The Story of Van

I just realized that we haven't shared Van's story yet on our blog. I apologize to those of you who have already heard it, you have my permission to skip over this post if you want. For the rest of you, here is how Van found his way into our arms....

In Early January we were contacted by his birthmother. From the first e-mail Brian and I both felt like this was different from the other birthmothers who had been interested in us. We began e-mailing back and forth and in only a few short weeks we came home to an e-mail telling us that they wanted us to adopt their baby and they were very sure about it!(We were lucky enough to get to know both birth parents, out of respect for them and their privacy we won't share many details about them or their life. They were both involved and they both chose us). We were of course thrilled but still so nervous. It seemed too good to be true and they had picked us so fast! So we decided it would be best to keep it to ourselves until it was time to make the BIG announcement. We flew down to Dallas, Texas to meet the birthparents in March. We had a nice long dinner with them and got to see ultrasound pictures. This was also when they told us it was a boy! We were so excited!! The next couple of months were just torture. We had to prepare for this sweet baby boy but didn't want to go overboard since these things fall through sometimes. His birthparents never gave us any reason to doubt they wanted to place their baby with us but it was still hard. Then came the big day. His birthmother had decided she wanted to be induced on the 27th if she didn't go into labor before that so on the 27th we got on a plane very early in the morning and headed to Texas. We thought we would make it there just shortly after he arrived but he had different plans. He had to be delivered by emergency C-section and was born while we were on the plane. That night after we got to Dallas we went to the hospital and just spent time with the birthparents and saw Van through the window. The next morning we got to meet him!!! It was such an amazing experience to hold him for the first time. The birthparents really wanted us to be able to bond with him so they gave me what would have been the birthfather's wristband so we could go see him in the nursery any time we wanted. The next three days were spent at the hospital with Van, his birthparents, and their caseworker. Most of the time it was just Brian, Van and I. That was wonderful but it was also a blessing to be able to spend time with his birthparents too. I think it helped them a lot to see him with us and to spend some more time with us. It was all very surreal. It was good but our stomachs were in knots until we actually signed papers and left the hospital with him. We did that on Saturday the 30th. We took him "home" to our hotel and prepared for a long wait for clearance to leave the state with him. Miraculously it only took a couple of business days and we were able to come home to our real home when he was only 8 days old!! We have been home almost 2 weeks now and it has been heaven. He is such a good baby and we are so blessed to have him. Thank you so much for all of your prayers that helped bring him to us.