Adoption Day

Tuesday, October 11 at 9 AM is the big day when we will be meeting our new little guy and filling out the necessary papers to bring him home with us. Please pray it will be a wonderful, joyful day as we meet our new guy we will continue to have a peace that he is to be the newest member of our family.

The kids are very excited about the new brother they get to meet tomorrow, and Jason's parents have joined us for support and to help with the three oldest children.

My nerves and emotions are all over the place but I do feel a peace and believe this decision for us to be the parents was reached with a lot of thought and prayer.

Thank you for your continued love, support, encouragement and prayers.

Adoption Update

We have a boy!!!!!! It has been a whirlwind few days, since receiving the call late Wednesday afternoon. Now it is Saturday afternoon and we are getting ready to drive across the country to pick up Baby Boy Medders. It has been amazing how God has worked out the smallest of details for this trip.

The entire family is thrilled. Wyatt is so used to having sisters, he keeps referring to the baby as a "her." Callie doesn't see any sense in packing and getting everything ready - she thinks we should have left yesterday! Sadie, of course, isn't old enough to know what's going on. It'll probably be a bit of a shock to her when a new baby is part of the family, but we think she will come around though.

Please pray for safe travels and for everything to go smoothly. We are planning to meet our new fella Tuesday morning.

Update

We found out that we were not chosen as the "forever family" for the little boy we have been praying about. We were really hoping that it was the child God had for us. We are very thankful, though, that he has a forever home and we can pray that he grows up in a loving, Christ-centered home. So for now, we continue to pray and wait, excited to see what God his in store.

Adoption Update 2

We did not hear news from the placement meeting that took place yesterday. So we keep waiting and praying.

Adoption Update

Over the past few months, Jason and I have had the opportunity to pray about and for babies and children needing "forever homes." Some were children we didn't feel we could successfully parent. Others have been children we felt we could parent, but who were chosen for different homes. I don't know how anyone could go through adoption without knowing that God is in control. We know without a doubt that we are following God's will for our family in pursuing adoption. As we have waited for the child for our family, we have received sign after sign that we are being obedient to God's calling. It has been a very exciting few months.

Right now there is one little fella, in particular, that we are being considered for. Some of the circumstances surrounding this case are what we had in mind and some are not. In the overall scheme of things, the factors that are different are not a big deal. Without going into any detail, because I don't feel that it is appropriate at this time, there will be a meeting on Friday, September 23, where a family will hopefully be chosen for this child. Jason and I have a peace about the situation and would be thrilled if we are chosen as the forever parents. And if not, we will know that it is not God's will and our child is still out there.

We would love prayers for the committee that will be making the decision. I would like for it to be a unanimous decision where everyone involved believes the correct choice is made. Thanks so much for thinking of us, and for praying for this child and the committee.

Sleep Study Update

Callie's sleep study appointments went really well. We first met with a doctor specializing in pediatric sleep disorders. I really liked him. He listened and he understood. We didn't get many answers but we did learn that Callie's nighttime headbutting is not really that uncommon. According to the doctor, children typically awaken between 6-10 times at night and most roll over and go back to sleep. Then there are some, like Callie, who start headbutting. It has nothing to do with her prematurity. Premature children do as well as those who are born full term. Researchers have not been able to figure out why some children do it. It is very annoying to the rest of the family but it is not annoying to Callie. It is just how she puts herself back to sleep. He told us to keep our box fan on so the rest of the family can sleep and as quickly as it all started, she will one day grow out of it and stop. It may be two years from now and it may be 10 years. That's not exactly what we wanted to hear but we will take it. He did mention medication that might could help her sleep, but Jason and I don't want to go that route.

Given Callie's complex medical history he did think it was worth completing the sleep study just to make sure there were no more issues surrounding her difficulty sleeping. Jason had the privilege of staying with Callie overnight at the sleep clinic, and they had a pretty good night. Callie had so many electrodes and stickers and straps stuck to her that she had trouble hitting her head but the doctor said they captured a few good episodes. Like he suspected, all of her vitals were great through the night and the headbutting mainly occurs during her transitional sleep. There is nothing we can do about but it was nice to hear that there is nothing concerning about it.

Prayer Request

We will be traveling to St. Paul tomorrow to meet with a behavioral sleep specialist and to have a sleep study done on Callie. Please pray that we 1. have a safe trip and 2. find out either what is keeping Callie from sleeping or be given some resources to help her with her headbutting and grunting.

Jason will be staying in town with Sadie and I will be at the hospital with Callie. For once I am hoping she has a really crummy night of sleep so they can observe it is she does all night long besides sleeping.