is perfectly prepared to spoil him rotten.
Until tomorrow - when I have more news. Goodnight! I'm going to try to savor the last few nights of sleep I can get. :)
Sunday, February 5, 2012
Lawyers don't work on weekends
Did you know that lawyers don't work weekends? Don't they know there are babies born every day of the week?
Today we went to the hospital to visit with Levi and meet with the social worker. After waiting several hours, she finally came by and had lots of fun stories to tell us about adoption and her experiences with it. However, she had no information for us regarding when he can leave the hospital or when he can go home to Texas. She didn't even have a piece of paper for us to sign. She just said we need to talk to a lawyer, since this is a private adoption. Since lawyers don't answer the phones on the weekends, we will try to contact one tomorrow first thing in the morning.
Once we establish some contact, we'll find out more. For now,all we can do is visit with him in the hospital - though we can visit with no limitations - and we can stay as long as we want. Today we were able hang out with him, feed him, change diapers, etc. I'm sure that will be the first of many of those episodes. lol. :)
We did have a chance to meet with the doctor. She had all great things to say - he is a very healthy boy. She anticipates no problems. The nursing staff loves him because he is so quiet and easy to care for. They love his name - and were happy that he finally has one. They've been making up names for him.
Rob has gone back to Houston so he can go back to work tomorrow. I know he's exhausted from this whirlwind trip - I know I am! At least I can take the day off tomorrow to try to sort through some things here. I hope he can get some sleep tonight.
After we left the hospital, we went to Babies R Us to pick out an outfit for photos. Of course, we got a lot more than an outfit. We got a CART FULL! While were in the baby bottle aisle, we met a nice girl named Elizabeth. She helped us pick out a bottle - and even went so far as to see that we had the right burping cloths (which, apparently, are cloth diapers) and more. She was absolutely full of advice! She was intrigued by our story and is even helping us with finding a lawyer from her church resources.
God works in funny ways.
Speaking of "funny ways" - you are probably wondering how this whole thing came to land in our laps. Well, that is quite an interesting story. It's all thanks to my cousin's wife Kathy and her sister Dionna. Dionna has spear-headed this whole situation. She is the Foster Mother of Nick - who is the brother of the birthmother. (For her protection, I'll not include her name, so we'll call her Jane Doe). Jane is in her 20's and does not have the means to care for a baby. She is fully aware of this - so this is why she decided to find a forever family for her baby. She chose us because of the connections. The connections certainly run deep. Quentin (my cousin) told Jane about us before he passed away in November. He planted this seed quite some time ago, and no one had any idea!
Jane was a foster child. When she entered the foster system, she changed her name. Her given name was Cynthia.
Nick (her brother) did the same. His given name: Robert.
Coincidence? Maybe.
But, consider this: The lady who adopted Jane is the granddaughter of my Grandma & Grampa Terry - who lived in a small coal-mining town called Wayland,Ky. If you know anything about coal towns, you know what an incredible connection this is! WOW!!
I do believe that is certainly more than one could have imagined.
I'm sure there are more connections. Every time there is a conversation, we find out more and more things that make us believe that this is the child that God has chosen for us all along. This is the chosen DeVol. We are happy to have met him and thrilled to have him join our family!
We are doing our best to do what our good friend Cean said to do. "Soak this up! This is YOUR boy! Go get him!" Thank you for that advice Cean. We are soaking it up. And, can't wait to see what tomorrow and the next day and the next years bring!
Please pray for "Jane" as she copes with this very difficult time in her life. She has had a rough life, and she is making the best decision she can. We just ask that you keep her in your prayers for the coming week. Thank you.
Today we went to the hospital to visit with Levi and meet with the social worker. After waiting several hours, she finally came by and had lots of fun stories to tell us about adoption and her experiences with it. However, she had no information for us regarding when he can leave the hospital or when he can go home to Texas. She didn't even have a piece of paper for us to sign. She just said we need to talk to a lawyer, since this is a private adoption. Since lawyers don't answer the phones on the weekends, we will try to contact one tomorrow first thing in the morning.
Once we establish some contact, we'll find out more. For now,all we can do is visit with him in the hospital - though we can visit with no limitations - and we can stay as long as we want. Today we were able hang out with him, feed him, change diapers, etc. I'm sure that will be the first of many of those episodes. lol. :)
We did have a chance to meet with the doctor. She had all great things to say - he is a very healthy boy. She anticipates no problems. The nursing staff loves him because he is so quiet and easy to care for. They love his name - and were happy that he finally has one. They've been making up names for him.
Rob has gone back to Houston so he can go back to work tomorrow. I know he's exhausted from this whirlwind trip - I know I am! At least I can take the day off tomorrow to try to sort through some things here. I hope he can get some sleep tonight.
After we left the hospital, we went to Babies R Us to pick out an outfit for photos. Of course, we got a lot more than an outfit. We got a CART FULL! While were in the baby bottle aisle, we met a nice girl named Elizabeth. She helped us pick out a bottle - and even went so far as to see that we had the right burping cloths (which, apparently, are cloth diapers) and more. She was absolutely full of advice! She was intrigued by our story and is even helping us with finding a lawyer from her church resources.
God works in funny ways.
Speaking of "funny ways" - you are probably wondering how this whole thing came to land in our laps. Well, that is quite an interesting story. It's all thanks to my cousin's wife Kathy and her sister Dionna. Dionna has spear-headed this whole situation. She is the Foster Mother of Nick - who is the brother of the birthmother. (For her protection, I'll not include her name, so we'll call her Jane Doe). Jane is in her 20's and does not have the means to care for a baby. She is fully aware of this - so this is why she decided to find a forever family for her baby. She chose us because of the connections. The connections certainly run deep. Quentin (my cousin) told Jane about us before he passed away in November. He planted this seed quite some time ago, and no one had any idea!
Jane was a foster child. When she entered the foster system, she changed her name. Her given name was Cynthia.
Nick (her brother) did the same. His given name: Robert.
Coincidence? Maybe.
But, consider this: The lady who adopted Jane is the granddaughter of my Grandma & Grampa Terry - who lived in a small coal-mining town called Wayland,Ky. If you know anything about coal towns, you know what an incredible connection this is! WOW!!
I do believe that is certainly more than one could have imagined.
I'm sure there are more connections. Every time there is a conversation, we find out more and more things that make us believe that this is the child that God has chosen for us all along. This is the chosen DeVol. We are happy to have met him and thrilled to have him join our family!
We are doing our best to do what our good friend Cean said to do. "Soak this up! This is YOUR boy! Go get him!" Thank you for that advice Cean. We are soaking it up. And, can't wait to see what tomorrow and the next day and the next years bring!
Please pray for "Jane" as she copes with this very difficult time in her life. She has had a rough life, and she is making the best decision she can. We just ask that you keep her in your prayers for the coming week. Thank you.
Not your average day
Wow - what a day!
Sorry for the cryptic message earlier. We were rushing around, and I thought we should at least send a little info. It was difficult to type it up on the phone.
Kathy called us yesterday and we were on a plane within 24 hours. It's been crazy, to say the least. We've tried to do 9 months of planning in less than a day.
We made it to Lexington airport a little after 8pm. We were met at the airport by a very excited Pat & Pam. Upon landing, we received information that the birthmother signed the paperwork and we are the designated adoptive parents! We went straight to the hospital and were escorted right into the nursery to meet our beautiful baby boy! We were so stunned. He is beautiful! I added a photo -the mark on his face is just a tiny scratch from his little finger nail.
We have a lot of legal stuff still to do - and he will not be allowed to leave the hospital before Monday. Tomorrow morning we meet with the Social Worker to find out some details. We will also get in touch with a lawyer to finalize paperwork, etc.
Sorry for the cryptic message earlier. We were rushing around, and I thought we should at least send a little info. It was difficult to type it up on the phone.
Kathy called us yesterday and we were on a plane within 24 hours. It's been crazy, to say the least. We've tried to do 9 months of planning in less than a day.
We made it to Lexington airport a little after 8pm. We were met at the airport by a very excited Pat & Pam. Upon landing, we received information that the birthmother signed the paperwork and we are the designated adoptive parents! We went straight to the hospital and were escorted right into the nursery to meet our beautiful baby boy! We were so stunned. He is beautiful! I added a photo -the mark on his face is just a tiny scratch from his little finger nail.
We have a lot of legal stuff still to do - and he will not be allowed to leave the hospital before Monday. Tomorrow morning we meet with the Social Worker to find out some details. We will also get in touch with a lawyer to finalize paperwork, etc.
Saturday, February 4, 2012
Well...here we go!
Wow-what an incredible 24 hour period!!
Yesterday we received a phone call from our cousin. She knew of a baby born the evening prior. The birthmother is unable to care for him-and was willing to adopt. She wanted to know if we are interested. Without hesitation, we said "yes!". So, they pitched the idea to the birthmother. She had to choose between us and another couple.
SHE CHOSE US!!
So I am typing this update while sitting in the airport terminal waiting for our flight to Lexington, KY. We will hopefully get to meet this precious little one and maybe -hopefully-sign some paperwork!?!?
I know this is cryptic info right now...but when we have more info, we will update.
Yesterday we received a phone call from our cousin. She knew of a baby born the evening prior. The birthmother is unable to care for him-and was willing to adopt. She wanted to know if we are interested. Without hesitation, we said "yes!". So, they pitched the idea to the birthmother. She had to choose between us and another couple.
SHE CHOSE US!!
So I am typing this update while sitting in the airport terminal waiting for our flight to Lexington, KY. We will hopefully get to meet this precious little one and maybe -hopefully-sign some paperwork!?!?
I know this is cryptic info right now...but when we have more info, we will update.
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