the day our lives changed in the best way

This is a long overdue post on the day that our sweet Lawrence made his debut. It was one of those days that went along just like any other....or so we thought...

 Lawrence's birth mother (M) had scheduled a c-section for March 14th. We had just made plans to leave the Friday before that, stop and see our new niece on the drive out there, and go to Disney World with my parents and little sister on that Sunday and Monday as a last "hoorah". (doesn't everyone spend their last 2 days before becoming parents at Disney World surrounded by other people and their children?) I think that's the first lesson we learned as parents-to-be. Babies will put a kink (the best kind) in your perfectly made plans.

Early in the morning on March 1st, Spencer left to go on a work trip to Belize with his firm. My joke to him for the past couple of weeks had been, "You know the baby is going to come while you're in Belize right?" We both always just laughed it off because I don't think we really thought it would happen. So, Spencer left for Belize around 6 am. I carried on my day as usual: chores, work, etc. Spencer was going to be gone all weekend, so I had made plans to get everything done that we would need to do before the baby came (deep clean the house, freezer meals, hair appt, mani/pedi...life's necessities :).)

Around 8:30 that night, I was sitting on the couch, and a number popped up for the town where M's agency is located. I stared at it for a minute, but just the week before, a number had called me from that area. I had gotten all excited only for it to be a junk call, so on this night, I decided to just ignore it and continue to watch Netflix. About 5 minutes later, the same number called again... Intrigued, I decided that it was probably something important, so I answered. M's caseworker was on the other line, and she said, "Well Mackensie, I'm calling to tell you that M is in labor, so get here as soon as you can!" At this point, you can insert a complete freakout for many reasons.

A: I'm in OK, and she's in FL. How can I get there before the baby is born? (I quickly realized that wasn't going to happen, so I moved past that..HA)
B: My bag isn't packed (I joked to my friend Kellie that no one could judge me by what clothes I was wearing in pictures because I had NO IDEA what I was putting in my suitcase)
and most importantly....
C: My husband is in Belize...on a boat....in the middle of the ocean.

After clarifying a few things with the case worker on the phone, I immediately called my mom...slightly freaking out, wondering how on earth I was going to get a hold of Spencer. My mom immediately started looking at flight out of DFW for first thing in the morning for me and her. I set out to try to get ahold of Spencer, call his parents and a couple of other people, all while throwing my clothes in a suitcase. (Brittney and Becca can attest to the pure chaos that was happening inside of my suitcase when I got to TX.)

After calling the owner of the boat that Spencer was on and leaving a voicemail (desperation) and emailing Spencer and both of his bosses (the email said: EMERGENCY, M is in labor), Spencer FaceTimed me using the wifi on the boat. (At this moment, we can all be thankful that we live in 2017 and there is actually wifi on boats in the middle of the ocean). Spencer's amazing bosses booked him on a flight out of Belize for the next day, and I was in the car by 9 pm, driving to TX.

My mom and I flew out first thing on March 2nd, and we were meeting precious Lawrence by 2 pm that afternoon. We were able to spend some time with M that afternoon, and then, we left to go drop off the luggage at our house and pick Spencer up from the airport. Spencer was holding his son for the first time by 8 pm that night...not even 24 hours after he was born.

The case worker couldn't stop laughing at how quickly we got there. She said, "Mackensie's a mom on a mission." I couldn't help but think about how true that is. Once that phone call happened, my baby was states away, and I had to get there as soon as I could.

Words can't express the whirlwind of those few days. Never did I imagine that I'd meet our son without Spencer. Never did I actually believe that Lawrence would make his appearance while Spencer was on his trip. Never did I know how fiercely we would both feel the need to get to him once we knew he was here. But God knew. From the beginning of time, God knew that we were going to have a baby boy on March 1, 2017. He knew that from that moment on we were going to be running around like chickens with our heads cut off. He knew it all. He ordained all of these moments from the beginning of time. And I have never been so thankful for the fact that He is in complete control.

I look back on the night before he was born. I was laying in bed, FB messaging a friend of my older sister's. I told her, "I wish he was going to be born tomorrow!" And he was.

It's crazy how these babies just change your whole world. Even in a little over two months of life, he has rocked me to my core IN THE BEST WAY. This sweet babe's presence in my life reminds me every morning how thankful I am for my God and the fact that He loves me enough to bless me with this precious baby boy. Lawrence is our "good and perfect gift from above".

March 1, 2017. The day our lives changed forever in the best way.

When the wait changes...

It was a little over a week ago, on a Friday, when I got a phone call.

We knew that an expectant mom (EM) was looking at our profile on Tuesday of that week, and we were just waiting (lots of waiting) to hear back about what she decided. The wait to hear back about a EM's decision is always the hardest part, but if I've learned anything about God during these days of waiting over the course of the past 4 months, it's that He always uses this time very intentionally.

During that week, I started doing a bible study on the book Uninvited by Lisa Teurkerst. On Wednesday, after just a hard day, I began reading the first chapter of the book. She talks about God's character and love for us and it came down to this one phrase:

God is good at being God...

I don't know about you, but when I am having a day where I am struggling with waiting and control, reading this simple reminder spoke loads of truth and reassurance to my weary heart. It became my prayer over the next couple of days.

"Lord, please continue to remind me that you are good at being God. You are so much better at being God than I am, so please just remind my heart of that this week." 

Let's just say, it was prayed quite a bit over those next couple of days. 😉

So, back to Friday and the phone call. In our experience with presenting to EMs so far, we have always received an email if it's a no, so when my phone started ringing, I walked into the living room to see who was calling.

I looked at my phone and when I saw who was calling, my heart skipped a beat. Our adoption consultant's name was flashing on my screen. I took a deep breath and answered, "hello?"

We exchanged normal pleasantries, and then she says....

"I am calling to tell you that you are due with a baby boy in March!"

And I just started weeping and laughing and weeping some more. She gave me a few details and told me to hang up and call Spencer, which I did immediately. I'd always envisioned telling him in some special way, but instead, I just called his cell phone a billion times (slight exaggeration) until he answered and said he would call me back in just a minute. So I waited by the phone and when he called back, I'm pretty sure all that I got out before dissolving into tears was "Susan called...". And at that moment, he knew, too.

Now, here we are, waiting again, but with this sweet, amazing end in sight. We wait with the knowledge that we are matched with a woman who is now the bravest woman I will ever know. We wait with excitement that we're going to have a baby boy in a few weeks. We wait with the assurance that God has us on this path to connect with our EM, and we pray that we can be intentional with her in the times that we speak and connect over the next 7 weeks and beyond.

Lastly, we wait with the promise of God's faithfulness and love, and we shout with praise the truth that He is so so good at being God.