Our Easter Miracle

Ok, so I think this is one of my favorite posts ever! I don't know even where to start...it has been such a world win this last week and a half. First we would like to introduce everyone to our daughter Isabella. She was born on Friday, March 14th. She weighed 6 pounds 6 oz, and was 19 inches long.

It has been such an amazing experience, and better than anything I could ever imagine. Jeff and I decided the beginning of this year that we would start the process for a domestic adoption, since Logan's case has taken longer than we thought. We figured that we should get a start on it now, since it would probably take awhile. We finished all of our paper work in February, and felt really good about things. We settled in for the long wait.

On Thursday the 13th we got a call from our case worker. She said that they might have a match for us. She said that the birth mother wanted the agency to pick the adoptive parents, and they thought of us. Our case worker said that the birth mother's due date was a week away. She had decided not to find out the sex of the baby, but she thought she was having a boy. For some reason Jeff and I felt it was a girl. Our case worker asked us to think it over and get back with her, so she could start looking for another family if we weren't interested. We told her that we would pray about it over the weekend and let her know on Monday.

Well, on Friday we got a message that Bella's birth mother was going to the hospital, because she felt like she was going into labor. Jeff and I thought about if we could do this or not. Needless to say we did not get much sleep that night. We were both so excited and anxious. Saturday morning we received a call that our little girl was born Friday night. Our case worker asked us how soon we could be there, and I told her I would call the airlines immediately.

By Saturday evening we were at the hospital holding our little girl. It was one of the most amazing and inspiring events of my whole life. Everyone always said that it would happen for us, but I could never have believed it would be so wonderful. It's such an amazing process to look into the face of your child. She is such a beautiful and perfect little girl. Even now I will still look at her and tears will come to my eyes, because I am so happy and grateful. It's amazing how all the years of pain and tears are melted away when you hold your child in your arms. It reminds me of a scripture found in the Book of Mormon, Alma 36:20. She is one of the greatest miracles that I have ever seen take place in my life.

In Nevada the birth mom has 72 hours before she can sign the papers to make the adoption legal. Bella had to stay in the hospital that whole time. We longed to take her home and start our little family, but we did meet some amazing nurses. They were all so excited for us. They kept telling Bella how blessed she was, but I definitely feel it was the other way around.

On Monday evening Bella's birth mother signed the paper work. We were able to check Isabella out of the hospital on Tuesday afternoon. By Wednesday the paper work had been sent off to Nevada. Our agency told us that the process would take anywhere from three to ten days. We were prepared for the worst. On Tuesday Jeff ended up having to fly home because he had finals for school. He hated to go and we hated to see him leave. Luckily my mom was able to fly into Vegas on Tuesday. It really helped to have the extra hands. On Thursday we found out that the paperwork was completed in Nevada, and was being sent onto Oregon. By Friday afternoon we got the go ahead to leave and head back home. We were so excited, and thrilled at how quickly the process had taken.

It has been so interesting to see the difference in processes between Logan and Bella's cases. They have been so different, yet each one has been such an incredible learning and faith promoting experience. We are so blessed. I still feel like I'm going to wake up one of these days and it will all be a dream. I just look at Bella, and wonder how did we get so lucky. We are so excited to have her in our home, and look forward to her brother joining us soon. It's so interesting to see how similar the two of them look. It's neat also to be on the other side now, and see Heavenly Father's hand in this whole process. What wonderful miracles.