Jamie's photo shoot.

We are loving, loving, loving her
Sadly, things aren't going that well for our prospects of keeping her.
Pressing forward, with sleepy, but positive thoughts and prayers.

Our "delicate" situation.........

A baby girl was born today! Mia was born at 7:40 this morning. She weighs 6lbs 11oz and is 18 inches long. She is beautiful. Some of you know, most of you don't - that we our going to have this little girl come and be with our family for a while. We are hoping forever.

Here is our story......

We met Emilee this summer. She a very sweet girl who was looking for an adoptive family for her little baby. She was signed up with LDS Social Services and praying for an answer to know what to do. When we heard about Emilee (through family in St. Louis) we decided to present our family to her as a possible option. We knew the timing wasn't so good (I was thick in the MAT program) and our chances of being the "ones" was a bit of a pipe dream. But we felt good, and we felt the spirit and we decided to try. It turns out she liked us! She prayed about us! and she picked us to be Mia's family. We are all thrilled and feel very blessed - all 7 of us.

Over the last several months we have met with Emilee about once a month. She is a wonderful girl with a great deal on her shoulders. She has gone about making this decision with complete reliance on the Lord, and she believes this is what is best for her and for Mia. She has shown so much faith, kindness, and love to our family as we have gotten to know each other. We have met her parents and two of her brothers. We have had them come to our home. They are very nice and wonderful people and have also relied on the spirit as they have been trying to help and support Emilee through this difficult time. She and her family are absolutely wonderful.

Now to the "delicate" part.....

Mia's birthfather has not made his decision regarding the adoption. We cannot legally adopt this little girl until he does make a decision. Because of this, we have been hesitant in telling our news. We could easily only have Mia with us for a short while. We have always known this, and understand that this whole thing is very uncertain. This is why we haven't been talking or sharing much about our plans. We just don't know what will happen. We are looking at a very "delicate" and tenuous 30 or so days. We have tried to prepare ourselves and our kids. We may feel some heartbreak in the end of this, but Wayne and I both wanted to give it our best. If it works out in the end - we will be forever happy. If it does not, we will be okay and we will feel blessed for the experience.

We are going to be at the hospital with her now.......