Quiet

Very rarely are things quiet around here. This afternoon, Ben and Merrie Cannon went into his room and I was so pleased that they were playing so well together and not arguing. I didn't check in, because sometimes that can interrupt the peace. I should have.

Ben came out fully clothed in battle gear - complete with knee pads. (I didn't get my camera quickly enough to get pictures.) I asked him what they were doing.....

SKY DIVING

God Winks

God winks. You know, moments when He affirms that He is here, watching over us.

Throughout the past 9 months, I have noticed them more and more. Perhaps He realizes that in this season I need them more, or maybe I am seeking Him more and recognizing them as Him more than before when I would have passed them off as happenstance.

Throughout the process of getting Quinn, I have felt strongly that this was our call. He ordained us to parent this child well before the foundations of the earth. I have questioned many times in recent months whether or not we should proceed - because of Billy's shaky employment. Each time I feel Him quietly reminding me to trust Him.

We do not have any extra income right now. Every penny we have- and then some- is spoken for. The financial implications of travel to Ohio had not even been thought about. I have focused most of my prayers on Quinn's transition into the family. After all, we have a credit card to absorb the expenses - ie hotel, food while traveling, gas. We had not specifically prayed at all for financial assistance, just figured it would all work out - and God winked. We received a total of $580 and $40 in gas cards from various people, and used some of my dad's points for part of our hotel. Family sent some, my sister-in-laws bible study group sent some, and we got an anonymous letter from someone in my sister-in law's church with some. We didn't even ask, and God winked. He sent us enough money to cover our trip - almost to the penny.

Revelation Song happens to be Billy's favorite song right now. He has never been a fan of Christian radio, but I think he keeps my radio in the kitchen tuned to WDJC just so he won't miss it if it comes on. When we sing this song in church, it moves him to his feet and has almost prompted him to raise his hands (it should be noted that we are not hand raisers) in worship of the mighty God we serve.

On the very short trip to the courthouse on Friday, we had the radio tuned to a Christian station. One of about 3 stations you can get in the big metropolis of Tiffin and even it wasn't coming in well. Guess what? Revelation Song came on. He looked at me and said "Are you kidding me." We both got chills. God winked.

More updates on the transition to come. Our internet isn't working well, so I haven't turned on my computer and Billy has been hogging his tonight. We are well and falling more in love everyday.

Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time.
1 Peter 5:6

Day 2

Quinn was such a joy to behold today. When we got to his foster parents house, he was genuinely happy to see us. He laughed at Billy and crawled over to me to pick him up.

Yesterday, he wouldn't even let Billy hold him. He thought Billy was cool - as long as he was in my arms. He preferred Billy today, which was a relief for me. I was a little worried that when we got home, he would be so attached to me that I would be solely responsible for his happiness.

We spent the morning walking around Tiffin, got lunch and tried the hotel again. He freaked upon entering, but calmed down once we got into our room - and turned on Noggin. We played for a while and then he curled up in my arms and fell asleep. Precious. He woke up after an hour and laid down on Billy and fell asleep again.

After his nap we went to the park and then met his foster parents and extended foster family for pizza. His foster moms took him back home for his last night with them.

We are so blessed to have been able to spend time with this amazing couple - and their family. They are truly a testament to unconditional love. They knew when they received Quinn that he would be leaving with us, yet they have loved him and cared for him better than we could have ever wanted. They are having a hard time letting go, so if you would say a little prayer that God would heal their broken hearts and prepare them for their next placement.

We will leave to come home tomorrow with the happiest baby on earth!

Where do babies come from?

Ohio of course!

We are here and have been for 2 days. I had all intentions of updates, but this is exhausting (and I can't post pictures because if forgot the USB cord for the camera.)

The drive up was fairly easy and uneventful, but was LONG. We were a wee bit nervous when we pulled into the city limits and the first thing we saw was a club with exotic dancers - yikes!

Turns out, Tiffin is an amazing city. Imagine Homewood, AL or Franklin, TN on steroids. It is a rural town out in the middle of nowhere, so the demographic is much different than those places. Most of the awesome storefronts are empty. I keep looking for cute boutiquey stores and and neat local restaurants that would abound in the South in a place like this. Most of the homes appear to have been built in the late 1800s to early 1900s and by size of them, this used to be one of the places to live in Ohio. Unlike Homewood who boasts many small shotgun type houses, these are huge even by today's standards.

Since we arrived into town around midnight on Thursday, we came to the hotel and tried to sleep. I think we actually got around 4 hours in and then were up and ready to meet the social worker in the lobby to go to court.

In our last conversation with the powers that be in Ohio, we understood that we would be receiving legal custody of him yesterday. They changed things up and decided that initially we would be considered foster parents and would get legal custody sometime in the next 6 months - more than likely this will occur in September at the next court date.

We arrived at the courthouse and were excited to meet all the people who have worked so hard to take care of Quinn and facilitate his move to Alabama. His social worker, foster parents, CASA worker, lawyers, Guardian Ad Litem for his birth mother were all there. It was so overwhelming to finally hug all these very special people.

Court went fine, it was mostly just routine. Billy "took the stand" and I had to sit outside and it was done. We were officially given "foster parent" status of Quinn!

While we were filling out paperwork, his foster parents went, picked him up and brought him to us. It really wasn't pretty. His mom's were crying, he was confused and reaching for them, I was trying to be sensitive to him and them while wanting to squeeze him and make him love me. Billy and I left with him to begin the bonding process.

We thought we would bring him to our hotel room and spend time with him here. Upon entering the hotel, he freaked out. Much of our first day was spent in the car so he could nap and such. We returned him to his foster parents around 5 and enjoyed the evening together trying to process this big day.