Gotcha Day #4

Yesterday we celebrated our sweet, yet fiesty, Marin Kate. Four years ago yesterday, we went to court and the judge declared Marin officially ours. Gotcha days are very special days around our house. Marin got her own cookie cake, which she is so nicely sharing with the family, and when all of this weather goes away she wants to get her nails painted at the mall.
Here she is yesterday with her cake.

And here she is on her first gotcha day, 4 years ago, was she not the cutest thing ever??!!

Marin's story:
When Cooper was 20 months old, Ryan and I decided we were ready to apply for adoption again in hopes that we would get a baby when he was about 2 and half. The re-application papers came in the mail from Baptist Children's Home one day and a few days later I get a call from a friend. Heritage Family Services, the agency she adopted her little girl from 14 months early, had called her and were looking for a family who was open to adopting a baby of a different race. They had a birth mom was due in 4 days and they had no one who was interested. I hung up the phone and called Ryan immediately. We weren't mentally prepared for this, but had at least been thinking about it. That week Ryan and I had both been on campus at OU with a pro-life group, and Ryan was actually in the car on his way home from OSU for the same thing. We had more than one person ask us, well who's going to adopt these babies? We felt so good to be able to say, "We will, in fact our son is adopted." That got them to shut up pretty quickly, but now, just days later it was a reality. The thought of a new baby excited me, but also scared me half to death!! Cooper was still a baby, and we had not clue how we could pay for the adoption fees, but we agreed to call the agency and tell them we were interested in finding out more information. After talking and praying we felt led to tell them we would like to be considered and we just knew we'd have to trust God. If this baby was supposed to be with us, He work everything out, if not, then it wouldn't work out. I emailed a few pictures of our family and a birth mother letter and a few hours later we got "the call" that said that Marin's birth mom, "L", had chosen us to be the parents of her daughter (we didn't know the sex until this call) and she was scheduled for a c-section in Tulsa 3 days later! I was beside myself, a baby girl! I could finally buy bows! However, I only bought 1 outfit, just in case. That's the hard part about the adoption journey, you have to be prepared for the best and the worst.
We drove to Tulsa Monday night, thinking that Marin would be born Tuesday morning; however, that wasn't the case. Tuesday morning our social worker called and said that "L" was not on the schedule for that morning and they couldn't get ahold of her. They went by her apartment and could hear a vacuum cleaner, but no answer. They said they'd let us know if they heard from her, but we could probably go on back home. With very heavy hearts, we headed home and I went back to work for the rest of the day. In the middle of recess my phone rang and it was the agency again. "L" called them back and they had her at the hospital. She didn't hear the phone or the knocks earlier in the day. Evidently, she didn't know she had to be scheduled for a c-section, but knew she was going to have one because she had previously had 2. They took her to the hospital and she sat and waited until 10:30 that night when they did her c-section. We headed back to Tulsa, not sure what to think, and stayed with Ryan's parents. Around midnight, I got the call that my baby girl had been born, 5 lbs. 11 oz., 18 and 3/4 in., and healthy. We could see her the next day. Wednesday morning, April 5th, we got up and headed to the hospital.
It was such a special time with "L" and our sweet baby girl. "L" stayed in the hospital for 3 days, and wanted Marin with her while she was there, so we visited her a lot during those 3 days. I'm so thankful for those 3 days to get to know her, as we haven't seen her since. We still send pictures yearly and a letter to the agency who gets them to her, but no direct contact. I'm hoping we can see her again one day and let Marin meet her. Marin asks a lot of questions about her and wants to meet her, but right now "L" is just not ready. I pray for her frequently and thank God for her life and her decision to give life to our sweet princess. What would the world be like without our Marin Kate? I don't even want to think about it!

Here's Marin with "L", she was so tiny!

Cooper has always been such a good big brother.

We love our sweet girl.