Our first glimpse of her face

Wow- yesterday the social worker at the agency emailed us an ultrasound picture, and we got to see our baby girl's face for the first time. The ultrasound picture is absolutely amazing- I don't think you can normally make out facial features so well!!! And she's going to be a happy baby- it looks like she's smiling already! :) It definitely made everything sink in a little more... We can not wait to see her in person!

We're thinking about naming her Norah Jane (but don't hold us to that). Norah means 'light', and Jane means 'Jehovah has been gracious', so we LOVE the meaning of it, and it flows well with our last name: Norah Jane Parrish.


Here she is!!!





Your unfailing love is better to me than life itself; how I praise you! Psalm 63:3 NLT

"Now the word of the Lord came to me saying, 'Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I had appointed you a prophet to the nations." (Jeremiah 1:5).

"There are several things here that are wonderful and awe-inspiring as we reflect on what this verse says about the omniscience of God. God tells Jeremiah that He "knew" him before he was formed within the womb. He already knew Jeremiah's strengths and weaknesses. He already knew that Jeremiah would possess what God wanted to use during this particularly trying time of Israel's history. And before Jeremiah was born, God had already set him aside for a special task which He would give him years later as a young adult."
from: http://www.bible.ca/ef/expository-jeremiah-1-5-10.htm

It is so amazing to think about the fact that God already knows "Norah". He already knows what her strengths and weaknesses will be, and He has already given her what she needs to possess in order to serve Him the way He wants her to be able to. How awesome is that?? She is already set apart for great things...

Our future baby girl may arrive 7/18!

Yesterday (Tuesday, 4/14) the birth mother had a doctor's appointment, and everything checked out very well! The baby weighs 2lbs right now (see the personalized pregnancy ticker at the top of the blog for more interesting facts!) and is very healthy! The doctor said the birth mom is a little more than 26 weeks along and is due about July 28th, and they will be scheduling a c-section 10 days before that (around July 18th), so 7/18 might be when we get to see our baby girl for the first time :) That date is actually pretty ironic, because my mom had c-sections with all three of us, and all 3 were on the 18th of a month- the tradition may continue!!!

Because of the Easter holiday weekend I had this past Monday off, so I took the opportunity to register at Babies 'R Us, Target, and for bedding at JCPenney. All those baby necessities and gadgets are pretty overwhelming!- and that was even with having done a lot of research on consumer reports, in books, and collecting advice from friends who are already moms. Who knows which swing will best lull my baby to sleep (forward-to-back? side-to-side? both?), or which jogging stroller will allow me to keep running when baby arrives? Not me! But I made the most 'educated' guesses I could :)

We Are Matched!!

Wow, GOD IS SO FAITHFUL!!!!!!! We got the news this morning that a birth mother CHOSE US!!!!!!! She is due with a precious baby girl at the beginning of July!! It is impossible to express how ecstatic we are!!!

“I will praise you as long as I live, and in your name I will lift up my hands.” Psalm 63:4

We knew that our profile had been shown to one birth mother twice (3/19 and 3/26), but we thought maybe she had chosen someone else because we hadn’t heard anything, so I emailed the social worker this morning, and she emailed back (and then we spoke on the phone) and she said that the woman had just chosen us!!!

It is amazing to think back now on the initial despair when I was told as a teenager that I would never have children, but even then, I felt as though God was whispering to me that He had a different plan for me, and now it is coming to fruition…

"The LORD is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge. He is my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. I call to the LORD, who is worthy of praise, and I am saved from my enemies. The cords of death entangled me; the torrents of destruction overwhelmed me. The cords of the grave coiled around me; the snares of death confronted me. In my distress I called to the LORD; I cried to my God for help. From his temple he heard my voice; my cry came before him, into his ears." Psalm 18:2-6

She does not want to meet with us until much closer to the due date (maybe only right before). The description of her that we have is that she is 5’4” and 130lbs with brown hair and hazel eyes. There is so much to be thankful for: she has not been doing any scary drugs/alcohol during the pregnancy, there is no known history of mental illness in her or the birth father’s family, and both she and the birth father are being counseled through the agency and both are certain that they want to give the baby up for adoption! This is a HUGE PRAISE, because to have all three of the afore-mentioned situations is pretty rare!!!

Please pray for health for our developing baby over the next 3 months, for patience, preparation, and wisdom for us, and for the emotional and physical well-being of the birth mother and father.

"Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight." Proverbs 3:5-6

Thank you for all of the prayers that have already been lifted up for us- we are eternally grateful, and we know God had this baby girl chosen for us all along!!!!

“Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth. Worship the LORD with gladness; come before him with joyful songs. Know that the LORD is God. It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture. Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name. For the LORD is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations.” Psalm 100

The other background check!

We just heard from the social worker at the agency that our second background check (done in TX- with fingerprints again!) was processed successfully! Whew- no more fingerprint worries!!! To my small group girls- I guess I wouldn't be a very good criminal after all- ha! (We had joked about them not being able to get good prints on me)!

So now all of the details are in place- we just wait....

Psa. 27:14 "Wait for the Lord; Be strong, and let your heart take courage; Yes, wait for the Lord."

Not a Criminal!

I had a pleasant surprise awaiting me yesterday when I got home and checked the mail- my fingerprints were FINALLY accepted by the FBI!!! (for a criminal background check they have to do in order for us to adopt)

For those who don't know, I had three sets of fingerprints get rejected (low quality, smudged, you name it) done the old-fashioned ink way, and then I had to endure the lovely experience of walking around a jail of actual criminals (by myself) to get my fingerprints scanned, so this is GOOD news that they were finally accepted! And by the way, of course the report came back that I have no criminal record :-)

2/26/09- A co-worker of mine who is a notary signed off on our last piece of adoption paperwork, so now we truly can only wait for God's timing. I heard Jon & Sherry Rivers talking about adoption on the radio (KLove) this week, and when they mentioned this verse, it took on new meaning to me now:

"A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in his holy dwelling. God sets the lonely in families..." Psalm 68:5-6

I take hold of this promise today, that God protects widows and orphans, and will place a baby in our waiting arms in His PERFECT timing. Please pray for patience for us!

Timeline

Adoption Timeline of Events

9/20/08- We attended the Family to Family Fall Adoption Conference and learned more about the entire process and heard the stories of birth mothers and adoptive families that have worked with the agency (including Patrick and Andrea! Patrick spoke at the conference, and Ella and Corinne were there too). Hurricane Ike almost resulted in the conference being cancelled, but they went ahead with it anyway!

9/21/08- I emailed Charlene, the wife of a doctor whom I called on when I was still doing Pharmaceutical Sales, to see about a recommendation for a social worker who could do a Home Study for us in Louisiana that would meet Texas standards as well.

9/22/08- Charlene emailed back and recommended Lisa, a LA-certified social worker, and I emailed her right away!

9/24/08- Lisa agreed to do our Home Study for us!

10/8/08- Lisa sent us a bunch of paperwork, and we began filling it out.

10/11/08- We attended an America World Adoption Association “Spirit of Adoption” seminar- which happened to be held at a church less than a mile from our house, and hosted by none other than Charlene (the doctor’s wife mentioned above)! It is the agency whom Steven Curtis Chapman (the famous Christian music artist) and his wife used.

10/15/08- We contacted five family members and friends to ask them to be references for us (which meant filling out a 5-page questionnaire about Andy and I) as part of the Home Study requirements. All of them agreed to do this, and we are SO grateful to them for their willingness to do this for us.

10/17/08- We had our first of three meetings with Lisa (the social worker doing the Home Study has to meet with you three times).

10/24/08- Andy’s background check (fingerprinting) comes back clear (of course!) from the FBI, but my fingerprints are rejected- the quality was too low.

11/5/08- We had the second meeting with Lisa.

11/12/08- My 2nd set of fingerprints is rejected by the FBI.

11/13/08- I downloaded a free software program (Scrapbook Flair) to use for completing our profile (for the purpose of “showing” us to birth mothers). I then completed one page just to see if it would work correctly, and I liked the way it turned out.

12/13/08- The last and final meeting with Lisa- the Home Study is complete!!

12/15/08- My 3rd set of fingerprints is rejected by the FBI :(

1/12/09- I let Jennifer and Maxine (at Family to Family Adoptions) know that our home study was done and that we wanted to sign on with them if they would accept us (and our Home Study). I began working diligently on our profile.

1/17/09- Mailed application, initial fee, and the signed copy of the Home Study to the agency.

1/22/09- The agency officially accepted our application and Home Study per TX standards.

2/7/09- I finished the profile today and printed off a copy (14 pages). Unfortunately, a few of the pictures didn’t print out on the pages, so Andy tried to download an “update” to the software from Scrapbook Flair’s website, and once he did that, we lost the entire profile! It will no longer open up, and I am going to have to re-do the whole thing. Luckily, because I had printed the one copy, I can copy the text on each page instead of trying to remember what I had written…

2/14/09- Finished the re-doing the profile and emailed it to the agency for Jennifer’s approval!!! What a great feeling, and how ironic to finish it on Valentine’s Day. Seems sort of perfect because we are going to have so much LOVE for whatever baby the Lord decides to give us!!!

2/16/09- Jennifer said the profile looks great, so we printed 6 copies (14 pgs each) on our color printer at home, and Andy also posted the profile online and we emailed family and friends with an update on the process and gave them the link to the profile so they could see it. Everyone was SO supportive in their email responses- thank you to all of you!!! Here's the link: picasaweb.google.com/amparrish61904/OurAdoptionProfile

2/17/09- I had a scary fingerprinting experience in St. Martinville. I had to go to the correctional facility to use the fancy scanning fingerprinting machine, and that necessitated going up to the second floor holding-cell area where they book the prisoners! While I was being fingerprinted, a man in handcuffs was being booked into the jail! Yikes- but I’ll do almost anything if it means we eventually end up with a successful adoption :)

2/18/09- Andy brings the printed profiles to the Office Depot here in town to be bound.