Sleeping Beauty at Bridgecare

 
The two most asked questions we get these days are, "What is Bridgecare?" and "Why couldn't Vivienne come home with you right from the hospital?"

Bridgecare is special foster care for newborns during the time between discharge from the hospital and the court date that makes their adoption official -- usually 3-5 weeks. Vivienne is staying at a local Bridgecare home with a wonderful mom, D. and her family. We visit her nearly every day and D. sends photos to our cell phones often! She is great at taking photos of Vivienne.

This past Monday, we got together with T. and her family. We all visited Vivienne that night at her Bridgecare home. It was a wonderful time of chatting, "passing the baby," and taking more photos. 

BTW... Have I told you that the photo lady at Walgreens doesn't even ask my name anymore because I'm there every other day?

Little Miss Vivienne

The little princess is staying with her wonderful BridgeCare Mom "D." until our adoption is official in a few weeks. We get to visit her as often as we'd like. (We were with her today and plan to stop by tomorrow too!)

Vivienne's wonderful birthmother T. is doing well and we've been emailing with her this week and plan to get together soon. Because we will have an open adoption, we will continue staying in touch, visiting, emailing and sending photos throughout the years. Little Miss Vivienne will always know that T. is her birthmother and that she grew in T.'s tummy. 

The time we had getting to know Vivienne's birthmother before her birth is precious to us - getting together each week so we could get to know one another better and to make plans for this little miracle's arrival. It was a true blessing to be at her birth and to help care for her at the hospital (thank you T.!) Vivienne stole the hearts of the nursing staff too - they were amazing! All around... lots of love for such a little girl!

It's A Girl!

At 12:33am this morning, Vivienne Rose O. was born! T. had asked us to be at the birth and it was amazing! Vivienne is a beautiful miracle. All 7lbs 8 oz and 21 inches of her. We love her so much! Thank you for your prayers.

(Reminder: if you know us in "real life" please help us keep this private until the adoption is official in a few weeks. We ask that you not post on our facebook page. Thank you friends!)

Blue or Pink?

If you're wondering if T.'s having a boy or a girl... that's a great question! They couldn't tell from the ultrasound so we will all be surprised on the big day. For the record: The doctor and I think it's a girl. Dave and T. think it's a boy. Guess we will find out soon who is right. :-)

All I know for sure is that God is bringing a beautiful child into the world any day now. A child that will always be loved and cherished. We can't wait...

The Meeting

I took the day off of work I was so nervous. The match meeting wasn't until 4:30pm. In the morning I cleaned the house. Snapped a few pictures of our home. Ordered prints online. Showered and headed to town by noon after trying on an endless array of outfits until I found the perfect one. My hands were shaking as I tried to put mascara on.

It was March 22nd and it was snowing heavy, wet, hard-to-drive-in snow. I didn't want to get stuck at home in this spring snowstorm. That is why I headed to town early. I picked up the photos I had developed and added them to the small album we started the night before. I ran a couple errands and it was only 3pm so I went to see Dave at his work place. He was fine until he saw me... then he started getting nervous too. The last hour and a half, before we'd meet T. for the first time, slowly ticked by and then it was here... time to meet our social worker at her office and soon the expectant mother who wanted to meet us would walk into the room.

She was just as nervous as we were. We shared photos of our life and she shared photos of hers. We talked about everything including the baby that would arrive this summer. The sleet kept falling as our match meeting continued. Inside it felt like we were watching a movie scene play out in someone else's life. Was this really happening to us? Were we going to be parents soon? So many years of disappointment and waiting. Endless waiting. Could things really be different this time?

"Will you be the parents of my baby?" 

Through tears... "YES!" 

Dave hugged T. so tightly that we all started laughing out loud. Tears, joy, laughter and our open adoption relationship began . . .

The Call

(A lot has happened in the last two months! We're starting to share the news with our family and close friends...)

On Tuesday, March 15th, I had just dropped Dave off at work and my cell phone rang. It was our social worker. Normally I would have jumped out of my skin to see her name on my cell screen but on this day, I was calm. I had left her a message the night before... so I was expecting a return phone call. What I wasn't expecting was for her to tell me to pull over and find a place to park when she realized I was driving.

I parked in a nearby parking lot and the words we had been waiting 16 months to hear were spoken... "An expectant mother looked at your portfolio and she wants to meet you! Are you and Dave available next Tuesday?" It's amazing how life can change with one phone call.

Our Five Year Anniversary

Dave and I celebrated our 5 year anniversary on April 22, 2011! We spent the weekend in New Glarus WI. Beautiful swiss town and a great weekend away with my sweetie! Here are some photos...

 Dinner at an amazing Swiss restaurant in town.

They even brought us a cupcake with a sparkler

to celebrate our anniversary!

Our hotel was beautiful!

 The town is filled with these cows!

In a nearby town they had trolls everywhere.

So we had to get some photos with the trolls too!