WE'RE HAVING A BABY!!!

This is one of the best blog posts I've ever written!! We've been matched!!!! A birth mother has chosen us and we're expecting a baby mid September!

I've thought about the day I would get "the call" from our caseworker for months. What would I be doing? Would Matt be with me? Well, God had a really, really cool way to give us the news. Over the fourth of July holiday, Matt and I and a bunch of our closest friends from VB and all of our siblings were in Pittsburgh for our good friends, Jamie and Tiffany's, wedding. Part of the wedding festivities that weekend was to go to a Pittsburgh Pirates baseball game on the fourth of July. Matt was pumped beyond belief. He kept telling me that this was not just a baseball game but a Major League Baseball game. I had never been to an MLB game before. And Matt's favorite sport of all time is baseball. It's the closest to his heart because he played it all his life.

I'm sure Matt could beef up this part of the story better but I'll give it a try. It was the top of the sixth inning. The Pirates were making a comeback when I happened to look down at my phone that I was holding and saw it ringing. It was pretty loud in the stands to hearing it ring wouldn't have been possible. We were traveling with our sweet dog Bella and she was back at the hotel. The hotel always asks us to leave a phone number with them incase she barks too much. They would ask us to come pick her up. So getting a call in the middle of the game meant one thing in our minds, "oh Bella!"

But I noticed the area code (817) and knew that it could have been a Texas number. That's where our agency is located. But just weeks before, I was out to dinner with my good friend Tamice and thought our agency was calling because of the area code but it wasn't 817. It was 877. Boo. SO this time, I looked at it twice. IT WAS Texas!! But no need to get my hopes up prematurely, the agency calls sometimes with questions or to just check in. Yes, ALL of this ran through my head in the three seconds I stared at the number before answering.

So I answered and through the noise of the baseball game, I heard our caseworker say, "Kim, I have good news!!!". It was then that I thought to myself, "This is it. This is the call we had been longing for for months!" So I quickly tapped Matt on the leg, three times fast. He was busy watching the game. Ha! Matt immediately thought to himself, " Oh man, Bella! We're going to have to leave the game and pick her up from the hotel because she's barking, man!" He looked at me and said, "Bella?". I mouthed the words back, "It's Gladney!!" I started crying instantly and he knew this was NOT a call from our hotel about our dog. Haha! Our caseworker began giving us a run down of the information on the birth mother and baby. It was a lot of information, I was crying and it was pretty loud in the stands of a Major League Baseball game but I managed to remember a few key details to tell our family and friends.

It was then that I asked if it was a boy or girl. And our caseworker said, "It's a boy!". I told Matt. I could SO tell by the look on his face he was SO pumped. Here he was at a MLB game and he just found out God was giving him a son! My response to the news of having a son was really interesting and something I have spent the last few days thinking about a lot. Immediately, my heart literally cried out my son's name.  Which was really strange because Matt and I have had a few boy names that we've liked but had only really had one girl name that was a definite for us all these years. But the way my heart yelled out his name was really beautiful for me as a mom. It was like my heart recognized my son and called out his name. It was truly beautiful and something I'll never forget. We're still praying about our son's full name and will definitely let everyone know soon. We really want to give him a name soon. He has been without a name for the first 7 months of his in utero life so far. He needs a name. And he needs prayer from here on out, by name. So we'll keep ya'll posted soon on that!

Our amazing friends Angela and Josh Dart were sitting right next to us and I could tell that Angela had an idea that something VERY big was happening in the two seats next to us by the way the tears were streaming down my face while on the phone. It was really amazing to have all of our friends there with us. After we got off the phone, Matt and I quickly hugged and kissed and discussed if we should tell everyone, how could we not?! So we stood up in the stands and Matt said, "We're having a boy!!" to all of our friends and all of our siblings. It was really, really awesome. Our community is SO important to us and our son will be SO richly blessed by these people so to get the news with all of them there, was insanely special for us. We wouldn't have wanted to get the news any other way. God outdid Himself with this. :)

These photos were taken, by Christi Hamrick, just seconds after telling our family the news! Thank you Christi for capturing these moments that will forever mean SO much to us and our son. 

I'm sure this post brings about a lot of questions so I will write more on what's next for us in the process from here on out, soon. I just wanted to share the news! We're SO incredibly excited and blessed and honored that this beautiful birth mom would choose us! She needs your prayers these last couple of months because this decision is not easy at all. She does have the right to change her mind until 48 hours after the birth but she has been counseled really well and seems to be really firm in this decision. Even with the fear of her changing her mind, we can not help but embrace our son, fully, from here on out. Pray for us, for our son, for the birth mother and birth father. Thanks so so much for your support and love. Without our community, our adoption would not be possible. You all are a part of something very, very beautiful. 

And from here on out, I will definitely always be a big fan of America's pastime, the beautiful game of baseball. Go Pirates!