The Story Part 2

Camryn was born at the hospital opposite of the one Cade was born at, so those of you who remember will know which one I'm talking about.  They were absolutely great with us.  I've heard horror stories of how some hospital staff treat adoptive families and birthfamilies, so we were very blessed.  Every nurse we had was great, every one seemed to know and understand kind of what the story was with our situation so we never had any issues.  The hospital gave me a hospitality room so I got to stay there with Camryn like I was the one who gave birth.  It was such a neat experience for me. 

Friday evening Jay left me at the hospital and he came home to get things ready for the fair.  He hated to leave us, but we also couldn't short change Cade either.  We also had to tell Cade about the baby since I wouldn't be at the fair and he was ok with it.  We did try to get him to keep Camryn's gender a secret because we wanted at least one surprise but he thought that would be too hard to do!  We quickly gave up that idea. 

Again, just another confirmation that God had his hand on this situation from the beginning, I slept really good Friday night in the hospital.  I didn't get to take her in the room with me the first night, but I got to spend as much time as I wanted with her in the nursery.  Normally when I'm in a strange place and a strange bed I don't sleep but I slept all night and even had a hard time waking up Saturday morning.  Saturday I spent all day with her in the nursery.  Finally late that evening they let me take her in my room.  She got to spend Saturday night with me.  She was such a good baby.  She had long stretches of sleeping and she was just fine sleeping in her little bed.  I love babies but I don't enjoy them sleeping in my bed so I was thankful for that.

Sunday morning Jay brought Cade to the hospital and he got to meet his sister for the first time.  We also got the hospital pictures taken and they are so much better than 9 yrs ago.  They are very fancy!  Around noon we got released from the hospital and we had to take her to St Louis.

This was the bad part of our day.  Due to different county adoption laws the best thing to do was put Camryn in interim care with our agency so we could use their attorney in St Louis.  It was so very hard to leave her on Sunday evening, but we knew it was for the best.  After metting Tim, our attorney, and seeing him in court Tuesday we definitely know that was the best decision.  When we first met him he told us all of his experience with adoption law and said the problem with most attorneys is they only know how to spell adoption and that's where it ends.  That was kind of what we ran into in our county so that's why we made that decision. 

We spent a couple of days hanging out in St Louis waiting to meet with our attorney.  We ended up going to the arch and the zoo.  We also met Shelley and her husband and daughter for lunch one day.  We met with Tim on Tuesday June 7 and then we headed home that evening.

On Thursday Jay and I had to do back to St Louis for a 15 minute meeting with Tim!  Of course we would've drove anywhere we needed but it was funny we drove roundtrip 8 hours for 15 minutes.

Tim hoped he would be able to call me Friday morning with our court date, but he said it might also be Monday before he knew.  I didn't hear anything that day so I was a little stressed by that evening.  Her hospital pictures came in the mail that day and I hid them in the house.  I didn't even tell Jay they were here because I was having a mini-meltdown that day.  I was so scared something was going to happen.  Then that night I had one of those straw that broke the camel's back moments.  At the time I was so mad at Jay but now I can laugh about it.  I was running late to Cade's game Friday night.  This year we all got team shirts and I was running around the house looking for mine.  I wasted 10 minutes looking for this shirt.  I decided to call Jay to make sure he hadn't taken it by accident.  I called him over and over 3 or 4 times before he answered the phone.  Finally he picked up and when I asked about the shirt he said "oh yeah, I brought it with me."  When questioned why he took the shirt he said he thought it would be easier on me that way.  I'm still not quite sure how taking my t-shirt to a game where the only place I could change would be a port a potty AND not telling me he took the shirt would make things easier for me? Things got a lot better though around 7:30 when I got an email saying that court was Tuesday at 9 am

After we dropped off Camryn wewent to the arch to give us something to do.  Seven years ago I got a picture of Cade and Jay in almost the same spot - except Cade was barely to the bottom of Jay's shorts.  A Lot has changed in 7 years!

The Story - Part 1

I can't beleive I'm sitting here typing this with my baby girl on my lap.  So hard to believe!  Here is our end of the story on how we were blessed to have Camryn join our family.  The other half of her story -the birthparent side of how she joined our family is her story so I won't share it here.  That's one big thing that you hear over and over in adoption so we will save that for Camryn to hear when she is older and if she chooses to share it at some point it will be her decision.  Not sure how long this will be so I may have to break it up in different posts. 

The afternoon of May 17 we got an email about an expectant family who wanted to look at profiles.  The due date on the email was around May 22 and the baby was a girl.  It didn't take Jay and I long to fire an email back to Yes, please show our profile.  For the next few days I was surprisingly calm.  For some reason I felt really good about this situation, the timing was absolutely perfect and not that it really mattered but the baby was a girl.  That was something completely different for us, all our other matches were boys.  Finally on Thursday, May 19 at 11:30 I saw Jamie pop up on my phone before it even rang.  I knew we were the ones!!!  I talked to Jamie for a little bit - not even sure what she said and then I left work to drive to Miller to tell Jay.  Of course we were excited, but after everything we've been through you learn to keep all of the emotions in check.  We decided not to tell anyone until things were more certain.  I did get Jay's permission to tell my friend Shelley since she's talked me through a lot of this adoption stuff the last 18 months.  On the way back to work I debated on even telling Shelley - I was so scared I would jinx this match.  But when I got back to work Shelley had already emailed me to see if I'd heard anything because she knew we were being shown.  I told her she knew the right questions to ask! 

For the next few days we really didn't do anything to get ready for a baby.  We were terrified to do anything that appeared we thought we'd actually bring this one home.  We hardly talked about it.  We just carried on my normal day to day life like nothing was happening.  On May 25 I got a phone call that C, Camryn's birthmom was having contractions.  They were strong enough that she thought she might go to the hospital that afternoon.  Then we heard nothing from her for the next week.  We did not know what to think at that point.  We ceased talking about the baby at all during those days.  I was really neutral about the whole thing - I didn't feel like it was completely over but I also wasn't confident it would happen.  By Memorial Day evening I was physically and emotionally exhausted.  Tuesday morning I worked in our Greenfield office so I didn't really have anything to do.  I spent a lot of time that morning reading my Bible and praying.  I felt like all of a sudden God told me that this break in communication wasn't about me or us, it was about Camryn's birthmom.  I did so much praying for Camryn's  birthfamily over those days - mostly to just continue to give them the peace that surpasses all understanding about whatever decision they made.  A few hours later I got a call from Jamie and everything was ok with C and the baby.  She understandably was experiencing some anxiety and hadn't felt like making contact for the last few days.  But we found out Camryn was scheduled to be born Friday, June 3.

At that point the only other ones who know about the match, besides Shelley, were Lyle and Jania.  When we first thought she was going to be born we asked Lyle and Jania to watch Cade for us.  We really wanted to surprise our families by showing up with a baby.  That plan didn't quite work out for us because Camryn's birthday was the Friday of our county fair.  Now both Cade and Camryn's birthdays will fall at the absolute busiest times for Jay.  We debated over the next few days how and when to tell our families.  We knew we had to tell them because it would be obvious when I wasn't at the fair and we were going to have to have some help getting Cade and the animals ready and to the fair.  But we were terrified of actually speaking to anyone about the baby.  Jay finally called his parents late Thursday evening.  I waited and texted my family Friday morning.  Jay said the texting was a little cold - but my family understood.  I just didn't have it in me to go over the story 3 times.  I was so scared.

I figured she wouldn't be born until later that evening so I piddled around the house.  I was very surprised when Jamie called me that morning about 11 and said baby girl was here, healthy and what time did we want to meet her.  We met Jamie at the hospital at 3:30 that afternoon and she introduced us to our baby girl for the first time.

The Post!!!

Finally I get to post "The Post" that Ives waited to do for years. We were places with our sweet baby girl today. Camryn Lee was born June 3, 2011. I'll update more aboutthe last month of our lives later, but it was an exciting time. We are so thankful that God answered our prayers and the many prayers of our friends and family. She is perfect. Now...I'm off to buy some hairbows :)









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Baseball has started.  So far this year it feels a little weird.  We had so many practices rained out and then we had one game last week cancelled due to weather that it hasn't really felt like baseball yet.  Last weeks missed game is being made up on Saturday and we will have to miss it and Friday nights game because of the county fair.  I feel like we are only half doing it this year - too many other things are going on right now. 

This is our first year to be in full fledged baseball.  The games are six innings or 1.5 hours long.  So far we've managed to play 4 innings in that time period.  I'll be honest - these games are long.  Very, very long.  Last night we sat by another family and we laughed at our boys.  Cade and Colby are definitely about the same in their sports abilities and desire.  We said we needed to start saving for college now, because neither of them would end up with sports scholarships.  Pretty sure the mother sitting beside us thought we were terrible.  She is one who has confidence that her child is really good and will be really good someday.  Jay and I are more realist....Cade could be decent if he worked at it, but he doesn't really want to work at it so we feel our job as parents then is to maybe steer him more in the direction of something that he might be more interested in.  Hence the county fair on Saturday.  There is a fine line you walk as a parent...you want to encourage your child to do all that they can, but also keep it real.  Hopefully we haven't damaged him too much.  But he does look stinkin' cute in his uniform.     

Craziness

Last night Avery had a T-Ball game so Cade and I went to Nevada to see her play.  There was a scheduling snafu...the schedules were printed with games starting on the hour, last nights was 6, but the coach failed to notify the parents the games would start 1/2 hour before the printed time on the schedule.  As past little league coaches Jay and I were quite baffled by that scenerio.  And since I can't stand disorder it drove me nuts.  I still can't understand why you would print a schedule but not have the games start at that time.  But like Jay said - welcome to Vernon County!  Yes, they don't have it as together has Lawrence County (ha ha!!!)  So anyway, half of Avery's team was late (including Avery) and so were Cade and I.  We got to see her bat 1 time and then the game was over.  Then Charity, Avery, Lawson, Mom, Cade and I went to eat Mexican.  That was when the excitement started.....

I tried to snap a few pictures to record the absolute chaos that ensued at the restaurant, but it just doesn't do it justice.  I'm sure everyone knew we were in the place.  It started with Lawson.  He was put in a highchair at the end of the booth and he would immediately stand up and crawl on the table towards the chip basket.  Mom was shoved in a far corner with the chips and the salsa trying to keep them out of his grubby reach.  I bet he crawled on the table 5 or 6 times.  Charity finally moved him to the booth between her and me.  Avery and Cade sat with Mom on the other side.  Cade was in the middle and he said Avery kept rubbing chips in his hair.  He didn't like that.  So mom switched him places but Avery didn't like that - she wanted to sit by Cade.  So they switched again.  While that was going on Lawson was grabbing everything in sight...chips, salsa, napkins, drinks etc.   Then Lawson's food came - cheese quesadilla and beans.  Charity told me she was sorry for getting him beans.  At some point during the evening both of us were touched by grubby bean covered hands.  One time I caught him before he touched me and then he looked right at me, grinned and reached for me again.  He knew what he was doing!  Charity left with beans in her hair and all over her black tank top.  Towards the end of the meal Lawson grabbed a spoon and started eating the cheese sauce.  We were all too exhausted to stop him.

Then Avery had to go to the bathroom.  I guess she always has to go when they eat at this place.  Mom took her.  Then Cade decided he needed to go so he went to the bathroom.  Mom's who only have 1 boy will understand my fear here....When they reach this age they are too old to use the women's bathroom.  It embarrasses them, which is understandable.  So you let them go the men's by themselves but you get nervous if it takes them longer than a minute.  If you had two boys it would be better - safety in numbers, but one boy is hard.  I don't think anyone can really appreciate it until they've experienced it.  Or when you have to go you position them outside the door with instructions to scream if someone tries to take them and you use the bathroom in record time all while wondering if they really would scream if someone tried to take them.  I had one of those moments last night when Cade used the bathroom for the 2nd time while we were at the restaurant.  It was odd for him to go twice in that short amount of time.  Then it seemed like it was taking him a little longer than normal.  Charity is still in baby mode so she didn't see anything odd about Cade's disappearance.  I told her to just wait until Lawson was this age.  She will be in the same predicament, unless she has another baby soon and it is a boy (after last night I wouldn't recommend that to her though)  Someday she will be hoovering outside the men's bathroom door trying to peak in anytime it gets opened. Anyway Cade finally came back before I had to march into the men's bathroom to see what was going on.  He said "Well, I did have to go to the bathroom but mostly I just stood in there for the quiet for awhile."  Yes, it was a crazy night....and a reminder of why God has placed our children 9+ years apart....

Can you see all of his curls...it was especially curly last night.  It fit is personality perfectly last night.  Even mom said she had never seen him quite so wild before.

Avery was so excited to see Cade.  I need to get a picture of the two of them standing together.  I was quite amazed by the height difference.  But Avery picked Cade up off the ground.  I'd say he is at least twice her weight.  She is strong. 

Here is the cheese sauce covered boy.  You can see it dripping down his shirt.

Last night was one of those priceless evenings! 

Joplin

The images from Joplin are just unbelievable.  I saw a picture of Academy Sports - it is unrecognizable.  Mom and I were in there about 24 hours earlier getting Cade new baseball pants and cleats.  I just can't get over the devestation.  I saw pictures from a camera that looked like it was going down Rangeline.  You can't even tell where they are because there are no buildings.  We've just had another minor storm blow through so I imagine that Joplin is now getting the same rain we are.  That would have to hamper their search and recovery efforts.  I haven't been outside since I got to work but Jay said it's cooled off - so that also isn't doing them any favors.  What a tragedy. 

Something else that really blows my mind are people who see those kinds of images and still won't take shelter if they are in a tornado warning.  Crazy. 

A Bus Story

It's been awhile since I've had a good bus driving story. After the first few times Jay subbed it got to be the same….bus traveling all over the school district with stinky little kids who didn't know the route and the driver at the mercy of these kids just praying they will let him know where their house is before he goes past it. Pretty much the same story every time. But then yesterday happened. Sorry – I'm afraid this will be a long post. So much to tell. I laughed so hard last night my mascara ran all over the place.

Jay subbed yesterday afternoon. Tom, the bus guy, said that the regular drivers granddaughter would know the route. When Jay asked her she looked at him like he was crazy and said she didn't know what it was. That meant Jay was on his own on the town route, which is one of the hardest ones. You also have to remember that he has an ear infection so his ears are full of fluid…add that on top of 12 years in a shop class (I think it's starting to damage his hearing), a noisy/windy bus, and kids who are whispering. Jay couldn't hear anything…except when he would drive by a kids house and then they'd say "there went my house". It's a good thing it is a small town because I think he spent a lot of his day backing up the bus in the middle of the road.

At one point Jay said he had to back up at a 90 degree angle and it was tough. There was a mailbox that was close but he had it in his mirror the whole time. Then there was a HS boy who kept yelling "hey"…"hey". It startled Jay every time so once they got out in the country Jay did the old bus driver trick where he stopped the bus and yelled "hey, you get up here right now". He sat the boy in the front and told him to quit acting like an idiot. There was also a HS girl on the bus who is in trouble constantly. She was very loud and obnoxious. Finally Jay got the route done and headed back to the bus barn….

When he got there Tom asked him how the route went. A mother had already called Tom and complained about the driver of her son's route. Jay got tattled on by a kindergartner. The boy told his mom Jay called someone an idiot, hit a trashcan (which didn't happen), and almost hit a mailbox (which Jay knew was there the whole time). Either Tom is desperate for sub drivers or he wasn't concerned because he asked Jay to sub 3 more times this week. Jay said it's the hardest $20 he's ever made.

Last night we had a 4-H meeting so we stopped by Jim and Sharon's before hand. Jay and Cade were talking about the bus route that afternoon. Cade told a story about the crazy HS girl and Jay said "she's a real peach". Jay uses the term "peach" when he's talking about someone who is hard to deal with. Sharon said "Jay!", because she was afraid Cade would go to school and repeat what Jay said. Cade said "oh, don't worry about it, I've heard that word before." I sat there for a minute and I wondered what Cade thought Jay said so I said "Cade he said Peach, not a bad word". Cade said "oh, I thought he said the bad one." Sharon said "Cade, your dad wouldn't use that kind of language." Cade said "well, this morning when that bus came out of nowhere and we had to go in the ditch I heard him whisper a bad word." That was definitely a story Jay hadn't shared with me yet… Jay said "it was that Mount Vernon bus that goes by our house, I need to call the school and tattle on him."

I have to admit that I understood what Jay meant with the MV bus. I've tangled with that thing before to. Once you do it, you know to watch for it. To look right out of our driveway you look directly into the sun. Then our driveway is mid-point of a small hill and then there are a lot of trees shadowing the road. It is one of those deals where when the sun is just right it's really hard to see for a couple of seconds. Then this bus flies down our road going about 55 in the center of the road and Jay wasn't even sure that the headlights were on yesterday morning. Jay started to turn right out of the driveway and he was pulling a trailer, which meant he had to swing out wide. The demon bus popped over the hill out of nowhere so Jay had to the cut the steering wheel hard and go through the ditch to get out of its way. I remember hearing a noise as I was getting in my car yesterday morning. I looked up and saw Jay pulling out and assumed it was that. Now I know it was actually the sound of the truck and trailer dragging through the ditch.

Then later in the night Cade told us about hearing another dad use a couple of not very nice words. We used that as a teaching opportunity to say that the difference between that dad and Jay is that the only timed Jay used a bad word was in the time of huge stressful event…when he was almost ran over by a 40 passenger school bus in his own front yard. We were also able to work in that you don't need to share everything that pops in your head either like when he told his Memo his dad said a bad word. I'm sure Cade will think that over until the next event happens and then he'll once again share everything he knows.

And to think I almost didn't go to the 4-H meeting with them last night. I would've missed all of this fun.