Heading for Home

Hooray!! We got the green light to travel from Wisconsin ICPC on Monday! We packed our bags and made an overnight run to Indiana, landing at Ed's parents' house at 6:30 Tuesday morning. We've had a good rest and had a great time sharing Harper with Ed's family. We're ready to head out on the final leg of our journey and plan to be home Thurday morning. (Traveling is a little slower now that we have to make a feeding-changing-burping stop every couple of hours).
Thank you to all for all your help and support and prayers. We're so thankful for all the blessings and mercies that our family has received.

Here We Are

Proud big sister

Here we are! all settled in Atlanta with the sweetest little armful of baby that a family could ever want. We've all fallen in love with tiny Harper Jacie Rayn as she does all those adorable things newborn babies do - the rooting and cooing and stretching and scrunching. Audrey hasn't caught on yet that this new person might be someone to be jealous of. All her little mamma instincts are in full swing with this newborn dream-come-true. Her very own baby!


The termination of parental rights for the birth parents of Jacie Janae (as they named her) was official at midnight on Monday the 14th. We left home at 7:30 that evening, figuring that by then we were pretty well in the clear. We arrived in the Peach State on Tuesday. Our weary band rolled into Norry's driveway at 3:30 in the afternoon after a brief stop for tooth brushing, etc. Norry was Harper's Caring Home provider for the first two weeks of her life. What a treasure she is! We. Love. Norry!

Norry and Beth (an equally kind and loving Open Door caseworker) awaited us with baby in arms. Norry had Harper all dressed up for the occasion in proper Southern girl attire. We spent a couple of joyful hours with them, talking, passing the baby around, signing and notarizing paperwork, and taking turns chasing Audrey. (Side note: Audrey was an awesome traveler, but once she was released from the truck, her tightly coiled springs worked overtime for a couple of days).As we loaded our new family member into the truck and said our goodbyes to Norry and Beth, Audrey - already in love - asked if we could take the baby home. How awesome it was to say yes love, we're taking her home with us! Norry confessed to wanting to keep this particular baby for herself. So, yeah...we got a good one.

Beth, Harper, and Norry

Settling in to our home away from home

Jammin'

From Norry's, we drove to the drug store for a case of diapers and baby wipes. Then we were on our way to John and Mary Raterman's home. Open Door connected us with them for our stay in Atlanta while we wait for our ICPC (Interstate Compact for Protection of Children) paperwork to be approved by Georgia and Wisconsin. The Ratermans were a Caring Home provider for Open Door babies for many years. A few years ago, changes to Mary's schedule made it impossible to take in the babies anymore. So they decided to open their home to adoptive families instead. That way, she says, she still gets the babies but now she doesn't have to wake up with them at night.

Georgia Aquarium

This family has been such an amazing blessing to us, I cannot hardly begin to tell how wonderful our experience has been. It's a far cry from the room in the extended stay hotel that we had in New Orleans 3 years ago. I'm almost reluctant to go home. The Ratermans are very gracious and generous hosts. We are inhabiting the walkout basement apartment of their beautiful home. (Their daughter lives down here most of the time, but she moves out whenever a family like ours moves in). They are all set up for their grandkids, who are Audrey's age, so we have not lacked one moment for interesting things to do. We have a fenced in yard with a treehouse and swingset, a collection of interesting toys, and a lovely neighborhood - complete with playgrounds and a pool. It couldn't get much better.

Riding the horses at the mall

When we arrived at the Ratermans' place, they had pizza and salad waiting for us. We met another adoptive family that night who had been staying with John and Mary for a couple of nights. They had come up from the southern Georgia, where their baby was born and were flying home to Idaho the next day with their brand new son. It is fun and encouraging to intersect with other families that are doing this same crazy adoption thing.
Wednesday evening, the Ratermans invited us to the pool with their family. At the pool John, Mary and their daughters all took turns holding Harper while I played in the water with Audrey and while Ed got lost with their dog. (This is a whole story unto itself, which includes placing a missing persons report. However, as you can see, it turned out alright in the end aside from some very sore paws and limbs. Mary gave us her GPS after the incident. John has found it excellent fodder for jokes. Ed decided, rather than go for another run, he'd join us at the pool the next day). Friday evening, John and Mary ordered out for Thai food and invited us and some of their friends to join them. So, like I said, I'm feeling a little reluctant to go home.

Happiness is...

It's been a very pleasant week to be in Georgia. Not at all the blistering hot Southern odyssey that I was expecting. We've had the opportunity to get out and about to see some of the sights in between all the fun we've been having close to "home." Friday we visited the Georgia Aquarium. Yesterday we got out to ride the carousel at the mall and have some ice cream. On Friday, we got word that Georgia approved our ICPC paperwork. So now we're just waiting to hear from Wisconsin. We're thinking we might just start getting ready to go on Monday so that we can hop in the truck and head home as soon as we get the green light. 

It looks like we will not be meeting Harper's birth family on this trip. They are still working through their grief and need some time and space yet. We're sad to miss meeting them, but understand it at the same time. We're hopeful to meet them sometime in the future. We also missed out on meeting Victoria, the counselor/caseworker who we have been working with over the phone for the past two months. The day we rolled into town for placement with Harper, Victoria was occupied all day at the hospital with another birth mother. She has been one busy lady, juggling birth mothers, babies, and adoptive families. Hopefully we can meet her someday too. 

(By the way, we got an update on the mother of twins whose match we declined. She had the babies a couple of days before we got to town and brought both of the boys home with her after all. Whew! We're glad for a happy ending for us and for them. Though I'm thinking there is another adoptive family somewhere out there with a heartache over it right now).

Soon, we should be headed for home! Before we leave Georgia, I'll post one more time to let folks know when we're on our way.

One last note: my cell phone took a bath in Miracle Bubble yesterday. I am hoping for a miracle recovery, but if you need to reach us, Ed's phone is the better bet right now.

Onward

In June when our adoption plans fell through, we returned to our pre-baby idea of a family vacation in Red Lodge, MT to visit my dad (Ray) and step-mom (Pat), step-sister (Amanda) and nephews (Nic and Zack). Karin - my sister living in the Twin Cities - joined us for the trip. We were out West all last week and had a wonderful time together.

Back in April, Dad was diagnosed with glioblastoma multiforme, an aggressive form of brain cancer. My sisters and I were each able to spend a week with Dad and Pat at the time of his surgery and the weeks that followed. A shortly after surgery, Dad began a six week regimen of chemo and daily radiation. That treatment wrapped up 3 weeks ago, so he's had a little bit of a break. In a couple more weeks he will start 6 months of intensified chemo.

Dad has been doing remarkably well through all the challenges that brain cancer has been throwing at him. He has remained very sharp, has maintained a positive spirit, and has been enjoying the fellowship of friends and family. Dad and Pat have a great community of friends in Red Lodge who have mobilized to assist them with meals, transportation, good company, and whatever else they need. Radiation has left Dad very fatigued, so he has to spend a majority of his time resting, which he finds terribly frustrating. Still, he's staying positive and looking forward to his strength returning in another month, which is what the doctors are telling him to expect.

Vista Point

Third birthday

We spent the week enjoying time as a family and soaking up the beauty of the mountains and the culture of Red Lodge. We attended parades and the rodeo, watched fireworks and went hiking. On a morning when Dad was feeling good, he took a car ride with us up through the Bear Tooth pass and walked with us out to Vista Point where we enjoyed the incredible views. While we were up there we fed a bunches of bold chipmunks (referred to by Audrey as a “squirrel hive”) and took some time to run around on the tundra while Dad sat close by.

Wednesday of Montana Week, Ed and I received a call from Open Door, our adoption agency. We have been chosen again! Believe it or not, this is our third match through this agency. We got chosen for a second time right on the heels of our first match. That birth mother was pregnant with twin boys. She figured that she could afford to raise one of the boys, but not both. In the end, we just couldn't get our heads around splitting up the twins, so we declined after a few days of mulling it over. I think about the family that is now matched with that birth mother and the wild ride that they must be on at the moment.

SO... now, we're back to a baby girl with our current match. She was born July 1^st . (6 pounds 4 ounces, 19 + inches) The birth parents contacted Open Door when she was born. They are in their early twenties and already have a 3 year old son and a 1 ½ year old daughter. The mother is a student and the father just recently lost his job. They are concerned that a third child would jeopardize their ability to provide for the other two, and so they have chosen to place their baby with our family. We spoke with both of the parents by phone while they were still at the hospital last week

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The baby went home from the hospital and is settled in with a bridge care family in Atlanta until we get there. Birth parents signed the paperwork relinquishing their parental rights on July 2. TPR (termination of parental rights) will be final at midnight, Monday July 14. We will wait until then to travel to Atlanta – just in case. You never know.

I'm working on unpacking from Montana and at the same time starting to pack for Georgia. If we make it to the weekend with no change in plans, I will start to get out the baby stuff. It looks as if we will be driving south rather than flying. Prices for plane tickets to Atlanta have nearly doubled since I last looked in June, so that's that. Lucky for us, Audrey is a champion traveler. She's got Montana cowgirl fever, so I'm looking forward to thoseYEE-Haws! and howdys issuing forth from the back seat while we motor on.

We're very happy to be matched again so soon. I am, however, feeling a bit spent. We'd appreciate prayers for everyone in this adoption picture – birth family, baby, bridge care family, us. We'd also appreciate prayers for Dad and Pat as they fight through the difficulties of cancer and treatment. Dad is determined to beat this cancer, and we pray that he will. (Those who are interested in following his progress can find his CaringBridge site here: http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/raysvenson).

We will try to keep the blog updated on our progress, though one can consider no news here to be good news. We might be a little busy in the next few days. Thanks all!