Well, friends. The past 2 months has been nothing short of a whirlwind. I’ve been asked to tell the story of how we got our sweet little Jamie, and something has kept me from it. 😉

But, now, as I look at going back to work tomorrow, I thought I’d take some time while little man is napping.

A quick disclaimer: Brandon and I have been wrestling with how to share Jamie’s story with our friends and family, but also protect this story for Jamie. So we’re seeking balance. If details seem vague, that’s why. 

March 9 started just like any other day. We knew that there had been movement at our agency, but hadn’t heard any details. I was anxious to hear back from our caseworker, Cristina (whom we love, love, love). But movement has happened before, so we didn’t really think anything of it. My day at work came and went. Brandon had lunch with a friend who asked how things were going. He expressed that we were just in that difficult waiting time.

Brandon picked me up at work (because I had accidently let my license expire…oops!) and we both worked from home that afternoon. At around 2:45 Cristina called. I knew something was up, because she doesn’t call with bad news. She asked if I could put Brandon on speaker phone. I came into his office, told him it was Cristina and we both started shaking. So much, in fact, that I hung up on Cristina before she could tell us anything.

So we called her back and she began to tell us about a little boy. He had been born March 2 and was a safe-haven baby. This means that his birth mother had brought him to a safe haven (hospitals, fire stations, police stations) on March 3 because she felt as if she  couldn’t care for him.

And at the end of the description Cristina said that she would like for us to take him. She had some pictures she would send us, but she wanted us to make a calm decision first. Well, we didn’t need any time to excitedly say yes. We learned that we would pick up Jamie at 1:00 on Monday, March 12.

For the next few hours we called our family and friends. We alternated because sobbing and laughing. We were amazed. Over the following 3 days we watched as our community dropped off all of the supplies we would need. Brandon lined up substitutes for his classes and I prepared to go on Maternity Leave in a matter of hours. And we looked at Jamie’s pictures every 5 minutes.

We were told to get some rest. But when you have less than 72 hours to prepare for a baby… rest doesn’t come easy. 🙂

We learned some interesting things about ourselves as we waited to meet our son. Brandon was eating all the time, and I would eat a few bites of each meal. At night I would take 2-3 hours to fall asleep, and Brandon would fall asleep immediately and wake up every hour.

But we made it. Monday came and we drove to ECFA to pick up Jamie. Amazingly, Cristina met us in the waiting room with him, and we got to hold him while we signed paperwork. And in only 30 minutes we were back in our car taking Jamie home.

He cried the entire way. When we got him home we immediately fed him a bottle. And within 4 hours he had peed through 3 outfits, thrown up all over me and had his first pictures taken.

Over the next few weeks we watched with amazement as Jamie impressed his pediatrician and passed every medical test with flying colors. He was immediately affectionate and smiled often in his sleep. In fact, after having a large amount of blood drawn, he let out a big belly laugh and smiled from ear to ear. We joke that he had perspective. 😉 In short, for a boy who had had an unusual start to his life, he was doing amazingly well.

And over the course of time we have become deeply thankful and proud of his birth mom. Why? We don’t know her, and most likely we never will. But what we know about her is that she took good care of this child. He was a healthy baby in every way. When she felt she couldn’t care for him, she could have left him anywhere…You see that in the news all the time. But she brought him to a safe place. A place she could be sure would take care of him. Simply, she cared for him.

This Wednesday Jamie will be 2 months old. He is such a happy baby. Has slept through the night 3 times (not in a row, of course) and smiles constantly. He loves his crib and his changing table. However, he’s also pretty social. He talks to us and loves for us to be near him.

And we rejoice in his life daily.

The last four years haven’t be the easiest, but we are so, so thankful for our son.

much love, dear friends.