Excited, Stunned, So VERY Happy...We Are Linked to a Birth Mom!

This is the look on our faces when we saw the words "Linked with a birth mother" under our picture on our agency's site!

Yes, you read that right! We are so excited to announce that we are linked with an expectant mom!

We got "the call" while I was in Chicago on Friday, June 26th. The expectant mother's caseworker left a message on our voicemail saying that she had a case she wanted to discuss with us. Steve didn't get the message until 8:30pm that night, so we had to wait until Monday morning to get some more information! Talk about a LOOOONNNNNGGGG weekend!

Monday morning, June 29th, at 8:15am we called the caseworker. She told us that we had been chosen by an expectant mother who is due to give birth in September. She said that we would get more information when we went in for our "linked" meeting with the director of our agency. We called our families and shared the good news! Everyone was very shocked and excited! My sister, Janice, even started crying in front of her coworkers when she took the call -- she was so excited and happy!

We made some phone calls and were able to schedule our linked meeting for the very next day Tuesday, June 30th. Our appointment was in the afternoon; even that felt like such a very long wait because we were so anxious! We met with the director, and she went over the file of information including background and health information. We even learned a bit about the expectant mother's likes and hobbies. We signed some paperwork and found out that she wanted to meet with us as well.

We were waiting to hear from the agency to see what the best date was for the birth mother. We were prepared to cancel our trip (to Vegas) at that point if she was available that week. In the end, she couldn't come to the meeting until this past Thursday, July 9th, so it all worked out.

So with almost no sleep (because of all of the excitement) we went on our trip and couldn't believe that we had just been chosen! We had been LINKED! Steve kept looking at me throughout the trip and just mouthing the words, "We're linked!!" What an amazing feeling -- we know how fortunate we are to be picked at this point. Our agency had told us it could be a TWO year wait (or more). We had been waiting 6 1/2 months at that point (7 months as of today.)

We got home Sunday, July 5th, and had to wait until Thursday, July 9th, for our meeting. While it gave us a chance to recover from the time difference from Las Vegas to Michigan, it was REALLY hard to wait!

We drove to another branch of our agency's office and met with the caseworker, the expectant mom, and her mother. We were nervous, excited, and did I say nervous?? We all sat together, though, and started talking, and it felt more and more comfortable. We got to know them better, and they asked us some questions as well. Our visit was over 2 hours long, but it didn't seem like it at all. The time went by so quickly. We're hoping that we will see her again soon; we may even get invited to a doctor appointment...we'll see!

We are so thankful that she chose us and so very very excited and hopeful for September. We celebrated tonight by going out and buying a crib mattress! I haven't posted anything until now for a few reasons...I was waiting for our meeting on Thursday, and I also wanted to wait until I had spoken to a couple of people I hadn't reached on the phone yet.

But now I'm making the big announcement! :) What an exciting, wonderful whirlwind these last two weeks have been!