Twas' the night before

Twas the night before Abigail's arrival and Tyler is currently at the 5,600 acre Rocky Mountain Fire and I just drank an XS energy drink and about to clean the entire house at 9:00 pm. But seriously, I can't believe we have reached the day before her arrival! Our birth mother will be induced tomorrow morning and we'll make our way up to Maryland for Abigail's arrival.

Everything is coming full circle and God's provision for our family is just ahead of us. This morning when I was thinking about what day it is (I've lost track of the days lately), I realized how significant Abigail's birthday will be. Abigail will be delivered just a few days shy of my two year anniversary of my Ehlers Danlos Syndrome diagnosis. Two years ago this month I sat in the geneticists office listening to her tell me about the harsh reality of living with EDS. It became much more than just a physical condition that I'd have to deal with for the rest of my life. She was the first of six doctors over the next several months that told me to never have biological children. I sat in the UVA parking deck that morning numb to what she had just told me. Where would we go from here?

The last two years have been anything but easy. Denial. Anger. Grief. All of the emotions that come with infertility. But eventually (after a lot of counseling and prayer) we moved on and tried to find joy in the process and embrace adoption. I never would have imagined two years ago sitting in that doctors office at UVA that we would be here today, the eve before we hold our daughter for the first time. God is good!

Continue to keep us in your thoughts and prayers. The next few days are not going to be easy for anyone. While this will be a very joyous time for us, we acknowledge how hard this is for our birth family. Pray for our birth mother and that her labor and delivery go well. We look forward to sharing more with you all as soon as we are able to!

Blessings,

Tyler & Kelsey

Any Day Now!

April is here, which means Abigail will be here any day! We have officially made it to her due date week! In March we were showered with love at our two baby showers by our friends and family. We got everything we needed and more to welcome Abigail into the world. Now the hard part has arrived, waiting for the phone call that our birth mother is in labor. The pack and play and car seat have been in my car for the past two weeks and last week we loaded it with two more suitcases of clothes for us and Abigail. We are ready to jump in the car as soon as we get the call. Every day we wake up wondering if today is the day and every night we lay our heads down hoping the phone will ring.

This may be the last ya'll hear from us for a while. Once we get the call we'll head to Maryland to be at the hospital when she arrives. From there the birth parents consent will be taken 24 hours after delivery and we'll be able to take Abigail with us once she is released. We'll be staying in another part of Maryland with a sweet family we know and will be there until our ICPC is signed. Once our ICPC is signed we'll be able to return to Virginia. Since we are moving forward with a Maryland adoption there is a 30 day revocation period and we'll be granted custody after this period of time. At this time I don't believe we'll be able to share any pictures of Abigail until the 30 day revocation period has passed. 

Please continue to keep us in your prayers as we take our final steps to bringing Abigail home. Pray for our birth mother that her labor and delivery go well. We are so very grateful for our birth family and look forward to finally bringing Abigail home!

Blessings,
Tyler & Kelsey