Best Birthday Ever!

My birthday came a day early this year. It was a typical Monday and I was just about to start working out with friends when Jim called. He had NEWS! Our birth-mom was in labor. Finally, it felt like this pregnancy was as long as an elephant's. So we packed our bags and headed down to Texas.

We had been on the road for about 2 hours when we got the call that the baby had been born. A little boy born at 2:18pm on May 10th weight 7lb 14oz and 20.5 inches long. We were hoping to get there for the birth, but now that the baby was born, we really wanted to get there fast.

We increased our speed, but other forces were at work. As we headed into Oklahoma, we noticed the clouds getting darker and decided to turn on Jim's Ham radio to follow the weather reports. Suffice it to say, we braved golf ball sized hail and had to shelter under an overpass to avoid breaking a windshield; we saw overturned semi-trucks and the weather reports indicated that funnel clouds were touching down in various areas not far enough from where we were. Looking at the reports afterwards, it looks like we missed at least two tornados by maybe an hour. The Lord was definitely clearing the way before us.

We arrived in San Antonio at 2am, got a few hours sleep and then headed to the hospital first thing Tuesday morning (Marissa's Birthday, by the way!). It turns out we had our information a little screw-balled, because we discovered we were at the wrong hospital. We got directions to the correct hospital and made our way there. We met with the birth parents and spent some time with them. We will be forever grateful to them for the part they played in bringing our family together. They checked out of the hospital that afternoon and we have pretty much been with the baby full time ever since. We have a room at the hospital, they're doing a few tests on Ethan, but everything is looking good. The birth parents signed the appropriate paperwork today so now it's just a matter of some paperwork and about 6 months of mandated waiting time until the final stamp of approval is given and we can take Ethan to the Temple to be sealed to us. We are so excited. Everything is falling into place. The Lord's hand is definitely guiding this process.

Ethan is a very cool baby. Not only is he capturing the hearts of all the nurses with his big hazel eyes, but he's also a very good baby. He doesn't cry much, he eats his whole bottle, and he makes cute faces on command (ok, well, not really on command - yet:-)

What a blessing and miracle Ethan is in our lives, even after only a little over a day. We have had a long road with the adoption process and he is definitely a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.


His first outfit (we had to make a Target run when we got here b/c we only had girl clothes)


Ethan likes to make a pucker face when he sleeps. He sucks his lower lip into his mouth


Close up of the handsome little angel


Our happy little family - Ethan was out like a light (the boy can't hold his milk! - one bottle and he's out!)