We arrived at the agency at 1:30 on Tuesday. We were both nervous and could not imagine what the moment of meeting our child for the first time would be like. Scottie said he had some butterflies right before we entered in CAS. We spend the first 45 minutes/hour completing paperwork for the placement...the placement agreement, legal risk document etc. The NC law states that once a birthmother relinquishes her parental rights she has a 7 day right of recision. The other element of the legal risk period is the termination of the birthfather's parental rights. The agency's attorney will search for the birthfather and attempt to contact him, if no response is heard his rights will be terminated and the adoption can become final (this is a quick summary). Technically, CAS (our agency) holds custody of Anna Sophia and we are her guardians until the adoption in final. This is the risk of a domestic adoption and we are just praying that if Anna Sophia is the child that God wants in our family that the legal risk will go smoothly.
On to more exciting things...
Around 2:30pm, the foster parents of Anna (Jeannie & Bill) were at the agency. Scottie got the video camera ready on the tripod and Doris and Gretchen from CAS came in the take pictures of the meeting. Doris was taking pix with our camera, so we have some amazing shots. I cannot explain the feelings of anticipation I had a the door was coming open. Suddenly, we saw the beautiful, sweet baby girl in Jeannie's arms. She was beyond my wildest dreams AND guess what...she smiled when she first saw me!!! WOW...we even have the photo. Jeannie place her in my arms as Scottie and I both were crying. After all this time, our prayers had been answered and it was an amazing feeling. GOD is GOOD!! Scottie picked up Eli and he met his baby sister for the first time. He was a little shy at first, but warmed up to her quick. He wanted to give her a hug and we took some pix with him holding Anna. No words can explain our feelings except maybe PURE JOY!! After I pulled myself together from crying, we were able to sit with Jeannie and Bill and talk about little Anna. Jeanine told us about her temperament, schedule, sleeping and all the things that we needed to know about her. Jeannie had also completed a 6 page document all about Anna, since she had been with them for the last 4 months. We are so thankful to Jeannie and Bill for taking wonderful care of Anna and loving her so much. I can't imagine how they were feeling on Tuesday, but I am so thankful that God placed them in Anna's life. We have been in touch with Jeannie this week about some questions we had and just keeping her updated. We plan to stay in touch with them!
We started on our journey back to Raleigh around 3:30. Anna slept in the car for a bit and we stopped in High Point to feed her. She wasn't very interested in eating, so we headed on our way. We were anxious to bring her home. She got hungry, so we stopped at an exit and fed her. She was happy all the way home :) Eli was in the way back of the van playing legos :) We got home around 7pm and guess who was there...Nanny. Nanny was Anna's first visitor. Rog also came over after a bit with some dinner for us. Anna was in such a good mood and was smiling and cooing for them. She got fussy and we put her to bed around 8ish (she has been going down around 6pm), so she was tired. The bedtime went pretty well.
Here is Scottie's perspective on the first night...
Anna went to bed around 8pm, 2 hours later than her current 6pm schedule. She woke up several times starting around 9:30. As soon as we put the pacifier in her mouth, she is out again. Sometimes for 30 minutes, sometimes for 32 1/2 minutes (who's counting:) ! Billie fed her around 10pm and she slept to 2AM where Billie fed her again. She woke up around 5am for good and I let Billie sleep in. After trying to get her to sleep for 30 minutes, I gave in to my urges and just wanted to play with her. Her smile and coos are amazing. Eli woke up around 6:30 and started playing with her. He is very affectionate with her, he is going to be a great big Bro.
What an AMAZING DAY we had!!!
Give thanks to the Lord for his is good. His love endures forever. Psalms 136:1
Here a some pix from the day
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