It seems like yesterday we got the phone call

It is amazing. We have been home exactly one week. As I am typing this, I am holding the most precious little angel. I don't know exactly how long we should keep this site up. Michael and I both thought that since Sawyer is here, how much else would anyone want to hear about?! But, I do have a few more stories I want to tell. So, I guess when I run out of stories that will be that.

It literally seems like yesterday when we got the phone call saying we were matched. It was on a Tuesday in late February and we were in the car on the way home from school. I had Brennan and my nephew in the car with me. When the agency called I thought we were continuing a conversation we had the day before. You see, the social worker had called Monday to ask us if our profile could be given to a specific person. I thought that was odd they would ask me that, because surely they were showing it to anyone who wanted to see it. She explained that the birth mother was looking for a family without children, but that was out of state (FL). And you are telling me this because???? She explained her medical and social history. Michael and I discussed her situation later, but seriously did not put a lot into it. You get a few calls while you are waiting about different potential situations. So fast forward to the car ride home on Tuesday. The SW called again and explained the situation. Michael was also on the phone as a conference call (can we say I am a little slow?!). I thought nothing of it. The SW again explained the entire situation of the birth mother and that she is having a girl. I had to pull over on the side of the road so I did not lose the signal. I am still curious as to why she is telling me all this again. I heard her the day before explain that the birth mother did not want a family with children already. She talks for another 10 minutes and then says "what do you think?". OK, about what? She says "she wants your family and she loves Brennan". They had sent her home over the week-end with five profiles to choose from. They ask that you choose a 1st and a 2nd choice. The birth mother came back on Monday morning and said she only wanted us and no 2nd choice! AHHHHHH Brennan and my nephew jumped out of the car and ran circles around it screaming. They did this for probably 10 minutes. I think Michael and I both said yes immediately, but truthfully I do not remember much after that. I do know I managed to wrangle the kids back in the car and the first thing we did was pray for this birth mother and her circumstances. Obviously, she has a lot on her plate!

The following month Michael was gone out of town for almost a week and Brennan was spending the night away and everything hit me! I thought of a million "what if's". What if she changes her mind? What if nobody else chooses our family? What if this is not what God wants for us? I had a nice little pity party one night and literally cried myself to sleep. I have never been that low in my life. Satan saw a slight little weakness and doubt and swarmed in. I had a few friends give me words of wisdom that night that have stuck with me since. I also felt the Lord literally telling me "I've got this". That night I let everything go. I decided that I could in NO way change the outcome. The birth mother would make her decision and what I thought or felt would not affect it. I had such peace!!!! Oh what a life lesson; I have always tried to seek out the Lord's will for our family. That night taught me to just sit and LISTEN! He was speaking to me all along...I just didn't listen.

Again, all that seems like yesterday. Time has flown by and we have now been home a week! Every one is doing great and sleeping! Sawyer is slowly gaining weight. But, at least we are going in the right direction!

This is our latest little picture of Sawyer...isn't she toooo sweet!!!!!


Oh, did I mention......
WE ARE HOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I have never been so thrilled to be home in my life! Now, it all feels real! More updates soon!

We are still in Florida. Fl was done with our paper work on Wednesday...now we are just waiting on AL. Michael was able to come down for the week end. Now I am PRAYING we can come home early next week. Sawyer is doing great, but she is not a big eater!!!!

STILL in Florida

We are most likely going to be in Florida for the first month of Sawyer's life...just kidding! It feels like it though. I was hoping to be home by now, but that is not the case. Our case manager called yesterday to inform us that FL always electronically files paperwork for custody immediately and less than 1% chance of paperwork gets behind. We are officially in the elite "less than 1% group". A group I would GLADLY give up my membership to at this point. So, we are at the mercy of the state (that could be a cool book title for this experience). Maybe we will here something tomorrow!

Brennan's Baby Appointments for Sawyer

These are the times that have already been registered for time to hold Sawyer.

Friday July 17, 2009
Debbie Goodwin 2:00 P.M.
David Goodwin 3:00 P.M.

If you would like a time to hold the baby please post your time in comments and put your name in it too. If your computer will not let you post it in comments please just send it to Dotsoffaith@msn.com (you can also ask for any day you would like).

Jama Mayo gets any time she would like because she has not seen Sawyer yet!!!

Love, Brennan

Monday night I treated Brennan to a girl outing (minus Sawyer). We went to Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique at Downtown Disney. She loves to get her hair done! We also ate nachos...the closest thing I have come to getting cheese dip. I have now gone over a week without cheese dip. I think I am going through some type of withdrawal.

Isn't Brennan's hair beautiful!!!

This is ALL Sawyer did while we were gone!!!

Well, we are one step closer to being home. We left Orlando and moved closer to the state line. I am sooooooo ready to be home and settled. But, I have to remind myself that a couple of weeks ago I would have given anything to be in this position WITH our new baby! So, now the whole patience thing comes back in to play. I always thought I was a patient person, again...kidding myself! Michael had to leave to go home today and get back to work. My mother was sweet enough to come back down and hang out with us. Hopefully it will only be a couple of more days. I am still so amazed at the past week we have had. Over two years ago God began nudging at my heart to adopt. It is so amazing when you are in the midst of something and fully aware of what He is doing!

Doctor visit

We went to re-check our weight this morning. Sawyer weighed 6 lbs 10 oz!!!!!!!! YIPPEE, she is cleared to travel now. The rest of the family didn't have their weight checked....we have not had a problem gaining weight since we have been out of town! We should know tomorrow when we can come home.

New pic's and stuff!

I forgot to put these pictures on my last post! They are two of my favorites from the day we took Sawyer home.

Michael and Brennan are looking through the nursery window at Sawyer, waiting to take her home! We were ready to go!!

Brennan and Sawyer (their very first picture as sisters!!!!!!). Brennan's smile was priceless!

Sawyer went to her first doctor appointment Friday morning. We really liked the Doctor; I think he is George Hamilton's long lost cousin (with some type of comb over thing). He was so funny. I pulled the camera out and he said "you need a picture with me don't you". He was very thorough and encouraged us to call anytime this week-end we needed him. And yes, we have called him twice.

Sawyer has lost more weight even since leaving the hospital. So, they are going to re-weigh her on Monday morning and if she has gained back up to 6 lbs 10 oz he will give the okay for her to travel. But the earliest we still could leave is Tuesday. All our paperwork is tied up in the swift, up-to-date Alabama court system; so right now we are at the mercy of the courts. We are SO okay with this because the WORST part is behind us. We are all enjoying our time right now as a little family of four.

Brennan has really enjoyed getting her rest. We have raised such a home body and she HAS NOT complained one time about being here. We actually have tried to get her to go more, but she just wants to be in the room with her sister. My parents were down this week with us to stay with Brennan while we went to the hospital the first couple of times. They all had planned a few visits to the parks; well, Sawyer came home and needless to say she did not go anywhere. Brennan would not leave her new sister. She did go to Downtown Disney though the morning we went to the doctor and bought Sawyer a special surprise. Can you tell how excited Sawyer was to get an Eeyore stuffed animal?!?!

And lastly, what a sweet baby!!!!!!!

Thanks for checking in on us.

The Many Moore's

Brennan took Sawyer to her first trip to Disney World to see her cousins, Katelyn & Kurtis, at the All-Star Music Resort. As you can tell Sawyer was very excited!!!

The post we thought would never come!

She is finally here!!!

Sawyer Addison Moore was born July 6, 2009 at 3:05 pm. She weighed 7 lbs 1 oz and was 19" long. She is TINY!!! (well compared to Brennan as a newborn baby).

Michael and I were able to see her in the hospital the next day. At the time it was very surreal and still is. It seemed like the day would never come and then it did! Tuesday was my emotional day. There were a lot of things still in question regarding the birth mother; she hit a very rough spot and unfortunately we were at the hospital and full aware of how she was wavering. The whole day Michael kept reminding me that it was completely out of our hands so we just needed to be ready to accept whatever God had planned for us. We went to the hospital in the middle of the night Tuesday night just to spend time with Sawyer. The hospital we were at has a separate room set up just for adoptive parents, very cool!! It was hysterical, we were in there with her maybe 3 minutes and I went to change her diaper and well....let's just say we were christened into baby hood again. We both had forgotten a lot of small details, like wait until they are completely done using the bathroom before you change a diaper. Needless to say, she does not have ANY bathroom issues!

The next day Wednesday we swam with Brennan at the pool and just hung out until after lunch. The birth mother could not sign until 3:00; so we were told to come around 3:15. Wednesday Michael and I did a complete flip-flop emotionally, he will LOVE it that I am saying this. He was a complete bundle of nerves the entire day and I must say I was cool as a cucumber. I would love to say it was complete faith, but probably more like sleep deprivation. But, thankfully I was there to remind him that "it is out of our hands" without missing a beat, remember the day before he was that way with me. We were in the waiting room at the hospital for almost 2 hours when our 2 coordinators walked through the big doors and .......nothing. They didn't look at us or make eye contact. Not kidding, 5 minutes and nothing! Both, our hearts dropped. And I am thinking, okay Lord you have us on this path but for this! I know we learn through both the good and the bad in life, but I was praying Lord please don't use this as a bad time we must learn from. Then what seemed like an eternity, really 5 minutes, our social worker turned around and gave us a thumbs up!!!!! Time flew after that and an hour later we were in the car leaving with our new baby girl.

Brennan has been on cloud nine. She counts the minutes other people can hold her. So, if you are planning on holding her before Sawyer turns one, you might want to get an appointment with Brennan first!

So much more to say, but that will have to wait for another day. This has been the most AMAZING journey we have ever been on as a family. God has revealed Himself to us in so many ways and we are so thankful for that!!! Please, please, please continue to pray for the birth mother. We will forever have a special place in our hearts for her. Unfortunately, we are in the best place right now and she is in the worst. She does have a wonderful support system around her. We also asked her a week ago what her favorite verse was. We were kind of thinking if it fit, it could be Sawyer's life verse. Her favorite is Jeremiah 29:11, "For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future". We are honored to use the same verse she chose. How applicable to her and Sawyer's life.

Time to end this extremely long post, sorry our internet has been down for 3 days and it seemed like an eternity. Brennan just came to tell me that Sawyer is awake and smiling, so I have to go see this!

She is finally here.

The last few days have been a whirlwind of emotions. But we finally have her in our arms. As most of you can already tell this is not Tracy. (I know the fine writing was a clue) Tracy & Brennan are in the room with Sawyer sleeping. Our internet is not working at our condo so I had to go find a internet cafe to update you with pictures. By the way not many normal people in an internet cafe this morning. I have put together a quick slideshow of Sawyer. I hope it works. Tracy will update later with much more detail.

Michael

We got a phone call this morning that the BM was in the hospital and they are taking the baby today!!!!! We are heading to Orlando late this afternoon. There are so many things to pray for....a safe delivery, for the BM's ongoing emotional state, safe travels and more! We will update as soon as we can.

What a sister is like

Well to start of this is a little different than usual this time it is me writing on here (Brennan) and I am going to show how I feel about getting a new person in the family. For me getting a sister is like making a new friend but just thinking about it they will be with you forever not just until they move away like how friends do. The fun part about getting a baby sister is you get to do a lot more stuff than you used to you will have someone to play with and especially when they get to be 2 and 3 those are some of my favorite years with a baby. For one reason they are able to walk and they try to talk and you can't understand what they are saying and then you just have to nod and say yea. Those are some of the years when they start to do funny stuff and then they don't know why you are laughing. Well I guess that is all the time I have to talk so I will talk to you later.

It's getting close!

We have had a few "maybe" times in the past couple of weeks. Our agency has called twice with the news that the BM was in the hospital and they could take the baby the next day. Both times sent us scrambling to get ready. The last time, upon my sister-in-laws urging, we actually went and bought a few bottles and the much needed pacifiers. We have those, so we are ready! As of a few days ago, our social worker informed us that if the BM does go back in the hospital, she will stay and the baby will be born. So, now we are waiting! Thankfully, we have tons of things to occupy our time right now.

Sawyer's (did I mention that is the baby's name) room is finished. YEAH!!! We let Brennan choose the color scheme (mostly b/c I am extremely indecisive). She chose pink and chocolate. Her bedding (a gift from Nana) is a few shades of pink and chocolate....YUMMY! Michael thinks the walls look like ice cream, since they are pink on top and chocolate on the bottom with white molding in the middle.

We will update again soon! Happy 4th of July!!!