I Feel Like The Stick Has A Plus Sign

I had my hair cut on Saturday morning because I'm nothing if not loyal to the woman who has been doing my hair since I was seven years old. After she finished it and it was dried and styled, she noticed a few pieces that she wanted to touch up so she scheduled me for 1:00 on Thursday afternoon.

On Wednesday night I went to bed at 10:30. At 11:29 I woke up with that feeling. It's the one where, if you're me and you've been highly susceptible to the flu for your whole life, you know that puking is imminent. I tossed and turned until 1:30. Then I got up, gagged a few times, failed to produce vomit, and climbed back in bed. Finally, at 2:30, I fell asleep straight on 'til morning. Despite never having upchucked, I still felt sick when I woke up. By late morning I was still extremely sick to my stomach and I didn't feel like driving fifteen minutes to the shop. I called and changed my hair appointment to this morning. I was due to fly home at 4:00 this afternoon so I figured I could squeeze it in. After successfully changing the appointment, I settled into a patio chair and dived into my book while the 70+ degree sun poured over my body.

Garrett played in the yard and, at just after 1:00, I decided it was time to put him down for a nap. I went to put my book on the bed in my old bedroom and I noticed that my cell phone was askew, hanging halfway off the nightstand. I leave it on vibrate almost exclusively so I figured I'd missed a call. Turning it over I discovered that I had two new voice mails. Typically I get voice mails from my mom and Troy. Since I'm with my mother I wondered why Troy had left me two voicemails instead of just calling my parents line.

"Hi Lori this is Anne* at The Organization We're Adopting From** and I'm trying to reach you guys. I put you in touch with one of our birth moms so I left the same message at home so I'm leaving a message on the cell. I will now try the church number and see if I can reach Troy at the church or if they know how to reach you guys. So anyway I know she's anxious and she's due soon. So um if I don't reach you give me a call and uh at 555-555-BABY***." (And yes, I just listened to it four times to make sure I got every single word right. And no, I didn't mind listening to it four times because hearing that news just doesn't get old.)

So. Anyway. Immediately my arm pits starting sweating profusely. And I started shaking. And I couldn't form a coherent thought let alone a coherent sentence. The second message was from her as well and there were more details but it was more urgent. Said birth mother wanted to get in touch with us right then. I ran out, nearly collided with my mom and shouted something to the effect of, "There's a birth mother and she's due really soon!"

Then I called Troy. "Hey, have you gotten any messages today?" Turns out he'd just walked in the door and gotten the message. Then he'd called Anne and spoken with her and gotten a few details and a phone number to reach the birth mother at. It took me until this morning to analyze the fact that, though we got the messages very close to the same time, I called him first and he called the organization. I think it has something to do with the amount of tears I've shed over my future children during the last five years. I choose to believe that he was being cautious where my emotions are concerned and I don't dwell on the fact that, perhaps, he was shaking and sweating and freaking out just as much as I was and dialed The Organization We're Adopting From before stopping to think that, maybe, he should inform the love of his life first. I need him to be level headed and calm and not sweaty right now.

But I'm not entirely sure this is a non-sweaty kind of ordeal because, I think I might not have mentioned that this baby is due on February 27th! That gives us four weeks. Four weeks to do what most people take several months to do. Four weeks to nest. Four weeks to try to explain this to our two and a half year old whose world is about to get flung right off its axis.

I spent the next hour on the phone with Troy, Birth Mom (who I am affectionately not going to refer to as BM--she's carrying my child for heaven's sake), The Organization We're Adopting From, and airlines. Birth mother Jennifer**** wants to meet us as soon as possible. This meant changing mine and Garrett's flight to Sunday and booking Troy a flight in to San Diego tomorrow morning and out of a different airport tomorrow night so that he can still preach on Sunday morning--pray for him! So we're meeting her tomorrow and if all goes well, we will bring her child home to love and cherish sometime in the next month.

It's just incredible to me that I was here in San Diego when we got this call (she's in the general Southern California area) and I canceled my hair appointment so I was available to make a hundred calls. It's almost as though my non throw up flu was God ordained. Or, perhaps, it's exactly like that.

Please join me in praying that all goes well tomorrow. Pray that we will all feel that this is the Lord's will for our lives. Pray that this would be the baby we've been asking for since April of 2007. Pray that there would be minimal sweat for all involved parties. And please, join me in praising God.

Oh, and one final thing...early ultrasound says:




*Not her actual name.
** Not the actual name of the organization.
***Not the actual number.
****Also not her real name.