I should just be honest and tell you that I'm really not sure how many "installments" this story is going to take. I suppose it depends on how wordy I feel like being; most likely very.
December 2011
Through the past couple months, we had been living in great anticipation of more information - any information, really - about the possibility of adopting this little baby. Since the second week in November, the only information we had been given was that there might be a baby for us, the baby is due the end of March-beginning of April, and that it was a girl. As to be expected, that little bit of information left a lot to be desired, and we were anxious to hear more and progress closer to bringing this kiddo home.
The end of December came and our frustration at the lack of follow up information was growing. I remember telling Albert the week after Christmas that if we didn't hear anything in the next couple weeks that we were going to tell our bishop/attorney that we wanted to remove ourselves from the situation because it didn't seem to be going anywhere. I think that part of the problem and frustration was in that I really didn't know what to expect in a situation like this. What I was expecting was that we would be presented with the opportunity, we would have all the information we wanted readily available (ie - open communication with the birth mother), that we would be able to meet the birth mother and establish a trusting relationship with her, and that, basically, everything would go perfectly smooth and just how I wanted it to go. What I didn't know or expect was that I had little to no control of the situation. I didn't know that I was heading into one of the most anxiety-ridden, frustrating, emotionally stressful, and ultimately rewarding times of my life.
You know when the Lord tells us "Ye cannot behold with your natural eyes, for the present time, the design of your God concerning those things which shall come hereafter, and the glory which shall follow after much tribulation. For after much tribulation come the blessings... the hour is not yet, but is nigh at hand" (Doctrine and Convenants 58: 3-4)? It can be really, really hard to remember His promises when you are stuck in the middle of your own personal "tribulation". It's not easy. At all.
Albert was brave enough to call Keith again (not sure how many times we called him for any follow up info) and he said he would call his client again and see if we could set up a meeting. He was finally able to get a hold of them and we got a time set up to meet at Keith's office on January 2, 2012. We got there about 15 minutes early and waited. And waited. They didn't show up. Like I said earlier, not much went the way I expected it to. Keith called them and they told him they couldn't make it, but they wanted to set up another time to meet the following week on January 10th. A week's worth of time felt like forever, by the way.
Finally, the 10th came and again, we showed up about 15 minutes early and waited. But this time they came and we were able to meet with Cooper's birth grandma, R. She was nice, but very protective. She told us that Cooper's birth mother, D, was in the car, but she didn't want her to come into the meeting. She wanted to check us out and make sure she liked us before she let her daughter meet us. We had a good talk with her for a little over an hour. She told us that D had 3 other children, 2 girls and a boy, and that they loved them all very much. R said that she was taking a large part in helping to raise all 3 plus another little girl from her other daughter and they felt like another young child might be more than they could have handled. She told us that D was due, not the end of March-early April, but that she was actually due the end of May and that it was a girl. However, she then said that D hadn't been to see the doctor yet for a prenatal check up.
R asked us a lot of questions about our backgrounds, our jobs, our life together, our families, and what our plans would be for this baby. We were honest and open with her. We gave her the short version of our struggles with infertility and why we were interested in adoption. We told her about my plans to cut back at work should we be blessed with a child, and that really seemed to put her more at ease and comfortable with us. I can remember, after we had been there for a while, she kept saying that she liked us and that she was sure D would, too. At the end of the meeting, we shook hands and R left.
We stuck around for a few minutes to talk with Keith. Overall, we felt like the time was well spent and that the meeting was positive. We walked out of the office feeling pretty confident that we were well on our way to becoming parents to a sweet little girl.
{...more to come...}
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