As I sit here and type this update, the sweetest answer to the prayers of MANY people is laying here beside me napping away. The whole story still brings tears to my eyes and overwhelms me!

Our last update was in August of 2016 when we announced that we had finally completed all the paperwork and home study. We had been approved to go on the waiting list, and that began the “official” waiting period. During that time, we could feel the prayers of our family and friends. It was a long wait, but we only got antsy and anxious a few times. I think the wait may have been harder on some of you than it was on us!

A lot has happened in our lives in the past 2.5 months, and it has been so hard to not scream it off the rooftop. Due to the nature of adoption, we have had to wait to share the story until the appropriate time. It is so much easier to tell it than to write it, so I hope I can do it justice with my words.

The first year of the wait, I lived in a constant state of making sure there was a “Plan B” (for school, VBS, vacation, …) in case the baby came before whatever was coming up. As we wrapped up the first year on the waiting list, God opened my eyes to how much energy I had spent trying to make sure there was always a plan B, and how it didn’t help at all. He helped me see that I needed to trust Him with the timing. After all, he knew what our schedules looked like and what the schedules were of all the people who would be affected by our baby’s birth. Whenever it happened, it would not be a surprise to Him, and He would take care of all the details I had been worrying about.

We had talked many times, wondering what it would be like when we got “the call.” Nathan said it would happen when we least expected it. Well, he was right! On Sunday, September 17, we went to get groceries after church like we normally do. We were in line to check out at Sam’s Club when Joyce’s phone rang. It was Esther, our caseworker. We got out of line and tried to find a quiet spot in an aisle. We had Esther on speaker phone when she told us that we had been selected by a birthmother, that the baby was a girl, and she was due toward the end of October. It was definitely the most unexpected time, for sure!

We met with our birthmother’s caseworker the following day, and we got to meet her on Friday. We were so nervous for that meeting. I had prayed that by the time the meeting was over, it would feel like we had just been catching up with a friend. God heard and answered that prayer. She actually did remind us of one of our friends!

I had a few hours between work and our meeting time, and I was getting nervous. I got on Facebook to kill time and occupy my mind. The memory that popped up that day was from the year before. We had just received our adoption palm cards, and the status that day was a picture of the cards with a question asking who would help us pass them out. I’m sure God chuckled. A year to the date from that post, we were on our way to meet the young woman who had found us through ONE OF THOSE CARDS!

Those cards went out all over the country, but the one that worked was given out by our friend, Chrissy, who is a librarian at a local high school. Our birthmother’s little sister worked in the library, and she got one of our cards from Chrissy and gave it to her sister! When we met our birthmother, she was still carrying our card. She pulled it out of her wallet and told us that “we’ve been bonding for a while – you just didn’t know it yet.”

She had picked us out very early in her pregnancy. From the time she first met with her caseworker early in the summer, she said she wanted us! When she finally got to officially “choose” us, they gave her a stack of portfolios to look at. Her caseworker told us that she went through the stack until she found ours, pulled it out, read it, and said she wanted us. She chose a second and third choice (just in case it didn’t work out) just to humor them. They told her she could take them home and look at them with family and friends if she wanted. When she left, she only took ours. The caseworker told us that usually they will take the whole stack.

The next several weeks we were incredibly busy working to put the final touches on everything at home to make sure we were ready to bring home our sweetie. I also worked hard to get things ready for a long absence at school. What could have been an excruciatingly long wait flew right by. When we found out the due date, we could see how God had worked out the details that He said he would. Nathan’s co-worker was on sabbatical, and his first day back was on the day she was born, which allowed Nathan to be able to take some time off the first week of Elizabeth’s life. The amount of days between her birthday and the end of the semester ended up being almost exactly the number of days that I had saved up in sick leave over the years, and with the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays, I got a few extra weeks of maternity leave. God knew when the perfect time would be!

We always knew that adoption was what God was calling us to do. He had given the direction and provided the money to pay for it all. We had prayed for years about it, and we really had no idea what to expect when it happened. We knew that once she was born, there was a 48 hour waiting period before the birthmother could relinquish her rights. We imagined that it would be a tough and stressful time. We had no idea what it would look like at the hospital. We had prayed for years that we’d be able to develop a good relationship with our birthmother and for the process to go smoothly. Many of you had joined us in these prayers too, and God showed up in amazing ways to answer these prayers. He did more than we could have asked or imagined.

We knew that our birthmother was going to be induced on the day Elizabeth was born. She did not want us there at that point. She had said that she wanted a little time with the baby and for her family to have time with her too. We weren’t sure how much time that would be or if we’d get to meet her that day.

A little before noon, we got a text saying that she had been born. About 2:30, we got a call from Abby, our birthmother’s caseworker, saying that they were still on the Labor and Delivery wing and they were getting ready to move them over to the maternity wing. If we got there before the move happened, we could meet the baby now. If not, we’d have to wait till after 4:00, when quiet hours were over on the maternity wing. Of course, we got there ASAP!

We walked into the room, and our birthmother was still groggy from what ended up becoming an emergency c-section. Her mother was holding the baby. When we came in, she said excitedly, “Your mommy and daddy are here! Let’s go meet them!” Then she handed us Elizabeth and took pictures of us as we met our daughter. It was so surreal!

In the midst of that, a nurse said to me that she needed one of my wrists. She had a hospital band to put on it. I thought it was just so they’d know it was ok we were there. As she put it on my wrist, she said, “You all will be staying in Room 8.” I looked at Nathan to see if he heard that too, and then I looked at Abby. She looked as surprised as we did. We went from not being sure we’d be able to meet her that day to being able to stay at the hospital with her, which was a total surprise!

It turns out that they were waiting on us to get there, so they could move us all into our rooms at the same time! It’s good we didn’t wait. We went to the maternity hall with our birthmother. Nathan got to push the bassinet. When we got into the room, I was so intently looking at our baby that I didn’t notice the commotion going on in the room. There was a mouse in the hospital room, and there were at least 8 people in there who were all reacting to the mouse. Needless to say, she got moved to another room.

For the rest of that evening, friends and family of our birthmother came to visit, and we spent much of the time in her room meeting them and getting to know her a little better. It was so neat to see how many people love our little girl, even if they only got to be part of her life for a little while. When she was ready to go to bed, she wanted us to take the baby with us to our room since she couldn’t get up out of bed. We were given the privilege of taking care of her right from the beginning. Of course, not much sleep was had that night as we kept getting up to look at her and make sure she was still breathing (in between nurses visits).

The next day, when the nursing shifts changed, the night nurse brought the day nurse in to introduce us to her. Lo and behold, the day nurse was a friend from a church we attended when we started the adoption process. That was an answer to a prayer that we didn’t even know to pray! It was so nice to have someone there that we knew too. Belen took such good care of Elizabeth and us as well. We spent much of the day with our birthmother and met some more friends. She was relieved that they finally let her eat and sit up. She held Elizabeth on and off during the day, and they spent a little bit of time alone together. We got to keep her again that night.

The next morning is when the 48 hour waiting period would end. We spent some time with our birthmother and her family that morning, and we were in the room when she signed the paperwork. That morning brought the strangest mix of emotions. We were so excited because we’ve waited for what seems like forever to be parents, and we were scared to death (as any new parents would be). We were also heartbroken at the same time because we had come to love our birthmother and her family, and we knew that they were hurting. We know that her decision to place Elizabeth in our arms to love and raise was an exceptionally difficult one. It was a decision made out of love. She loved Elizabeth enough to sacrifice her own desires in order to do what was best for her daughter. We will be eternally grateful to her, and we are so thankful that her family was there to support her. By the time we said our goodbyes, it felt like we had all been friends forever, and it was so hard to say goodbye.

We had prayed for a good relationship with our birthmother, and God did so much more! We were able to form relationships with her family as well, which will only benefit Elizabeth down the road. They are all very supportive of the adoption, and lines of communication have remained open with all of them. We have also prayed that Elizabeth would always know that she is loved by her birth family, and because of our hospital experience, we can definitely tell her that is true.

Joyce’s parents arrived at the hospital shortly before we were discharged. We were so relieved that they were there to help us bring her home and to support us in those first few days of transition. Nathan’s parents came two weeks later. Her grandparents absolutely adore her. She has met several other family members and many friends in the month since she’s been home. We love that so many people are in her corner already!

One of the things we talked about often when we were filling out papers and doing fundraisers is that our child will come into this world a very well-loved child. So many people along the way have prayed for her, participated in fundraisers, donated items, labor and skills, and helped us in countless other ways. If you are still reading, chances are, you fall into one (or more) of these categories. We are so thankful that you allowed God to use you to help “Bring Baby Bachert Home!”