A lot has happened in our home in the past three weeks.
We will do our very best to capture the events that transpired in the past few weeks and days!
Let me introduce you to our miracle:
Hannah Grace Meyer
Born: January 9, 2012 at 9:01 PM
7 lbs 1 oz and 20 inches long
Two words: Pure Perfection.
We are parents.
I am a mommy.
Josh is the most adorable daddy in the history of mankind.
About three weeks ago we got a phone call from Josh's aunt. She was hesitant to tell us that their was a woman at her school who had a young girl living with her that was expecting. The girl, who we will call Summer, was interested in placing her baby for adoption and wanted to know if we were interested. Josh's aunt had told a friend at work about our struggles in trying to start a family and had asked for prayer for us. This news made it through the grapevine, and our longing for a baby was just the solution that Summer was looking for. She is very young and wanted someone to give her baby the life she knew she could not provide.
We prayed for a full 24 hours before sitting down and calling Summer. Her mom answered our call and after about 20 minutes of talking to her, we decided to meet in person. We were excited, but cautions because we were not sure if this was even a possibility.
My best friend Grace came to town the next day and with her help, we decided to call an adoption agency and see if there was any way that they could get involved. We spoke to a case worker who could only mutter 3 words, "This is remarkable."
After several phone calls, we decided that going with an agency would be in our best interest and in the best interest of Summer. She had no idea how the world of adoption works and having a social worker to sit down with her and talk everything over would be and is the best thing for her. We were overnighted the paperwork and began the long, daunting process of filling out forms.
In the meantime, we had Christmas. You wouldn't know it was Christmas in our home aside from the tree in our living room and the Fresh Balsam candle burning into all hours of the night. Our home was filled with paperwork, lots of coffee, Diet Coke, and Pandora. We worked on our paperwork for about 18 hours. Each of us answered 48 essay questions ranging from our views on discipline to what our physical life is like. Our lives became an open book and privacy was quickly checked at the door.
We flew home to celebrate Bekah Jenkins becoming a Palmer when she married my brother JJ. We also were able to ring in the New Year in classic Palmer style. Josh and I sipped our bubbly, confident that 2012 would be sensational and very thankful that 2011 was coming to a close. We have learned so much from our nearly two years of longings for a child, and we will never forget those lessons, but the hope inside of us began to brew the closer we got to our babies due date.
We flew home after a lightning-quick-trip to Tucson and began our home study. We were interviewed together and separately. We were finger printed. Oh, and we scraped together $10,000 to pay the adoption fees. We started calling our close friends and family members to share the good news. Everyone was shocked, but overwhelmed by God's goodness.
And then we waited. The last week has felt like an entire year as we waited for her arrival. My mom flew into town and we spent hours at the fabric store and wandering around Target's baby department trying to pass the time while also trying not to drain our bank account. I felt like a teenager again, waiting for a boy to call me.
And then it happened. It finally happened. I called Josh and work and screamed, "SHE IS HERE! SHE WAS BORN! COME HOME!"
Josh flew home from work in record time and we packed the car and started the longest hour and 30 minute drive of my life down to the south side of town to meet our baby. We walked in the hospital room and everything went hazy around me. All I could see was a bundle wrapped in white with a tuft of hair sticking out.
As they handed me my daughter, all my limbs went numb and yet, I have never felt more alive. My heart swooned as I wept with tears of great joy. My whole world became right as I snuggled her in close. Her smell is intoxicating. He lips are a perfect shade of red. Her blond tufts of hair are pure silk. Pure perfection were the only words swirling on my tongue. Pure Joy.
And today she is ours...papers were signed this morning. Summer has been so sweet through this whole process and now, she gets to go back to being a kid. I know her heart is still very much broken and a lot of healing will need to take place in the next few years, but I am so thankful for her and for her choice to guard this precious life inside of her for 9 months. I cannot think of a more selfless thing to do than to deny your own feelings and give your baby up so that she can have a better life. I will always love Summer and their will always be a special place for her in our hearts.
And now I am going to go snuggle my sweet girl. I am going to kiss her for 7 straight days and love on her with my whole heart. Hannah Grace Meyer- You are the baby we have prayed for. You are the sweet angel God has had in heaven specifically for me. It must have broken God's heart to say no to me over and over again each month as I begged him for a child, but he had you in mind and had to say no to me so that he could say YES to you. I have been on my knees begging God for you, just like Hannah prayed for Samuel in 1 Samuel 1. By God's Grace you are ours. Hannah means Grace in Hebrew. You are our double portion of Grace. Praise God from whom all blessings flow.
1 Samuel 2:1-10
Hannah's Prayer
1 Then Hannah prayed and said:
“My heart rejoices in the LORD;
in the LORD my horn[a] is lifted high.
My mouth boasts over my enemies,
for I delight in your deliverance.
2 “There is no one holy like the LORD;
there is no one besides you;
there is no Rock like our God.
3 “Do not keep talking so proudly
or let your mouth speak such arrogance,
for the LORD is a God who knows,
and by him deeds are weighed.
4 “The bows of the warriors are broken,
but those who stumbled are armed with strength.
5 Those who were full hire themselves out for food,
but those who were hungry are hungry no more.
She who was barren has borne seven children,
but she who has had many sons pines away.
6 “The LORD brings death and makes alive;
he brings down to the grave and raises up.
7 The LORD sends poverty and wealth;
he humbles and he exalts.
8 He raises the poor from the dust
and lifts the needy from the ash heap;
he seats them with princes
and has them inherit a throne of honor.
“For the foundations of the earth are the LORD’s;
on them he has set the world.
9 He will guard the feet of his faithful servants,
but the wicked will be silenced in the place of darkness.
“It is not by strength that one prevails;
10 those who oppose the LORD will be broken.
The Most High will thunder from heaven;
the LORD will judge the ends of the earth.
“He will give strength to his king
and exalt the horn of his anointed.
