Hello everyone!! Boy, has summer flown by!! I apologize for neglecting my blog for so long. We have purposefully been quiet on the blog because we had some activity that we felt we needed to keep amongst ourselves and our family until we saw where it all led. We met a birth family (mom and dad) 2 weeks after we got into the book!!! It was exciting...and shocking...that we were chosen to meet a family so soon after getting in! It really felt good to get picked so fast. It said a lot about our profile and how it portrayed us. We met the birth parents in St. Cloud and saying that we were nervous was an understatement!! Mom and dad were no longer together and had over 7 meetings with the counselors about the choice of adoption. We were the only family they were meeting....talk about pressure! When we got to St. Cloud, we met with their social worker (SW) first and she gave us the low-down on how these meetings went. It was relieving to meet with her first. We also had a background history on both parents prior to meeting so we knew what we wanted to ask and what concerns we had. Mom (21y) and dad (22y) were no longer together and pretty healthy, so there wasn't too many concerns.  Mom was due in November...so we had time to possibly wrap our minds around this!

When mom and dad came in, we all stumbled on what to do and what to say. Jerrod and I were suppose to start talking about ourselves and our story first...Jerrod couldn't stop talking and I think I summed my life up in 5 sentences....how very opposite for us!!! But after the first 30 seconds, conversations were flowing! It really felt right...that they were the ones. After our meeting, there was some time to talk things over alone. They decided to meet another family...which we totally supported. We felt that they should be sure about their choice, which would only make it easier on us if they chose us. We had a wait due to July 4th...then they wanted time to think about the 2 families they met. About 4 weeks after our first meeting, our SW told us that mom was having second thoughts about adoption. But, IF she chose adoption, they had chose us.  So another waiting game as mom wavered on the biggest decision of her life. After another 2 weeks or so, mom decided to keep the baby.  There were a mixture of feelings for us...mostly we were grateful that the birth parents were honest in the way they were feeling and didn't drag us along until November, only to switch their minds then. We also felt that they were both pretty mature and would do just fine parenting this baby.

All in all, things happen as they are suppose to. We take away a few positives from the experience. We both were so nervous for the meeting...right down to what to wear...and now I think we will be more at ease having already been through a meeting. We also had such positive feedback from the SW at how well we did in the meeting. It helped us to know what questions we wanted to ask and what questions the birth parents may be asking us. It also made us feel like when it happens and works out in the end, what a blessing it truly is! Adoption is the greatest gift of love that there is!!

We thank you for all of your continued support and prayers. We are staying positive and patient! God has something really special in store for us!!