Roller Coaster Ride

The past two weeks have most certainly been a roller coaster ride. So let me start at the beginning. Dan and I went to St. John Cantius church in Chicago for mass on Divine Mercy Sunday. They had some relics of St. Faustina. You can read more about them on Dan's blog here: St. Faustina First Class Relics The whole experience that morning was pretty awesome. First, we lit a candle at the front of the church. Most of the candles were not yet lit, so I chose one right in the middle. Dan still teases me about it- that I needed to choose the one smack dab in the middle. Then we decided to go over by the relics. I looked closely at each one, but I wasn't exactly sure if we could touch them. So looking just had to do. After mass, a line started forming and people were coming up to pray and touch the relics. There was my answer! I had to get up there again and touch the relic. And so we did.

That night I was going through the mail in the living room, and Dan was reading in the front room. He came quickly into the room asking "What's this email?" I had no clue what he was talking about. "There's an email from the Cradle about a profile request!" Talk about being caught off guard. First of all, weren't we told we'd get a call about something like this? And secondly, it was 9:00pm on a Sunday. This couldn't be for real! Thank goodness it was! So I opened the email on my computer. I started scrolling through the document page after page not really taking in anything I was looking at. It took me a few minutes to calm down and actually read what I was looking at. Baby girl, due this summer! Birth parents sound wonderful! Nothing scary on the page! It didn't take long to realize, my prayers were being answered.  Loud and Clear! I had been praying the Divine Mercy Chaplet since the beginning of Lent, touched the relic of St. Faustina earlier that day, and it was Divine Mercy Sunday. Wow! God is so good! Dan teased me saying that it had to be the fact that I chose to light that candle right in the middle earlier that day.

So the next day, we talked to our counselor to let her know we were in. We found out that our profile would be presented along with those of 5 other adoptive families. She reminded us that we likely wouldn't hear anything until at least the following Friday. Almost 2 weeks- yikes! And so the nerves began and didn't go away. We only told a few people, knowing that there was a good chance another family could be chosen. And then we just prayed hard! I checked my phone like crazy every day.

When we didn't hear this past Friday, I started to get frustrated. It was hard waking up every morning unsure if we would receive the most amazing news or if we would be back to square one. I was in a crummy mood most of Saturday, even at our dinner out to Rock Bottom. That changed quickly though because I have just about the best husband ever, who said just about every right thing to me. I was then reminded how much of a gift this child would be if we were in fact matched and also of how incredibly difficult it must be for the birth parents to make such a huge decision. So I finally reached a sense of peace.

Yesterday was the first morning I woke up without butterflies in my stomach. I had a meeting first thing in the morning. I got back to my office with a voice mail on my phone. I had gotten a message from a counselor (not our usual one) at the Cradle saying she wanted to talk to me about our case and to call before she went into a meeting at 9:30. And... it was 9:30 on the dot. I tried anyways, but no answer. I had no clue what the answer could possibly be. If it had been our counselor that left the message, I'd be able to tell from her voice. So of course I started trying to analyze everything. Was she a birth parent counselor? If so, maybe she was these birth parents' counselor. Nope... adoptive parent counselor. I called Dan. He hadn't gotten a call at all. And my analyzing had to stop. There was absolutely nothing I could do. Those poor kids that I worked with for the next 2 hours... my mind just wasn't there. Then, right after finishing therapy with the last student of the morning, my phone rang. It was a Cradle phone number!

We're in a match!!!! It was my counselor, who was just returning to the office that day. I have never been so relieved in my life! So I jumped up and down with Kathy, who had been in the room and overheard me talking. And I called Dan right away! Wooooo hoooo! We are so excited!

One funny thing that happened- I called both of my parents right away. I couldn't get ahold of my mom- she was serving lunches at work, but I was able to get ahold of my dad right away. I asked him not to tell my mom until I talked to her. I got ahold of her about a half hour later. Well apparently, neither one of them realized I had talked to the other yet. My dad was off of work, so when my mom got home, they just sat around and talked about their days as if it were any other day. My mom texted me after a while to let me know my dad was home that day if I wanted to talk to him. I texted back to tell her that he already knew. They had just spent all that time pretending neither one of them knew a thing. Talk about being ready to jump out of your skin!

My mom also told me later about something cool that had happened to her at work. She often prays for the intercession of St. Therese. Just before she talked to me, one of her co-workers said she smelled roses and said "St. Therese!".  Flowers had recently been brought to them (not roses), but this woman had not seen them yet. Just shortly after, my mom got my call. More answered prayers!

Today I have finally come back to earth. We are going to meet the birth family next week. I'm really looking forward to it. They sound really great based on the little information we have gotten so far. Of course, we are trying to remember that there are no guarantees. Nothing is final until papers are signed after baby girl is born. So please pray for the birth parents, baby girl, and us as we prepare for her arrival. God is so good :)