The Tale of Audie Lynn's Arrival!

     It felt like any other day, I kissed Ferrari goodbye and headed to pick up my niece, Grace.  I was taking her to swim lessons that morning, and was going to spend a few hours with her while her mommy spent some time with Grace's new baby brother.  As we were loading up the car after swim to head to Target, my phone rang.  It was my hubby asking if it was a good time to talk because he had some good news.  At first I told him no, but he proceeded to tell me the information anyway, and I am so glad he did!
     He said he had received a phone call from the adoption agency and that there was a baby girl ready to go home from the hospital today! We just needed to go meet the birth mom first.  She had picked us out of the matchbook, but was anxious to meet us in person to know if we were the right couple for sure.  I was SHOCKED, EXCITED, SPEECHLESS!  I just started crying, which sort of upset my niece in the back seat.  I think she thought I was still mad or sad at her because of her mini-tantrum as I drug her out of the swim school jungle gym.  I kept explaining to her that I was crying happy tears but she just stared at me with the weirdest look on her face, poor girl, hopefully she isn't scarred for life :)
I booked it towards home, because Ferrari informed me we only had about an hour before we needed to meet with the birth mom.  I apologized to Grace for not being able to take her to Target, and dropped her back off with her mommy.
     I sprinted up my stairs grabbing the car seat and a bag.  I will admit we didn't have much to put in the bag, because all we were really told was to have the car seat ready.  I did have one outfit hanging in the closet that I thought would fit her, but no bow.  If you know me at all, I HAD to have a bow for her to wear coming home from the hospital!  So here is where I come clean... I stole one out of the Owl Love You Forever donation bin.  I know, I know, I am terrible, but it was for an amazing reason and I do promise to replace it!!
     We stopped at Baby's R Us on the way to at least grab a couple bottles, diapers, and wipes.  I had my sister text me a list of other essentials for the first day home, because I was not thinking clearly enough to come up with what I would need on my own.  We literally raced around the store, throwing stuff in the cart, it was so much fun! The check out lady asked, "Is all this for someone's registry," I said, "No."  So she asked, "Oh, are you guys just restocking your shelves?" I said, "No."  She looked at us sideways, so I felt the need to explain that we are adopting and just got THE call.  She had nothing to say to that, and instead handed me a gift receipt.  I'm still not sure if she just didn't believe me or what, but I did catch her name, Maddy. I thought her name was cute and immediately began to think about what this little girl's name was going to be.  We didn't have THE ONE picked out.  We had a short list, but as we began rereading our favorites, they all seemed like horrible options.
     Before we knew it we arrived at the agency, & my stomach was in knots.  Was I wearing the right outfit, did my hair look ok?  Hubby kept playing on his iPhone, and I told him to put it away so it didn't look like he was obsessed with it, haha.  I was so worried that she would see us and not like us anymore.  My fears were set at ease as soon as we met, her birth mom is SO incredibly sweet.  She noticed my hair cut and color was different than in my match letter, which caught me off guard.  This girl knew her stuff, and suddenly I felt like I should have updated our match letter.  Then she said she loved the hair cut & thought it looked similar to my wedding photo and I began to relax :)  We sat in a small room and talked for two hours.  It was incredibly surreal, I just couldn't believe that it was finally happening.
     Once we got the "approval," we headed over to the hospital to take OUR DAUGHTER home!  Talk about one of the weirdest feelings ever- park, grab the empty car seat, head up to the nursery, load her up, and head home.  I felt like I was doing something illegal just walking out of the hospital with this adorable baby girl, how could she really be mine?!? The nurses were incredibly helpful and so sweet, giving us some extra diapers and formula!  They explained the basics to us, how to feed, burp, swaddle... it was the fastest Parenting 101 course I've ever heard of, but surprisingly helpful!  She was 6 lb 4 oz, 19in long and just PERFECT!

Our first family pic!

All ready to head home!

     As we were on our way home I brought up her name and almost simultaneously we said that her name should be Audie Lynn!  It fits her perfectly!  Audie is the Dutch pronunciation of Arie, and since the twins were Arie & Hadilyn, we melded their names to come up with Audie Lynn.  We are just in heaven with our new addition, I feel like I can't thank God enough for blessing us with her!  She has been home a little over 2 weeks now, and we are LOVING every minute of it!

Lovely Photography from Dusty Perez at www.lilyphotographydp.com

Thank you all for the support and prayers during our journey over the past few years.

Beautiful photo captured by Gina Bacigalupi over at www.tinybirdphoto.blogspot.com

We are so blessed to have such supportive friends, family, and readers.

God is so good!