More Details

Hey all. Do you guys like knowing all these details? 'Cause it sure helps me to spew it all out so it's not just clamoring around in my brain all day long with no place to go.

Before Steele was born our agency director gave us some very necessary advice. It has proved to be helpful in all of life, but especially in adoption.

She said this to us, "Be flexible."

While it may sound obvious and easy to do - it has been so helpful with our current adoption to keep repeating this to myself over and over again. I have learned that by nature, to have babies - one must be flexible. Babies simply come when they want to, how they want to. If you don't believe me, just go ask my friend Sarah.

I'll tell you a little bit about myself. I'm not a planner. Actually, I'm pretty spontaneous. I do o.k. with change. In fact, I kind of thrive when life is a little on the crazier side. But this adoption? The fact that I pretty much cannot plan anything? It's got me just a little bit stressed. But just a little. ;-) I actually think our constant changing of plans might have everyone around us more stressed than we are. But that kind of stresses me out too.

This might be kind of long so hold tight. I really want to have it recorded somewhere so I can look back on it.

Travel

There are several factors contributing to the travel plan dilemma. We were at Mike and Amy's on Saturday night - Mike has flown and traveled A LOT so we brainstormed out loud with him.

• The first thing is that A really wants me to be there for Xochi's birth. And of course, I would love to be there too. With this in mind, flying down would be fastest and would most likely insure that I get there in time. The drawback is that it leaves me searching for a flight at the last minute, possibly waiting in an airport for hours, possibly having to drive two hours down to Seattle beforehand, having to rent a car/have someone pick me up at the airport to get to the hospital etc.
  

• Another factor is that we do not know how long Xochi will be in the hospital or how long we will have to stay in California after she is born. So far, Xochi is doing well and is healthy, but if she were to have to stay in the hospital for any length of time I don't think it would be wise of us to book a round-trip flight.
  

• Since we are adopting out of state, there is something called the Interstate Compact that we have to comply with. It is an agreement between states that allows us to move from state to state before the adoption is finalized. Even though the adoption will be finalized in Washington (a huge answer to prayer) we have to proceed according to California state adoption laws while we are there. (It's all very confusing and obviously, I'm not using all the correct legal jargon). Laws are always changing. Social workers, hospital directors, nurses, attorneys all usually have different interpretations of what these laws mean. As of now, it looks like Xochi will have to stay at the hospital until A is discharged and then once A is discharged and out of the hospital she will physically hand Xochi to us. This is what I heard from our agency director this morning but as I was reading California adoption laws on-line I read that if birth mother has to stay longer, a doctor may be able to discharge the baby as long as the birth mother has given her consent. I'm going to call our attorney on this. Aside from the hospital, we may still have to stay in California longer until all the necessary papers are filed with the California courts so that we can leave. This, of course, can only be done on weekdays blah, blah, blah. See what I mean? FLEXIBLE.

• I think it will be easiest to make the drive down if we leave Steele and Adia with my parents. It's a 14 hour drive, possibly in the middle of the night and we won't be stopping for much. It might be a little hard even for Steele and Adia who have no trouble in the car. Heck! It's gonna be hard for me! BUT if we have to be in California for a week or so I really want them to be with us. Plus, it would be challenging for my parents to keep them for that long - my mom works two days a week and let's face it, after you're done with the toddler stage, having two toddlers for a week could be tiring.
  

• It would be really nice to have our own car while we're down there. Especially if we are there for a week and also when it is time to leave. We can just get in the car and come home. And for some reason, driving with a newborn sounds more pleasant than flying with a newborn. Just a personal preference I'm sure.
  

Some more details that you can be praying for and giving praise for:

• That the relinquishment papers would get translated into Spanish and to the birth father soon.

• A has an ultrasound with her new doctor today. She is going to see how things are progressing and talk to him about the possibility of getting induced at the appropriate time. Obviously, this is such a personal decision and I really didn't feel comfortable encouraging her one way or the other. And as we all know (see above) babies come when they want to. Steele's birth mother was induced three times over the course of week before Steele decided to make his appearance. All of these things are so small in comparison to the two most important things of course - a) that Xochi is healthy b) that A has confidence and peace about every aspect of the process. I'm excited to hear how/if things are progressing and will give you an update as soon as I have one.

• Praise the Lord for continuing to meet our financial needs! Justin made extra money working for our neighbor last month. A co-worker hired Justin and Steele to do some pressure washing for him yesterday. Today, Justin got called for overtime! Also, I'll get my first ever paycheck for teaching Jazzercise at my center this month! It's about time, I tell ya!

Thank you for continuing on this journey with us. It won't be long now!