First trip to Church - 11/22/09

I've told this story a few times now and I know I'm not giving it justice as to just how amazing it was on Sunday. First of all we got to church on time, which is unusual for us...we are usually about five minutes late each week. But we knew there was a big crowd of prayer warriors just waiting to meet Abigail, so we rushed to be on time. It almost appeared like we snuck in because only one or two people stopped us in the lobby area.

We sat at the back of church in our normal section but I was on the last seat in the row so we could take Abby out quickly if need be. The service started off with a worship song and I looked over to see a good friend of ours, Mark. He and his wife Julie have really helped us thru the years with our emotional journey. He looked over and saw Abigail and got a huge smile and then shot both arms straight up into the air, just like a tennis player does the first time they win Wimbledon. That brought tears of joy to my eyes.

So the worship song is over and one of the pastors, Matt, greets everyone and then asks us to greet each other. I looked at Jenny to my right for a brief second and then turned back to my left towards the aisle. We had been mobbed with people in a scene of support, tears, joy and just an amazing outpouring of love. The huddle around Abigail must have looked like the championship celebration of a basketball team, with the crowd spilling out onto the floor to lift up the team on a great win. As Jenny said on our way home - how are we ever going to be able to repay all of these people for what they have helped us through.

Back to the service, people kept coming up to us as they entered church during the worship music portion of the service. And after the sermon but before our dismissal there was another special moment. Matt was going thru the church announcements and I asked Jenny if she wanted me to hold Abigail, to which she said ok. Right after the exchange Matt called on Jenny and I to stand so we could introduce Abigail to the congregation. Everyone turned around to see her as I was holding her in a seated position in my left arm. Matt said some very kind words about our journey to start our family and as he called Abigail's name to introduce her, she stretched and raised her left arm straight up in the air as if to say - that's my name, I'm over here!

God is working wonders in our church and we are living proof of that. We love our church family greatly and we would not be the family we are today without them.

May the peace of Christ be with everyone today on this Thanksgiving day 2009. Do I really need to tell you what I'm thankful for? Really?...I've been up since 3:30am feeding, changing and snuggling with Abby (she's been curled up on my chest as I have been writing this post) and wouldn't change any part of it. Jenny gets the shift until about 4am and then I take over since I'm a morning person. I love it because I get to see her start every new day.

To God Be The Glory!
Jerry

Picture Time!

Here are some pictures from our first few days. The saying is a picture is worth a thousand words so I'll not bore you with my dialog.

Mommy & Abigail

Daddy & Abigail

Christen, Caroline & Abby

Christen, Aubrey & Abby

Girls from Bible Study group

1st nap in crib

Fresh curls All clean & happy

Ok - I had to put a few captions in there so everyone knows what they are looking at. So thankful for Jenny's grandmother getting us the digital camera! Can't wait for everyone to meet little Abigail in person.

'Til next time.

Jerry

I LOVE MY LITTLE GIRL!

Ok.......it's my turn! :) First of all, how awesome is my husband? He is an amazing Daddy! It has been so amazing to see him just jump in and help. We make a great team! I am so blessed.

Well, let me start from the beginning. This is a story that I haven't been able to tell for 31 LONG days. We weren't allowed to share too much information due to legal issues but now that that is over...here you go.........Let me start by saying......God's timing is Perfect! I have been hearing people say that and I nodded and said "I know..." but really It IS perfect!

My mom found out that she had breast cancer a few days before my 35th birthday (Oct. 11th). I was feeling very strange because as most of you know.....I love my birthday! But this year I was Not going to celebrate because I didn't feel I had anything to celebrate. (I was being a brat! and complaining a lot). So I got through my birthday and was planning a trip to San Antonio to go with mom and dad to the oncologist and breast cancer surgeon appointments. It all started October 14th. I was reflecting and daydreaming on my way back to Waco. I was feeling very negative about the adoption "lack of news" and feeling very sad for my mom and what she was going through......

Then Jerry called and said we got an email about a baby! A birthmom called from the hospital and wanted to place the little GIRL for adoption. What?? So Jerry very quickly said we were more than happy to show our profile and would anxiously await the news. Right then and there I started to cry. God was listening and He is faithful. The next day we would find out that the birthmom chose us and we would meet her 2 days after the birth. We met the birthmom and she is precious. What an amazing young lady! She loved her daughter so much that she chose a better life for her. Most of all she chose LIFE for her! Our journey to Abigail began................

When Abigail was born of course her mom had given her a name but because of confidentiality reasons the nurses in the hospital weren't allowed to call her that. Also, the birthmom was discharged from the hospital the same day as the birth and nobody had come to visit the sweet baby........SO the nurses in the hospital nicknamed her baby HOPE and kept her at the nurses station and loved and prayed over her. "Baby Hope" was discharged from the hospital on the 16th and sent to stay with an amazing transitional family's home that works for our agency. She was placed there temporarily because of legal issues and we were notified that it may take up to 31 days to bring her home. THE LONGEST 31 days of my life!!! But in that time we were allowed to visit our baby.

Speaking of which..........the moment I picked her up I knew she would be ours. A tiny gift from GOD! THose 31 days........we were on our knees constantly with a huge outpouring of prayer warriors praying for patience, guidance and God's will. Wow! It was amazing!

So on the 32nd day........I got a phone call from my mom re: her breast cancer. We were so hopeful that the surgery had gotten all the cancer and that she would not need chemo/radiation. We were crushed when we found out that 1 lymph node was infected and she would need additional treatments. In the midst of all the sadness, I cried out!
2 hours after the cancer call.........I got a call from the agency stating that we could come pick up our daughter in 3 days. God heard my cry and He moved a mountain. I got to call my mom on what may have been her worst day.......and tell her that she was going to meet her granddaughter on Thanksgiving! Wow! I still get chills.

As I hold my sweet daughter in my arms.....I am so thankful. It reminds me that I am not in control and that I will always be on my knees thanking God for my blessings.

LIVE by Faith One day at a time..........

love to all of you,
Jenny

Mr. Mom - First Morning

I thought I should report out on my first morning alone with Abigail. It started at 2:30am when Abigail was ready to start her day. I took her into the nursery and laid her down on a pillow that was on my lap. she finally fell back to sleep at about 3:30am. So, since I was now awake and watching her sleep, I read over all the genetic history documents that we received from Generations. It was awesome to read about the birthmother's family and her reasoning for adoption. She is an amazing person!

After I took about a 10 minute siesta, it was time for the early morning bottle at 5am. Jenny had just woken up for work so she got the bottle ready for Abigail. After she finished and said her goodbye to mommy, it was time for bed again for both of us. I'm a pretty heavy sleeper so I got as close to the bassinet as I could without being in it so that I could hear her wake up. I don't think it worked though because the dogs actually woke me up at 7:15am and it appeared that Abigail had already been awake. But she was just laying there looking around not making a sound.

So we got up and I started to change her clothes when as I'm getting ready to take her diaper off she starts to make that face. Yep - perfect timing...after her business was done I changed her, lotioned her up and put her clean clothes on. Now that she was clean, it was time for me. I put her in her crib and changed clothes, put the dog beds away and said my hellos to the dogs.

On to breakfast. I made her a bottle because she seemed to be hungry but by the time I sterilized everything and mixed the formula she was asleep in my arms. So instead I made my cereal and sat down to write this one-handed while eating my breakfast, which I finished about the start of the third paragraph. So she is snoozing with a bottle in the fridge ready to go...wait she just spit out her paci cried and looked at me. It's been 4 hours so I guess I need to finish this post off and warm up the bottle.

I hope everyone else is having as much fun this morning as I am! Stay tuned for a post about how amazing our trip to church was yesterday. God is definitely moving in our family and the support we have is truly amazing. As Jenny said yesterday, saying "Thank You" is not enough but it is too hard to express in words just how thankful we are too all of our friends and family.

To God Be The Glory!!!
Jerry

How Amazing It Is!

Well, we made it through our first full day with little Abigail. She is so amazingly beautiful and a very well tempered baby. I think we have used the cameras more today than ever before. I received a request for a picture with her eyes open. This was taken this afternoon, but as you may know about babies - they sleep alot so having the camera ready at the same time that she is awake can be a hefty task.

Jenny is having a blast! And we actually haven't fought that much about who gets to hold her. We've both taken turns and we've even put her down in a portable bassinet in the living room while we watched football this afternoon. Of course she didn't stay in the bassinet long before we picked her back up, but we want her to get used to resting on her own without being held.

The dogs have been great with the transition thus far. In fact they have had more difficulty because it has rained most of the time and they don't want to go outside and get wet. So they have some energy to burn, which they have taken out on some of our visitors. We have had a few people come over to visit and meet Abigail, but we are planning on going to church tomorrow as well as our Fellowship Family bible study group tomorrow night.

There are a few more pictures I want to add before I end this and hit the sack. And by the way, she was a great baby last night. She slept in her bassinet next to Jenny's side of our bed. Jenny handled the night duty last night and then I handled the morning duty while Jenny slept in with the dogs. Hopefully we can both get rested enough tonight so that we don't fall asleep in church tomorrow - although I think that will be hard to do since we will have Abigail to focus on as well as the sermon.

OK, so here are the pictures.

That's all for now. Oh wait, almost forgot one funny thing that happened today. We learned that there are "slow" and "fast" bottle nipples. I won't say who didn't know but the fast nipples are just that and they soaked poor Abigail's shirt. Lesson learned for the day.

What an amazing gift from God!

'til next time,

Jerry

Introducing....

Abigail Elizabeth Snider! She was born on October 14th and finally came home with us on November 20th. This picture is from her trip to her first doctor appointment and is courtesy of the transitional care family. They are wonderful people and we can't thank them enough for taking care of our little girl while we waited out the legal process.

So the day finally came after 8 years of struggles and desires for a family. We are so blessed and amazed to see how God brought us together and his timing seems so right. What a beautiful little girl, if I do say so myself. I never thought I would be so ok with so much pink, but I just can't get enough.

This picture is of us picking Abigail up at the adoption agency. This is the first picture of the three of us, we will hold off for a little bit before we get a picture of the whole family - including the pups.

Our little princess is home! Praise God!

Jerry

AND THE NEWS WAS GOOD....

We got a call yesterday afternoon from Generations. The attorney was able to get the information he needed in order to file the relinquishment suit in court. So everything is in the clear as of right now. PLUS - he was able to get the court date moved up to THIS FRIDAY, 11/20!!!!!!

This is obviously the news that we were praying for. It is just awesome how God works. We are still a little reserved just because nothing is final in the eyes of the courts until the judge rules on the case. So we still need prayers that nothing will come up to delay or change the current plan. I am confident enough though to share the news, at this point we have become attached and if something were to come up at the last minute to delay or change the desired outcome it would crush both of us. We are simply leaning on God and trusting that this is His plan.

Just be prepared when you hear that loud noise coming from the Waco, Texas area on Friday afternoon...that will be the sound of JOY that only comes from God creating a family.

Gotta go get ready for work. Yeah, I've got to work the next three days? That's probably not going to be very productive but hopefully it will help the time fly by.

In Christ,
Jerry

Getting closer every day.

So Jenny wrote a few weeks ago that we had been matched and we would know something within 2 weeks. Well, what we know is that the baby was born in October and we have been waiting out a period of 31 days before the birthparent's parental rights can be relinquished in court. We and the adoption agency are being very cautious due to some details which I'd rather not discuss in this forum. The 31 days have completed and now it is on to waiting for legal paperwork and court timing, which thanks to the Thanksgiving holidays, has been delayed until 12/4.

In the meantime, we have seen the baby a few times now. We are still being as guarded as we can, including not calling her by name but rather referring to her as "the baby". It is really tough emotionally but we know that she is being cared for by a wonderful family right now. As hard as it is to know she is here in the world and not yet in our house, it is so much better doing it this way than bringing her home and then having to give her back because of a change in the birthparent's plan.

So we wait again and again in a different state of emotions. In the meantime, it had been 6 months since our last home study so we had to get an updated home study done. We completed that yesterday. Over the weekend, we put the final touches on the nursery - curtains & hanging pictures. So everything is now 100% ready for this transition.

Thanks again for all of your prayers, we truly could not have made it to this point in the journey without your support. Just a few more weeks to go.

In Christ,
Jerry