Please continue praying

Baby was born this afternoon sometime. Please pray for mom as she had a C-section and must be struggling right now with many things. She is not ready to talk to anyone about the adoption right now. Please pray for her and all that she must be going through. We are waiting with prayerful hearts as to what she will decide.

Still no baby!

I just received a call from the caseworker. She talked to staff at the hospital and this poor girl still has not delivered this baby. It sounds like she is still in a lot of pain. They induced her orally which I have never heard of before so I don't know the normal progression of it. I've had 5 inducements and they all ran the same course and I was never still in labor on the third day.

Please pray for her. Pray for God to give her comfort and ease from the pain. Pray for her labor to progress. I do not believe she will leave until she has the baby.

Please pray for the baby. Pray he is safe and sound from all of this.

Also, think about what you say to others about this. I have been thinking myself about the doubts or fears I think or speak. I believe so much in the spoken word and I wonder when I update or get a call from someone what they go and say to someone else. If it is not positive or if it is expressing doubts and fear that is not of God and I just ask that we try to keep a postitive note on anything spoken out loud. I am trying that just with the kids and how I tell them to do something. Let's keep this about the Lord and the wonderful work he has done in creating this baby and the blessings that will come once the baby is born. Yes, pray for the concerns but I have received some doubts in the form of my pregnancy and how will I fly and how will she ever have the baby this way, and that she probably changed her mind since there is no news, etc. As soon as I hear these things I cry out to God to not let these get a foothold on anything to do with this birth. I pray for him to bind the doubts and fears and cast them far away. I pray for His work to be done only and for His will. Amen!

Not yet!

It has been a bit of a roller coaster ride this morning:) First, let me say please pray for birth mom as at this very moment I'm writing this she is in pain and not liking it. She is not dilated at all. I am sure (from experience) that the pitocin is making the contractions come but not changing the body. We induced one child for 2 days and it was a long 2 days.

I hadn't received any call by 10 a.m. so I called the case worker to find out what she knew. She wasn't encouraged by the lack of communication she had received from birth mom and felt she may have changed her mind. She had called several people involved and was not finding anything out and didn't want to call me with bad news. I was able to send out a couple prayer requests and as I was keeping phone lines open for news I didn't call a lot of people. I started praying against the spiritual attack that I felt was there. The kids and I prayed too and then Jordan came in from chores and she started praying. Not very long after the caseworker called and had found out that it still looked like birth mom was on the adoption plan but hadn't had the baby yet. She will call the hospital about 6:30 p.m. (5:30 our time) tonight and see what is happening and then call me with an update unless she gets a call sooner than that.

Lord God, Heavenly Father I lift up to you this young girl in pain and ask for your comfort and peace to come upon her and give her strength in her time of need. I pray for you to put a hedge of protection around her and those involved in this birth. I pray for any negative thoughts about this adoption to be cut off from affecting the placement of this baby in our home. Bind Satan and his workers and keep them from doing harm. I praise you for your answers to prayer this morning and praise you for helping us to see you in all of this. Thank you that I know you are there and listening and waiting to comfort and give us your peace. May all this work for Your Glory! Amen!

No News Yet

I haven't gotten the call yet that she had the baby but I didn't really expect it yet. I was hoping for an update of some sort but I'm sure the caseworker isn't going to bother a mom in labor so she can update me:) The caseworker wasn't going to be there for the labor. If her mom couldn't be there then birth mom wanted to do it alone. Pray for her.

Praise that my sick kid seems much better. He learned to pump on a swing tonight and was really going to town on the swing set. Praise for the peaches canned, lawn mowed, laundry done, trees watered and weeds killed and a clean kitchen right now:)

Pray for a restful night and day tomorrow. I was so exhausted today and emotional.

Praise that it looks like North Dakota processes the papers within 24 hours usually. That was good news from our social worker here.

I hope to update in the morning with the news!!! That is if my computer will cooperate. I tried to check it this morning and my connection wouldn't let me.

It's almost time!!!

I wrote an update last night but it wouldn't publish. Probably OK since I got a phone call today!!!! I am in a complete chaotic state of mind. What to do first? Then, what to do after that. I just told the kids that I won't do well if they are just sitting around doing nothing because there is so much to do but I can't think what!!!

The caseworker called and birth mom is scheduled to have an inducement at 5 a.m. tomorrow. The doctor expects baby to be born sometime Friday. Surrenders could be signed Saturday and placement in our arms could be Sunday. (If baby comes Friday.) Paperwork could be started Monday and Fed-exed to Atlanta. By Wednesday it may be fed-exed to North Dakota. By Friday next week we could be home here in our house!!!! I got all this straight from the adoption agency director. I have never understood the process before so she walked me through it. I thought we were going to have to wait to come home for a longer period of time than that but it's not so!!

She does not recommend we fly until birth mom signs surrenders. Our plan right now is to drive to the Cities Friday, wait for the call on Saturday that she signed surrenders and then get on a flight to Atlanta as soon as we can after that. It seems easier to get going from the Cities since they have several flights that day whereas Fargo may only have one.

Please pray for birth mom and her birth process. Induction can be hard and first labors can be long. Pray for her state of mind and the emotional part of this for her.

Please pray for our family as I have one child still with diarrhea and vomiting last night. I need him well before I can let him go to the family who is watching the kids. He is six days with diarrhea, not severe and not dehydrated but he needs healing. I am going to town again to get some more yogurt, bananas and chewable acidophilus.

Please praise God for continuing to work this out according to His plan. We continue to give Him the glory for this and even though I am feeling frantic I know He has the details ironed out. I need to make the necessary calls and know He will have it all planned.

Thank you for your prayers and thoughts and God Bless. I will be letting you know what progresses.

Some kind of neat things

Well, God is always showing himself to us. Maybe, we see it especially when a baby is coming into the world and through adoption. They are such incredible spiritual journeys. We've had some "attacks" too but try not to think on them, just pray for God's hedge of protection around us and for Satan not to have any hold on us or those around us. We've kept seeing his blessings poured out as this journey is near the climax point.

1. A crib! A friend heard on the radio someone who had a like-new crib for sale. I called and yes it was available and she'd take $30 and it was used with one kid and is about 20 months old! All the parts are working!!! Kevin is picking it up tonight.

2. A gift card to Wal-mart came in the mail anonymously. I used it toward the bumper pad set I picked out for the baby boy. Adorably cute with fire trucks, dump trucks and such.

3. Kevin got $50 from someone yesterday!

4. The little girls room, which we started building not even two weeks ago is about 3 days from completion. I am painting it today even though my last painting project left me not feeling so good, I just have to have it done soon.

5. A friend came over Tuesday and helped me with my clothing overload in the basement. Some may remember that I said the basement would be off limits if anyone came to visit us after the babies. Well, that won't be true now. Val helped me sort through 15 years of accumulated clothes. I had about 30 Rubbermaid tubs labeled "Boys 3-6 months" "Boys 12 mo." etc, and the same for girls. Not to make such a long story of this but I really kept some cruddy things. We filled a small trailer with all the yuck clothes, filled 5 garbage bags with the clothes for the thrift store and had 9 empty Rubbermaid tubs and several of the ones we did fill weren't quite full!!!! What a relief. I am so mad at myself that I let it get that bad. Yesterday, the girls and I filled another very large bag with garbage from the two sock buckets and other things. I love to throw things away.

6. Wednesday at Jordan's orthodontist appointment she got her bottom braces off!!!!! We knew it would happen soon but not sure exactly when. I think I was more excited than Jordan at first but she is pretty quiet about her emotions. It feels good I know. In 5 weeks she gets the top off. Anyone who has gone through this knows the pain and ordeal over 2 years of braces can be for the whole family.

7. I had a doctor's appointment and I only gained 1 pound in three weeks and I measured 37 weeks again. I have measured it three appointments now. Thankfully the baby isn't getting so huge. I was really worried 6 weeks ago when I measured that big. My doctor was so helpful about flying to Georgia too. He was a bit skeptical and maybe even negative during one of the previous visits. He went beyond anything I would have dreamed this time. No details but just know it was really nice.

8. This isn't baby related exactly but I am so happy for my oldest who has been an incredible blessing to me lately and is so helpful with meals and cleaning, gardening and mowing and getting kids to bed, and basically taking over my job at times! She was invited to go camping today through Sunday to a Bluegrass festival, one of her favorite kinds of music. She took her guitar and violin because I guess there are workshops there. Thanks Jana and family for taking her and giving her a break before it gets really busy around here.

I'm sure I could keep listing because frankly God has his hand in everything we do so it is easy to find Him working in our life. I pray anyone reading can make a list like this too. It helps put things in perspective.