Blanket of Faith...

I have been going to a women's Bible study on Wednesday nights with my mom for a few weeks now. We are going through a book called "Missing Pieces" by Jennifer Rothschild. When my mom first told me about the Bible study, I told her to go ahead and sign me up because, at that time, I was having a really hard time waiting for a placement. I had so many questions for God. What's taking so long? Why don't we have kids yet? Do you even care? In all that, I also started questioning Him again about why I can't just get pregnant. The day before the first night of the Bible study, I got the call about Owen. I felt so guilty for questioning God and not waiting patiently for His perfect timing. Not only that, I was just so overjoyed that after all this time, we were finally getting a child. On that first night, during the opening video that we watched, Jennifer talked about how every time we have painful things happen to us, a piece is cut out of our "blanket" of faith. She would give an example, and then cut a hole out of her blanket. I loved that illustration so much. It really hit home with me. I couldn't even say anything during the discussion time that evening. Every time I started to talk, I just started crying. I was so full of emotions of every kind. Last night, the leader of the group, Liz, asked if anyone had anything exciting that they wanted to share. At first I wasn't going to say anything since I have bronchitis and I lost my voice. But I decided to go ahead and share that we are finally bringing Owen home for good on Friday. I had kind of forgotten about that blanket illustration, but Liz used it as an example. I love what she said! She said that everything we have had to go through to get to this point, all the hoops we have had to jump through and all the pain we have had to endure to get to this point, is another hole in our blanket. But now we are going to use that blanket to wrap Owen in and snuggle with him every day. I just wanted to start crying again. I hadn't thought of it like that, and it just really touched my heart. A little back ground info...Liz was my small group leader in high school. She has always held a special place in my heart! Not only is she awesome, she's one of the only people in my life who takes a stand and calls me out when she sees that I'm doing something that isn't glorifying to God. It takes a real friend to do that! Thanks Liz! I love you!

Anyways, I never wrote about our weekend visit with O this last weekend. I picked him up on Friday morning. He fell asleep and napped for about an hour on the way home. It was a very peaceful drive! For once, I felt like I could take my time during the long drive. We got home and settled in. Then we headed out to the store for dinner and breakfast supplies. We came back home and just hung out in the play room after dinner. It was just a nice, normal evening. When we were ready for bed, we read a few books and said our prayers. I put O in his crib and went to leave the room, but he started crying. I felt bad since it was a new place, so I got to rock my baby to sleep. :) Todd got home around 3:00 am on Saturday morning. Once Owen was awake, we had breakfast and took a bath while daddy was still sleeping. While I was getting him dressed I kept saying, "I love you." Then all of a sudden, he said in his sweet little baby boy voice, "huv hoo." Oh, it just melted my heart! I was so surprised, I didn't know what to do or say. But every time I think about, it makes me tear up! He also said "mommy" for the first time on Friday evening! When O saw daddy come out of the bedroom, he got a big smile. He loves his daddy!!! Todd and I got ready to go and we headed out to the grocery store again. (Todd wanted to help with the grocery shopping while Owen was there!) After that we came back home so Owen could meet his new great-grandma Betty and her friend, grandpa George. Surprisingly, he didn't act shy at all! When they left, he gave them both hugs and kisses. :) Saturday evening we stupidly went to Applebee's for dinner. We forgot it was v-day weekend! The 25 minute wait quickly became the 45 minute wait. However, O was so well behaved! He was such a big flirt with all the ladies! We came home and Todd put him to bed. Sunday morning we went to church. He wasn't so sure about us leaving him in his class, but we slipped out when he wasn't looking. He sat in the same place on the floor the entire hour, but at least he didn't cry! After church we came home and O helped me make lunch. At one point, he realized daddy was in the basement because he heard the vacuum cleaner. That smart little booger figured out that the vent in the living room floor is empty and he can see down to the basement through it. I found him laying over it talking to daddy! Since you can't see his face, here's the picture I took... :)

(FYI...he looks so long in this picture, but he is really kind of short.) After lunch, we had to leave to take him back to his foster parents. While we were at their house, we were able to meet some people that we are going to have a lot of contact with for a long time, probably forever. Good thing we got along so well! Can't give any more info about that until the adoption is finalized. It was so hard to leave my baby there! I got in the car and cried and cried while Todd drove us home. Over-all, it was just a normal weekend for the most part. Owen did so well while he was here. He acted like he has been here from day one. This week has been the longest of my life. I feel like it should already be next Monday, but here we are, stuck on Thursday still. We will be leaving tomorrow morning and meeting O and his foster parents at his doctor's appointment. From there we have to go back to children services for some last minute things. By noon we should leaving there to bring O home forever! Friday, February 21, 2014 will be Owen Grady Fisher's official "Gotcha Day."

I'm so excited about entering into this new role. I've waited so long to be "mommy" and it almost doesn't feel real yet. I'm sure it will feel very real the first time I think, "Argh! This kid is driving me crazy today!!" I feel so blessed that God has given us a son. There are so many stories in the Bible about women who couldn't have children for such a long time, but then God granted them a son. I feel like that's me! I keep thanking God, but I feel like that's not enough. The only other thing I can do to show my gratitude is to raise Owen to love his Heavenly Father. I hope and pray that I do a good job at that!

Thank you to everyone for all your continued prayers and support, as always! It means more to us than you will ever know! Please pray for safe travels tomorrow and that all three of us will continue to adjust well. Please pray that these six months will fly by so we can have full custody of our son and legally change his name to "Fisher!"

Megan

First day with our new son!

I was up at 4 am on Saturday morning, and Todd was up around 5. That sounds like no big deal to some people, but I was so excited that I couldn't go to sleep the night before. I don't think I actually fell asleep until some where around midnight. We left at 5:30 and arrived at the house where Owen lives at approx 8:40, just in time to give him a bath. We stayed there for a little while so he could get more comfortable with us before we took him out. Our first stop was KFC for lunch. On the way there, Todd and I started laughing about something and then we heard a giggle from the back seat! It was so cute that we started laughing again. This continued for the whole car ride! If you check out my Facebook page, I posted a video of it, since his face can't be seen in it. Once we got to the restaurant, it was so awesome to have everyone tell us, "he is so adorable!" :) We had planned to take him to this really fun place that has big blow up bouncy houses and other things to play on, but he was so tired! By this time he had already missed his morning nap. We weren't sure how long he would make it before having a melt down so we didn't want to waste the money. Instead we went to Babies R Us to start our registry. We got to use the new shopping cart cover that my mom made for us! He looked so cute sitting in it! I found him this adorable little hat that was on sale for $2.49 so we had to get that! Extra bonus...when we got to the register to pay for it, it was actually on sale for $.50!! Love it! We also found a cute little truck for him that wasn't expensive so we gave him that to play with in the store. He continuously rubbed his eyes and acted so tired, yet he didn't through one fit and didn't fuss or cry at all! We were very surprised! I'm sure that will come later, but I was thankful that we didn't have to deal with a public melt down on our first day with him! I went in the "mother's room" to change his diaper when we were finished with our registry. When we came out, we found daddy testing out the rocking chairs. Owen climbed up in his lap and had a little cuddle time before we left! It was too cute! We hadn't even left the parking lot and he was out cold. We headed back to his house and put him down in his crib to finish up his nap there. He slept for about 2 hours! We will be switching to 1 nap once he lives here with us for sure! We stayed and visited with his foster parents while he slept. We stayed for dinner and played with him a little bit more. Then we had to go since it was snowing so hard! I have no idea how I left him! Honestly, I'm surprised I didn't cry!

I have serious "mommy brain" going on! I'm forgetting everything! I mean to do something but get side tracked by something else and the task I was supposed to complete slips my mind and doesn't come back! Yesterday my mom asked my five times if I had completed a task that I needed to get done. Finally, after the last time she asked, I actually remembered to do it before getting side tracked! I love making lists, but usually it's just to give me an order in which I'd like to complete things. Now the list is ACTUALLY to remind me to do them! I'm not so sure I like this! However, "Thank you Lord for allowing me to have a reason to have mommy brain!" Since we have been trying to have children for so long, I'm not taking anything for-granted, even the crappy parts of parenthood!

I will be going back to see Owen on Wednesday with my mom. She wants to meet him so badly but won't be here this coming weekend when we have him home. He has some doctor's appointments that I wanted to attend so this is the perfect time for her to tag along! I will go pick him up on Friday and bring him home for a weekend visit, then take him back on Sunday after church. So far we are expecting some visitors through out the day on Saturday. Everyone is so excited to finally meet our new little man and we are excited to show him off! The following Friday, the 21st, his case worker will be bringing him to us. We are supposed to take him back again on Sunday. His foster parents will have some of their kids and grandchildren staying with them that week, however, so they are going to see if we can do respite care for them until the following Friday. If so, we would need to take him back on the 28th to see the nurse at the children services building and pick up anymore of his stuff that we don't already have. If not, we would go back on the 28th and pick him up and bring him home forever! This cannot go fast enough! I'm trying to be thankful for these last few weeks to myself to relax and get things done around the house, but it's very hard when I just want my baby here with me!

Continued prayers, please, for safe travels to and from the place that Owen lives, and for a smooth transition for him!

Thanks to everyone for all the love and support!!!

Megan

The Adoption Placement meeting

Good Evening,

     Megan and I just returned from our Adoption Placement meeting! What an exciting day! We had a ton of information thrown at us about our son. We came home with a stack of paper that would be the size of a medium sized novel. So a lot of info to look through and go over. What we heard today in the meeting did not raise any serious questions for us though so after a 24 hour period from the meeting we will be accepting our son and starting the transition process to bring him home!
     Then came all the paperwork that we had to sign. Let me tell you there was a lot! Megan has much better hand writing then I do so she did most of it. All I had to do was sign my chicken scratch signature where needed! They also talked about how the process will work from here on out. Next weekend we will go to our "undisclosed location" and spend the day with Owen. We will take him out to do some fun things together. Then, on Valentines Day weekend, he will come to our home and spend the entire weekend with us! What a great Valentines Day gift for our little family! He will then come to our home the next weekend as well and stay with us. After that he should be able to come to live with us forever. 
    But the greatest news of the day is....we got to meet Owen! We were talking to the case workers and other staff in the conference room to see if he was going to be there today. They said they were not sure but maybe. Then in through the door walked his foster family and Owen! He looked so darn cute in Elmo gloves and big stocking cap! Megan and I started to cry. It was so surreal to finally see our son after such a long process. He had a serious look on his face as he looked at all the new faces! His foster mom brought him right to Megan and sat him down on the table next to her. He just looked at Megan like "Why are you crying?" This little cutie just melts our hearts! He warmed up very quickly and was soon walking around the room and talking about the cars out the window! Just wait till he gets a look at Daddy's truck! We took pictures with him and also with his foster family. The foster family took a picture of each of us so they could start showing him pictures of "Mommy" and "Daddy". I got a chance to hold him and he just laid his head down on my shoulder and was so calm and quiet! I can't wait to give him even more hugs!
    This was a great day and we are so happy to share it with you! Please continue to keep us in your prayers as we await the homecoming of Owen to his "Forever" family!

Todd

Our little family

Finally! After three years of trying to become parents, over a year of trying to get our license, three months of waiting for a placement, and two long weeks of waiting to meet our new son, today was the day! He just walked right on in to the conference room like he owned the place. Then he noticed all the new faces and wasn't too sure. As soon as I saw him walk in the room, emotion over took me and I couldn't stop crying. It's been a long time coming and, until today, I couldn't see "the light at the end of the tunnel." I never thought the day would come when I actually got to see my child. let alone get to hold him, and talk to him, and take pictures with him. All through our meeting, my mind kept drifting back to him, our son, and I had to keep myself from crying again. I'm still a mess! Look out because I could start crying at any moment! Emotional new momma coming through! For the most part, any time I think about him, I start crying! It was so hard to watch him leave with his foster "grandparents!" This is going to be a LONG month! I will have to busy myself around the house getting the last few things ready for him, just to get through the week, until the next weekend when we can finally see him again! We still aren't allowed posting photos anywhere on the internet. Sorry! We know everyone is so anxious to see him! We can tell you, though, he looks like he belongs to us! He will fit right in!After the adoption is finalized, we will blow this thing up with all the pictures we've taken between now and then!

We will keep everyone updated about our upcoming visits! Prayers please for a smooth transition for us and for Owen as he joins our family! We can't wait to introduce him to everyone!

Megan

A surprise in the mail!!!!

     Things are a buzz this week in the Fisher household as we prepare for the arrival of our son, Owen. This past weekend I was home and we were able to install video baby monitors in Owen's room, as well as the other bedroom. So we are now officially ready for Owen.
     Yesterday we got a call from the county that Owen is from and the case worker explained how things would progress through this process. During our meeting this coming Monday we will go over everything that children's services knows about our son. It will be audio recorded so we can have a copy of that to take with us.Then we will sign paper work to commit to the adoption. The case worker said that she is going to try to arrange for us to meet him some time on Monday, but she needs to get that approved first.
     The next step will be to go for a few more visits with him. If we don't get to meet him on Monday, then our first visit will be in the home he lives in now for a few hours. The next visit, probably the following weekend, we will take him out somewhere for a few hours. The case worker said there is no reason why he shouldn't be living with us perrmanently by the end of February. Since he is so young, she said it should move pretty quickly.
     This however is not the best news of the day. Yesterday evening, Megan called me and said that we received a picture of our son in the mail!!!!!! He is so beautiful with his big eyes and blonde hair!!! That picture solidified, to me at least, that we were actually going to be parents!!! We can't wait for Monday and hopefully will be able to see our son!
     We want to say a big thank you to a very special couple that we know for opening their home to us this coming Sunday so that we can be well rested for Monday. We can't say who it is because that would be saying where Owen is from. We will have quit a lot driving to do over the next few weeks and months, but are thankful to be able to spend some time with friends we don't usually get to see!
     We will keep you all informed as the process seems to be moving quicker now. Thank you all for the prayers and thoughts through the process. Can't wait till everything is finalized and we can show everyone pictures of our beautiful son!!!

Todd

More placement calls...

Over the last few weeks since our last post, we have gotten a lot more calls asking us to take placements. Most of the time we have said yes but the county has always chosen another family to take the children. This has been such an emotional roller coaster! We started trying to have a baby three years ago in January. We never imagined it would take us this long. Over the past three years, God has revealed a lot to me. Patience, understanding, reliance on Him, but the biggest one was just to trust in his timing. There were many times that we said to each other, "Thank goodness we don't have kids yet," whether it was because of something good or bad. God already knows what will happen in our lives and when the events will take place. He has the perfect timing for every event that will take place. We just have to wait and trust that He will be faithful. I say this like it's an easy thing to do, but when you are waiting for something that you want so badly, it's hard to wait patiently, especially for such a long time. God never wastes an opportunity, though. He is always able to take something bad and use it for His glory. Even though it has been a hard road with a lot of bumps and bruises along the way, God has used it for good. Not only has He used it to teach me the things I already mentioned, He used it to give us more time for just us. Time to spend together, time to sleep (since this doesn't happen after children), time to loose weight, time to get our finances more in order, time to strengthen our marriage, and time to strengthen my relationship with Him. I'd like to say that I'm glad it has taken so long to grow our family but I can't. Sure, I wish we could have had children by now, but I'm so glad that God knows what is best for us instead of just giving in and giving us what we want, when we want it. Just like parents have to say "no" or "not right now" to their children sometimes, our Heavenly Father has to do the same to us. But it is so great when He finally says "Yes my child. You have prayed about this for so long and have been faithful to me, so now is the time. I give you what you have been asking for, for such a long time." For us, that time is finally here! God finally said yes to us on Thursday, January 16th, 2014 at 5:47 pm.

"I prayed for this child and the Lord has granted me what I asked of Him."

1 Samuel 1:27

Our new son is 18 months old. We aren't allowed to say what his name is on the internet, but it is the same as one of our family members. To avoid any confusion, and since he is so young, we are going to be changing it to the name we had chosen for our biological son, which is Owen Grady Fisher. Todd's middle name is Owen and we both really liked Grady as a middle name. This placement is not foster to adopt, it is an adoption placement right away. He has to live with us for 6 months before the adoption can be finalized but he is ours for sure!! We haven't met him yet but we can't wait! Ever since we got the news, I have been nesting like crazy! We have received a ton of boy clothes over the last few months so I separated all the 18 month clothes, rewashed them, and got them all hung up. The closet is all organized and ready to go. It is full of clothes! I thought we were going to have to buy more, but for this size, we are all set, other then shoes. I'm not sure what size he will need so we will have to wait till he gets here for that. I finally get to use my diaper bag that I bought almost three years ago, too! I'm so excited to add this new little person to our family! It has been a long journey, with so many tears along the way, but it will finally be worth it when I hear him call me "Mommy" for the first time!

We will continue to keep everyone updated on the process as we go along. This won't be our only child so we will be going through this again! We appreciate all the prayers that were sent up on our behalf. I would like to ask for prayers, now, as well. Please pray that Owen will adjust well to us and to his new environment, and that we will adjust well to being parents. Also pray that the adoption process for the next 6 months will go smoothly!

Thank you all in advance!!

Megan

The rain has come!!!!!!!!!

It's pouring down rain!!!!!  THANK YOU Lord!!!!!  

I am happy to report today that indeed, in God's perfect timing, we are going to be blessed with a little boy!!!!! Finally after all the ups and downs in this process our prayers have been answered! I lift my hands up to you today, Lord, as the rain comes down and tears fall from my eyes!!!! We have an awesome God who can do great things if we just let him!! We are so excited to share this news with you all today!

We received the news late last week but waited till we had more info and assurance that we would be getting our little boy to make it public. We have not yet seen a picture of our little boy but hopefully we will soon.

So the process now is that we will have an adoption presentation meeting on Feb 3 where will find out all the info they have on our child and we will sign paperwork to adopt him. Then we will have a few weekend visits with him to get all parties adjusted and then we will bring him home. 6 months after that we will finalize the adoption!! So we have some waiting to go through but we will have him in our house during that time!     

We can not discuss certain info on social media due to HIPPA laws and also can not share pictures on social media. But once the adoption is final the pictures will be flying out!

Megan and I can't begin to thank everyone enough for all the thoughts and prayers during this process! We ask that you continue to pray for a smooth transition for all involved. We will keep all you updated as we proceed through the adoption. Praise God for all that he provides in his time!!!!

Todd