IT'S A GIRL!!!!

Where do we begin? I always like to start with the end - so here's the news: Taylor Anne Tate was born September 3rd, 2008 at 1:00 pm - all 6.0 lbs. 18 inches of her.

So, now the rest of the story. As most of those who read this blog are aware, after our second unsuccessful attempt at IVF, we decided that adoption would be our best option for us to beign our family. Since making that decision, we decided that we needed to move forward 1,000 miles per hour and get approved and get an active profile as soon as possible because our child could come at any time.

Now - the process is not an easy one, and it's not easy to get through. By the time we had our first meeting with LDS Family Services (July 21st) until the date that we were final approved (August 25th) was just over four weeks. The average time, according to our case worker, is eight weeks. There is a ton of paperwork, reference letters, classes, conferences, etc. We got a phone call from our wonderful caseworker on the 25th, letting us know that we were approved. Needless to say, it all became more real, and we were thrilled. However, we realized that we were likely in for a long wait. The average wait is more than a year.

While all of this was happening, a beautiful and tiny yet big-hearted young lady named Jami (that's right, Jami) was eight months pregnant and had just changed her mind about keeping her baby - realizing that as a single mother without a good job nor family to help, it would be tough to give her little girl the life that she deserved. When Jami made the decision to place her girl for adoption, she looked first at some agencies out of state but found it hard to get in touch with anybody. She was then referred to our case worker at LDS Family Services on August 21st. Our case worker felt a strong prompting to show her our profile - even though we had not yet been approved. Unlike 99% of the other prospective birth mothers, Jami wasn't interested in reviewing profiles online. She took the hard copies of the profiles (our letter and photo collage) that we had turned in just a couple of days before and took them home to review and ponder. She came back on August 25th - the very day that we were approved - and told our case worker that she felt good about us and wanted to meet us.

I got a phone call on August 27th when our case worker told us that a young birth mother - who was due with a young girl on September 14th - wanted to meet us. What a miracle! We were so excited and so nervous. We fasted and said so many prayers that it would work out how it was supposed to. Well, yesterday we were supposed to meet at LDSFS at 1 pm. That morning, our case worker called and told me that we had to cancel. I was disappointed - until she told me that it was because Jami had just gone into labor!

Well, from yesterday until last night, we kept in touch with our case worker to see what would happen. We found out that the baby was born healthily and Jami still wanted to place, but wanted to meet with a few families to be sure that she felt good about her decision.
So, this morning we went to the hospital to meet Jami and hopefully help her to get to know us better. We brought a blanket that Jamie's mom had crocheted for our first-born, some flowers, a frame to track a baby each month in its first year, a book and CD from Michael McClain about adoption, and a card - and we also included a gift card from Olive Garden that we had. In our meeting, Jami felt a connection to us. Not just the fact that she shared first names with the prospective adoptive mother, but also her middle name is Anne (Jamie's mother's name is Ann). We also found out that her favorite food was spaghetti (she was so excited about the gift certificate to Olive Garden), her favorite city that she had visited is Venice (ours, too), she loves reading and, like my Jamie, she loved Edward from the Twilight Series. In that room full of different emotions - the birth mother feeling torn, knowing that she'd have to part with this newborn baby who is very much a part of her - and us, the adoptive couple who is overcome with hopes of dreams coming true - we still made a very special connection with each other.

Jamie and I had talked about names before, and we liked the name Taylor and we had planned on giving the middle name of Ann. But we never realized how much significance it would have until all of the pieces came together like it did. Our case worker's last name is Taylor and Jami felt strongly that the little girl carry the middle name of Anne.

There are so many things that happened before and after, but in the end, this is our story. We have no doubt that Taylor Anne was sent to us and things worked out exactly the way that they were supposed to. We may not have been completely ready (we were expecting months before getting her - and even after learning about Jami - we still thought we had a couple of weeks to get things prepared), but for your first child, you never really are, right?

We're so grateful for all of our friends and family who were behind us every step of the way. We had a long day today, with paperwork, waiting at the hospital, etc. But when we got home, we had so many voice mails and text messages waiting for us. Even more amazing, we came home to see first hand what amazing friends we have. Our home was decorated with pink balloons and countless gifts. My best friend even took the recently delivered crib and assembled it for us while we were out. There is no doubt that Taylor is going to be loved, and we have no doubt that this miracle happened because of the thoughts and prayers of our amazing friends and family. We can't wait to share in the joy that Taylor brings to us - and you can bet that we plan on blogging about her first crawl, her first words, her first day of school, etc. We're excited to share with her the story of her birth mother and let her know how much everybody prayed for her to come into our lives.