Today’s blog post covers some pretty miraculous events, including meeting Nadine (the woman who gave birth to Luke) for the first time. The post is adapted from the second email I sent home after Luke was born. I originally wrote these words on 6/2/2018.
We will also hear about a rather miraculous sum of money falling out of the sky. And meeting our adoption team in person after four and a half years of phone calls, emails and texts. Also, telling the NICU staff about our army back home. Remembering all these details still makes me emotional.
Ready for today’s encouragement sprinkle cookie? Read on!
my second email home (6/2/2018)
It seems the only time I have to send updates collectively to our army back home is in the early morning hours. We are trying to keep up with text messages but are finding that tricky. Appointments with the social worker. Messages from the lawyer. Phone calls with our adoption agency. A newborn in the NICU. We are in the middle of our own version of “The Amazing Race” (our favorite TV show to watch together)!
here’s the latest…
Luke is doing amazingly well at the hospital. His IV was discontinued 5/31. Yesterday (6/1) he ate like a champ and the tube in his nose was removed. He is now only being monitored for heart rate, respiratory rate and oxygen levels. We anticipate him being discharged from the hospital this weekend if he continues his miraculous progress.
$3,200 in TWO hours (plus more)
Speaking of miracles (and we are seeing them every day here), the $3,200 we needed in twelve hours fell out of the sky in TWO hours. Let’s sit on that for a moment and not let that miracle pass us by. I thought it was bold and a little crazy to ask God for $3,200 in twelve hours. He sent it in two hours. And from sources we did NOT anticipate.
Not only that, the money was followed by the entire additional amount we needed by the end of the weekend. Everyone here in Sacramento has been paid in full.
PAID. IN. FULL.
But God wasn’t satisfied with just that. No, He also sent enough provision for us to fly Allan back home on Sunday. It’s as if He is saying to us, “Do not underestimate Me. I will take care of you. Trust Me.” God is stamping his signature all over this situation in crazy, crazy ways. It is incredibly humbling to be on the receiving end of such undeserved grace.
meeting Nadine for the first time
Nadine is the woman who gave birth to Luke. Yesterday was an emotional but wonderful day in that we spent part of it meeting Nadine for the first time. Everything between us had gone through our adoption facilitators up to that point. We had never even texted or spoken with her over the phone.
We spent about 15 minutes with her at the hospital where she gave birth to Luke. The doctor discharged her home a few hours after our meeting. Nadine and I were hugging and crying by the end of the visit. We all prayed together before we parted ways, too.
Since then Nadine asked the adoption facilitator if we could communicate directly by text. We of course agreed. Nadine sent us a lovely message about how much it meant to her that we wanted to meet her in person. She talked about how grateful she is that Luke would be safe and happy with our family.
Nadine loves Luke and wants him to have a good life. She is a sweet soul. Even if we were meeting Nadine for the first time under completely different circumstances, I would still want to be her friend.
meeting our adoption team
Oh, and our adoption facilitators who we have been working with since 2013? Their office is in California, although they work nationally. In other words, we could have been matched with a baby from anywhere in the United States. We were prepared to travel anywhere in the country to meet our son or daughter. Crazy that Luke was born just five minutes across the highway from our adoption team’s office. No kidding. We could see the roof of the adoption office out the window of the hospital.
So, Allan and I got to meet the folks in person yesterday who we have been so closely working with all these years. Suddenly they are not just people I talk to on the phone or e-mail or interact with online. They are actually three dimensional humans!
Our adoption team said the same thing about us. The couple from Ohio who they have only ever seen in photos was standing in their office. Now the experts can directly facilitate things for/with Nadine/us in person instead of remotely like we had always expected. There may have been more hugging and crying. We are so blessed that the facilitator (Veronica) working with Nadine was able to be in the room when we met Nadine face-to-face before she was discharged from the hospital! We told Veronica that she was like the third wheel on the most awkward first date of all time!
The facilitator (Patty) working with us as hopeful adoptive parents was on an extended leave when we visited. I made sure Luke and I took a pic at her desk.
the immediate agenda
Our agenda for today involves three things. (1) Getting the car seat properly installed into the rental car. (2) Moving into a more extended-stay hotel setting with a laundry and kitchenette. (3) Loving on that baby. Nadine is supposed to sign relinquishment paperwork today at 3pm PST. Allan leaves Sunday afternoon to return to Cincinnati. As soon as Luke is cleared to leave California (maybe another week?), I will be bringing him home.
covered by an army
We are so deeply grateful for your prayers and your support. One of the NICU nurses said to us yesterday, “You are both so calm!” Allan told her that we are covered in prayer by an army back home and God is opening every door. The random Bible verse that popped up on my phone this morning was Isaiah 41:13. (Not random at all to me!)
“For I am the Lord your God
who takes hold of your right hand
and says to you, Do not fear;
I will help you.”
Keep those prayers coming, friends. God is using them!
Love, Melissa
A note about Nadine
I changed Luke’s birth mom’s name in this (and subsequent) blog posts to “Nadine”. It does not seem right to continue to refer to her as just Luke’s birth mom. Yet, I still want to protect her privacy, so I changed her name. I also want to be sensitive about using terms like “birth mother” when they don’t apply.
For example, a woman who is pregnant and considering an adoption plan is NOT a birth mom. She is an expectant mother who is weighing her options. Likewise, a woman who has given birth to a child is NOT a birth mom until she legally terminates her parental rights as part of an adoption plan. That had not yet happened as of my second email home on 6/2/2018.
Even more importantly, Nadine is so much more than that to us. She is an important part of our family. I love her and will always safeguard her heart. Maybe someday she will co-author a post with me. That would be amazing!
Our next blog post – and our third sprinkle of encouragement to you – will publish on December 11th. We will answer a BIG question in that post. Until then, be encouraged and know that you are loved!
Featured image by Parentingupstream from Pixabay.
