After 11 years of trying on our own to add another child to our family, we decided once and for all to go with adoption. Our adoption journey officially started on Christmas Day of 2005. We were matched with a birthmom within two months and were eagerly awaiting the arrival of our son, however things don't always go as we think they will.

After months of being in a very difficult situation (and only nine weeks from her due date) with this birthmom and the birthfather, we decided to put ourselves back on the Lifetime list of available families and wait and see what happened. We did not end contact with the birthmom but we just didn't feel confident that both birthparents were going to go through with the adoption plan once the baby was born. We were a little heart broken but we knew that the baby that was meant to be in our family would be; it was just so hard to wait and to be so close.

Two months after unmatching with the first birthparents we got a call that a birthmom wanted to talk to us that evening and she was due within three weeks!

We were very excited but very much on guard. After talking with the birthmom, we assumed there would be a couple of days of waiting to hear if they wanted to pick us as the adoptive family but she told us before we hung up from the very first phone call that they wanted us as the family for their baby! Again, we were very excited but a little in shock.

It took a couple of days for me to realize that the due date of Sept. 22nd was only 12 days away! I almost had a heart attack. Our nursery was prepared since early January but we had jobs to arrange and dogs to get petsitters for and schoolwork to arrange for our older child. It was a lot to digest but it definitely kept us busy until we got the phone call a week earlier than expected that the baby was on his way!!! We had only known about him for a week and a half!

Our first match was thousands of miles away and would have been very expensive to purchase airline tickets for all three of our family members and it would have taken us almost a full day to get there even if we rushed. This situation was only a six hour drive away from our home! How great is that!

We got the call at 3:00 am on a Saturday morning that our birthmom was in labor and we arrived at the hospital at 11:00 am.

We met our birthmom in person for the first time just hours before she gave birth. Our birthmom was so amazingly gracious and kind and really made our entire adoption experience so fabulous. She could not possibly have made a better adoption story to tell our son. She invited myself and our daughter to be in the room when the baby was born (and she even invited my husband just before she went into labor!).

From the second I stepped into the room, she introduced me and my husband as "his mom and dad" to everyone that came in. When the nurse asked who she wanted to have the second ID bracelet that allowed complete and full access to the baby, she responded, "his Mom".

Our son was born at 3:29 pm that afternoon, just 30 minutes after his birthmom's water broke. When the midwife asked who wants to cut the cord, she quickly said, "his Mom" - when the nurse asked who wants to hold him first she quickly said, "his Mom". It was just unbelievable... more than I could have ever expected or asked for. Our son was with me from the moment he was born. I got to stay in the hospital that first night with him in a boarder room and we left the hospital the next day with his Daddy and big sister.

His birthmom visited several times over our seven day stay in Idaho and each time her love was so overwhelmingly evident. I am so glad that I wasn't afraid to have her visit us in our hotel room, for the simple fact that I will now be able to tell Jakeb from my own perspective how much his birthmom loves him! We also got to meet and spend time with a few of the other extended family members.

During that time between being picked as the adoptive family and when Jakeb was born, I woke up one morning and it hit me like a brick wall. The entire time we were going through everything with the first match, I honestly didn't wonder "Why us?" I just knew I didn't like the way things were going. That morning when I woke up I knew in my heart that the reason we had to go through what we did with the first match, wasn't because we were being punished or because we weren't ready for our baby yet it was simply because that first birthmom and birthdad needed to be blessed by someone and my own personal feeling is that because there was so much drama and chaos involved in their situation, that maybe there wouldn't be a ton of people willing to bless them like they needed to be. If you look at it from a worldly standpoint, we blessed them way beyond what we should have and maybe got ourselves in too deep, but I think it was what they needed.

Once our blessing them was complete, then our blessing came to us in a very, very quick and perfect way! We couldn't have had a more storybook adoption and we are so thrilled to have Jakeb in our lives. Amazingly enough, from the time we sent our pictures into Lifetime to complete our application (12/25/05) it was almost exactly nine months to the day (9/16/06) that we had our son in our arms!! God is amazing and good and kind and he will bless you!

Tina, Tracey, Ceaira and Jakeb