The story of Micah

Well, God sure has taken us on a wild ride since my last blog post :-). I've tried to post Facebook updates here and there, but I think it's time for a blog post on what exactly has happened in the past three days.

Tuesday morning, November 18, we got a text at about 9:15 a.m. saying something like, “Guys, we don't know anything yet, but birthmom has an appointment right now and blood pressure is high. We'll know more in a few minutes.” Somehow Daniel missed the text, because the one he saw about 7 minutes later said, “Get your bags together—it's BABY DAY!!!” We got a phone call a minute later from our agency letting us know we needed to head south immediately—our son was on his way!

For the next 45 seconds I panicked :-). Then, we quickly began calling friends and family who needed to know what was happening, and within about 2 minutes of posting on Facebook, we had someone to help us clean and load, someone to watch our kids for a couple hours, and a trailer for our van coming within the hour (thank you SO much, Kimberly, Andrea, Pastor Michele, and Jay and Kelley!!).

Packing actually went fairly quickly as I'd been practice packing for nearly 4 weeks already—we had everything packed except for our last-minute items. My house, on the other hand...well, we are only coming back to a semi-clean house thanks to friends :-). We quickly felt the presence of the body of Christ as we were able to hit the road to Florida just 2.5 hours later—record time for starting a road trip with two little ones!

The next 21 hours were a complete blur of exhaustion, but somehow, we managed to drop off Nathan and Zoe at my sister's in Georgia around 3 a.m. Wednesday morning, after getting a text and photos of our son's birth at 5:20 p.m. Tuesday night. We arrived in Florida at 9:30 a.m. Wednesday and met our agency social worker, birthmom, and son for the first time at 10. We were so completely exhausted at that point, and the whole thing was so surreal. I don't know if either of us said anything intelligible to anyone, but we were able to hold Micah for the rest of the day. Our birthmom had decided not to keep him with her in her room, so when we arrived, he was waiting for us in the hospital nursery—we were the first to embrace him and hold him for hours on end—such a special time for us knowing that the Lord had absolutely appointed this time and this boy to be our son and for us to be his Mommy and Daddy.

That afternoon, we went to “check in” to the RV where we'll be staying as long as we're in this area. The family that is hosting us, orphan care missionaries Steve and Sandra Hogue, are some of the most gracious, generous people I've ever met! Sandra had fixed up the RV with everything we needed and also invited us for dinner our first night. When I got sick Wednesday afternoon (apparently a mean combo of exhaustion and stress!), she also brought me a get-well care package :-). She made us supper last night as well and had it ready in to-go containers at her door as soon as we had our evening break. We are super blessed by their generosity and really hoping Micah does not have to be transferred to a different hospital as we're really enjoying our accommodations here :-).

Speaking of Micah's health, we simply ask for your continued prayer for his health. He will be in the hospital at least four more days as originally planned, but there is potential need for him to be transferred to a bigger city hospital with a higher level NICU in the coming week. We are basically in a “wait and see” stage right now, with some hours looking great and others looking more likely for transfer. Please pray with us especially through the next several days. He definitely seems to enjoy snuggling with Mommy and Daddy and has enjoyed every moment of cuddling :-).

Yesterday we got an early surprise that it would be the big day when adoption consent was signed by Micah's birthmom, and we enjoyed a lengthy visit with her just prior to discharge. She is an awesome mamma to three sweet girls, and we feel so blessed to have been able to meet her. I will always treasure our time together.

At about 1:40 p.m. yesterday, November 20, Micah James became our son on paper! He will not have our last name until the adoption is finalized after post placement visits (sort of like the ending home study of an adoption), but he is free to be our son! We chose to name him Micah because it means, “Who is like our God?” so the moment we heard this news was such an exciting time for us—it was like the Lord shouted down to us, “See? I had a plan. I've had Micah James purposed to be your son for over two years now. Here he is—My son Micah--now show him My love!”

I'm sure this post has been a bit disjointed due to our lingering brain fog from the 21-hour drive, but I hope you can hear through these word the amazing story God has been unfolding in our adoption journey. We have watched God redeeming brokenness through adoption, and we can't wait to see what His purposes are for Micah in the years to come! May the Lord be glorified in Micah's story, and may you each continue to seek the King of all Kings, the Lord of Lords, who has a beautiful redeeming purpose for each life and a sweet path of truth and grace for each of you! :-)