We're back

Jess and I are back after a ride like no other.
We wanted to share our new amazing story with you and we invite you to follow along with us on our journey to parenthood!
It is New Year's Eve day and we are patiently awaiting, the "phone call." Not an easy task whatsoever. Every time the phone rings our hearts stop. We are crazed with excitement, not sleeping well at all, and barely containing ourselves. Over joyed is an understatement!
Because we are superstitious and Jewish we are doing nothing to prepare for the arrival of our new little one. There is no crib yet, no special blanky, we have bought no clothes, painted no walls and hung no pictures. I know you say, are you crazy? Probably but it makes us feel more comfortable. Yes we will be running around with our heads cut off as soon as he is born gathering necessities but we are fine with that. What do we need? Diapers, wipes, onesies, and formula.
Our plan is to stay at the hospital while the baby is there. The hospital does offer boarding for adoptive parents so we thought we would take them up on it. We can pick the nurses brains and get some personal coaching.
A few weeks ago Kelsie invited me into the delivery room, let's hope I make it in time!
Our plan is to wait until Kelsie calls to tell us she is going into labor. Immediately we will book our flight and if all goes as planned we should be home in about 1 week.
As you all know our story, this is a miracle. We really believe that. Although it seemed like that we were forever in our depressed state, we actually were only home for 7 week when we got the "phone call"from my sister. Someone had a plan for us...what I have learned is I do not have control over everything ( how can that be so), and I need to be open to the way things come into my life.
Come join us as we emark on this wonderful new adventure in our lives.

The phone call

It was Halloween day and we were having a party in my office. The phone rang around 12ish and it was my sister Gaby who said, "I am just the messenger and you can do whatever you want with this information." She then proceeded to tell me that her son, my nephew Zach's fiance Mothers cousins daughter is 16 and thinking about adoption. I thought well she came to the right person because I will find this child a home, not thinking about Jess and I. Soon after I called Jesse to tell him and he said, "this is a sign." "I wasn't thinking for us," I said, but he pleaded with me to think about it. I called Zach to gather a little more info and also told him I would find the baby a home. Still not thinking it was for us. Jesse kept asking me to please find out more information and so 2 days later I called Zach's Mother-in-law to be who had all the info. We spent hours on the phone . Before we hung up that evening I had gracefully been pulled in. She would exchange information between us and the birth mother. At the end of 1 week she called to say the birth mother would like to meet us and so the following weekend November 15th the birth mother Kelsie, her Mother and Zach's Mother-in-law to be flew to California. We spent the whole weekend with them. We feel in love with Kelsie the birth mother, (we'd adopt her) and on Monday before she left our Attorneys paralegal met with her and she signed paperwork.
It is a boy and he is due January 6th.

Regrouping

Days and weeks went by as Jess and I began to heal. Although it was the toughest thing the two of us endured together as a couple we managed to pull ourselves out of it the best we could. However there was an understanding between the two of us that the "A" (adoption) word was forbidden.

Just when we felt we were healing a day of depression would hit like a strong wind knocking us back to the depths of despair. It would just creep up on us with no warning whatsoever. What helped us to get through these difficult times were our friends, family, therapist, and others who had similar experiences as ours and had returned home from the Ukraine childless too. I had posted our story on a Russian/Ukrainian website and I was amazed at how many people with similar stories reached out to us. We all helped each other in so many ways by sharing, exchanging coping strategies, leaning on one another, but there was one special couple whose path crossed ours and we were again forever changed.

A special blessing came to us in an e-mail a few weeks after we returned home. When we were in the Ukraine we had met a couple for a brief moment at the SDA as they were walking down the stairs and we were standing in the hall. I mean a brief moment, not more than 2 minutes.We exchanged a few words, and that was it. The following day I was walking on the busiest street in Kiev on the phone with my Mother crying hysterical because we had just found out we were denied our 3rd appt. when this couple we had met the day before was headed towards me. They stopped to talk to me, but I told them I was on the phone and it was obvious I was extremely upset. All I said to them was " I can not talk but things did not work out for us." That was it. The woman then hugged me in the middle of the street, and said, "God Bless you!" I instantly felt comforted by her, she was an angel who had come to me when I really needed it. Well when we returned home I had posted our story on this website and I received an e-mail from a woman in Indiana who said, I think you may be this woman I hugged in the middle of street (something I have never done before) and if you are please e-mail me back, and if you aren't then sorry to have bugged you. Well it was the couple we had met in the Ukraine for only 2 minutes that one afternoon at the SDA. They had found us by reading my posting on the Russian/Ukrainian website . Sadly they also returned home without a child too. They have been a great help to us and we are so grateful that they found us. Something positive came out of our hardship!