WE ARE ADOPTING!!!!!!!!!

But not how you think - and certainly not how we thought we would be doing it. But that is God and His plans for ya! :)

We work with a lady whose daughter is currently pregnant. They had made arrangements for another family to adopt the daughter's baby, but that couple got pregnant (as is the way things go!) and decided to focus on their own pregnancy. So they declined the offer to adopt this baby. And thanks to the fantastic networking skills of another co-worker (we owe her more than we can say!) we were introduced to the lady who works with us. She told us her daughter's story and the information they already know about the baby and we have both decided to proceed with Patrick and I adopting this baby. I am having a hard time believing it could really be that easy, but God knows what He is doing, so we are following along.

That's where the red balloon story comes in to play! :) What we have learned so far (I haven't been to an appointment yet) is that there is a very good chance this baby is going to be born with some kind of medical complications or disabilities. The most likely is some level of hearing or vision loss or mental retardation. We won't know the details until the baby is born as there is only so much you can tell from a sonogram - even the high powered ones! But we heard God loud and clear that we are supposed to be doing this. So.....we are.

I went and met with an adoption lawyer today and we are thinking we are going to go with this person to represent us. We will have another lawyer represent the birth mother and in a few short weeks, we are going to be bringing a baby home! The baby is due July 14th and they are mostly certain that the baby is a boy...he has modest legs. :) So in a little over a month and a half Nicolas Patrick will be coming home with us (barring any additional hospital time due to medical necessity).

Thankfully we have almost everything we need already - with the exception of some diapers, formula and boys clothes up to 12 months (thanks to these wonderful boys we have right now, we have a lot of clothes after 12 months!). Otherwise, we are ready - except we desperately need to clean and finish our kitchen renovations - but we have plenty of time! Yeah right! :)

Anyways, we will be sure to keep posting as we have more news on the developments and how things are going and of course when we get to finally meet little Nicolas, we will make sure we let everyone know! :) Till then, we will keep our prayers going and our eyes out for more red balloons! :)