Month: December 2010

The Last 4 Months!

So, once Marissa was born things got a little busy… I don’t understand why.  🙂  Anyways, Marissa has been doing great!  Here is a quick update on the last 4 months.

  • August 2nd – Marissa is born!!  We got a call from Marissa’s birthmother on Sunday night August 1st… she was on her way to the hospital!  On Monday morning around 9:05am I got a picture texted to me of our new baby girl!  I had just arrived at work – and promptly left at about 9:10am 🙂  There was NO way I could work anymore.  I was so excited!  I went home and started calling people, sending out her picture and who knows what else.  We had to wait to get the OK to come to the hospital… that was the hardest wait!!  We finally got the call in the afternoon on August 3rd.  We were over there within 30 minutes.  My heart felt an overwhelming love for our daughter!  I remember thinking – WOW… what a miracle!  This picture is of our first visit with Marissa.

  • August 4th – The day Marissa was scheduled to come home.  This was the most exciting, but also very emotional day for all.  We met the caseworker at the hospital at noon that day.  We signed some paperwork while the birthmother’s caseworker was working with her to sign paperwork.  We then went in the room.  I’m not going to share a lot about this out of respect for those involved (if you have questions about let me know and I can talk to you via email), but this was a very emotional day for all involved.  Once we got home the visits began!  We were overwhelmed with all the people that wanted to meet Marissa!  Those first few days were surreal.  We were so exhausted, but didn’t care.  Tim took a couple weeks off which was a life saver.  That would have been tough on my own that’s for sure.  All we did for hours and hours on end is watch her… we watched her smile in her sleep, make faces and cry.  All so magical!

  • September 17 – The adoption was going to court on this day.  Bethany Christian Services had not gotten signed paperwork from the birthfather, so this was a very nervous day for us.  If the birthfather showed up for this, we were told that it would get rescheduled and arguments would be heard for him contesting the adoption on a different day.  We did not go to this… so I was waiting around at home… carrying my phone everywhere I went.  We got a call about 3:30pm… she could not say the words quick enough.  He did not show up!!  Everything was final and Marissa was ours!!

  • September 18-Now – We have 2 visits with our case worker (one we already had at the beginning of the month – the other will be at the beginning of March).  Once those are complete, we will receive a birth certificate and final papers.  We are so enjoying our new daughter!  She is the most beautiful little girl that seems to always smile at everyone.  She just makes our hearts melt each day.


For those of you that are wondering – this is an open adoption.  So, we have visits with Marissa’s birthmom every 3 months or so.  We send pictures and updates every other week (unless things are really busy).  We love her birthmom and are so excited to have her be a part of Marissa’s life too.  Last month we were able to attend her wedding.  We felt honored to be a part of that day.  We got some great pictures for Marissa to have some day.

Christmas

Christmas is different at our house this year.  I’m so looking forward to the new experiences with Marissa!  We’ve already gotten our tree, strung popcorn and put up the decorations.  She is mesmerized by all of the new things in our house.  I already loved this time of year… now it is even more special!  I’m looking forward to sending out our first Christmas Card as a family of three.  In the past, we’ve done Christmas letters, but this year we are going to attempt a card from Shutterfly.  They have options to write short updates right on the card, so this is what we are going to do this year.  I think this will be a little more simple with a 4 month old in our house now 🙂   Now, I better get going on them so they are out before Christmas right?!?

Just by posting something about my cards this year, I’m getting our Shutterfly holiday cards for free!  If you are a blogger, you can too! Just go to here and sign up! I love free stuff!!