Weeks 1-4

We've now had Maryellis for a month! Crazy to believe how its flown by. The first 8 days we spent together as a family in Washington, which at the time it seemed to take forever to get home, but we count that time as a blessing. Those of you who know Matt and myself, well we are go-go-go kind of people....if we would have been home any sooner I know Matt would have been back to work right away. Rather, we were blessed with this time to allow bonding to set in. We were able to be in Seattle area as our own little family, no real schedule or "house/chores/cooking" responsibility. We stayed in West Seattle with (basically family) whom allowed us to truly be at home in their home.
We yearned to be home---never realizing at the time what God was creating for us, time to be still, adjust, and relax just us three.

Week 2: The morning we got the call we were allowed to cross the border to go home (you have to wait for both states, Washington & Oregon to agree on the Adoption placement before allowed to cross borders.) we were packed up and in the car within 30 minutes I kid you not! We felt so loved & welcomed when we got home by our family & friends.....granted we know everyone was just there to meet Maryellis. She had already grown & changed from just the first week in Washington....out of the newborn diapers, still wearing some newborn items of clothing, but just getting bigger!
We took that week at a full swing, from going to church at Ekklesia Springfield for her first time, walks with her "sister" Fisher, daddy's softball games, family dinners, 4th of July with friends,  errands with mom:Costco & Target, etc. This time in her life shes sleeping so much, making it fun & easy for me to just take her along with me! Maryellis is a big fan of baths, she gets them almost nightly followed by a bottle, some cuddle time, reading her a story and family bed time prayers. Its a sweet time that is so precious to us.

Week 3: We still had friends who were yet to meet Maryellis & having the occasional visitors here and there. Were beyond blessed by all the family we have around us, giving us the flexibility to have "baby sitters" /or just the perfect aunties to go on walks and hikes with!  We took Maryellis to  Ekklesia High School group, we introduced her and shared her with the students. It was a bitter sweet night, we were there for our last time as leaders--taking this time to step down and enjoy being a family. Maryellis also went to her first wedding Friday night and Saturday to the Price family barn dinner/dance. That Saturday morning when I went to get Maryellis up for her feeding, the sweetest thing happened, she was wide awake,  I said "good morning baby girl" and she looked over to me from her crib with the biggest smile, tears welled in my eyes, for she recognized me, her mamma- a feeling I have dreamt about my whole life.

Week 4: I have also begun doing hair some on the side for family & friends which has been fun  for me to do. Its an art I still love, blessed by the flexibility and the small extra money that is coming in from it. Not to mention the connection with people I love, its a fun little break in my day!
Maryellis had her first "play-date" with Madeline, our friends Kyle & Rebecca's daughter that is just 9 days older then Maryellis. Granted there wasn't much playing going on, one would fall asleep and the other would wake her up, etc. Rebecca and I had a wonderful time talking, interacting and just being new mammas together! Maryellis went to her second wedding this weekend, and was quite the bell of the ball, we didn't know many people before going to the wedding, but I think had met most by the end of the night. It was wonderful! Maryellis is so much more interactive and responsive these days, she knows our voices and seems to really be settling in well. I love the "cooing" noises that she makes, the happy faces, confused, playing with her tongue, and even the face she makes right before she cries, "muah".  She is overall a very calm baby, happy most of the time, sleeps great....shes 7 weeks old and time isn't slowing down!  I know this infant stage is short, overnight she grows and changes---trying to soak in as much time with her as we can.

 We are beyond blessed for our little miracle baby, thank you all for your prayers & support throughout this year. Cannot imagine our life without her!

Meet Maryellis

How are story has drastically changed in the last few weeks.

Here we are thinking that we had lost this beautiful baby girl we thought was once ours. Little did we know that Lord had different plans for how our story would unravel.

The two weeks we spent the time grieving our loss, trying to move on and keep trusting the Lord. I felt such a strong connection to her when we met the day of her birth, May 30, 2013. After loosing her yes I was heartbroken, but I knew that she was  the little girl I was committed to praying for. Praying that she would be cared for, loved, and come to know the Lord in her lifetime, changing that family forever.

I was on a morning run one Saturday morning, praying and thinking about baby girl and how she was doing, for now she was two weeks old. I thought, "Lord, I wonder if we were in Seattle in ten years, walking around downtown, and we passed by her, would we recognize her? Would she be "familiar" with us?" I prayed for her and continued on my run. 

We went for a bike ride out in Cottage Grove that afternoon, it was Matt's birthday weekend, and we had a fun filled day ahead. Coming home we received a phone call from our Case Worker, she had been reached by the BM Case Worker, inquiring if we still wanted to adopt baby girl. We were so taken back by this phone call, I knew that there are those "stories", BM changes her mind after a few weeks, so on and so forth. I never wanted to put my "hope" in that possibility, we knew that we needed to move on---not dwelling on something we didn't think would happen. We told her we wanted to talk about it, pray about it and that we would contact her the next day.

My heart dropped, could this be, are we really being asked to be placed with this beautiful baby girl again? What if they back out again? .....But then I remembered that God wouldn't take us through something like this again if it wasn't to continue to change us.

At church the next day, it was Fathers Day. We had a guest teacher that morning, who spoke on Fathers, God as our Heavenly Father, how he adopted us as his children. It struck a nerve in the both of us, as we had just had this phone call inquiring us to be placed with baby girl. We felt called to her, that she should be our daughter. After much time praying, discussion and trusting God, we told our Case Worker we were wanting to be placed with her. (There had also been mention that the BP didn't want us to change her name, but they thought it was ok for us add to it.)

We were told that placement would happen Friday June 21st up in Seattle at 11:00am. You have no idea the excitement yet, the fear we had in our hearts. The fear, would they back out...again? Would they change their minds over the weekend before "rights were terminated"? We put our full trust in the Lord, moving forward to get our baby girl.

Friday morning was an early one, we left Eugene at 4:00am, the car ride was pretty quite the drive up. We prayed, and had some discussion of what to expect and "our plan"...but the majority of the time we were quite. It was nice, we both needed that time, of just silence.

We got into town early and headed to our destination of where the placement was taking place. A Starbucks, can you believe it? That was what they had requested. I can only imagine what everyone was thinking throughout our time there, what an event to see. Matt and I were able to see both the Case Workers, sign some papers and ask questions before the BP had arrived.

When the BP arrived (as well as the BM grandmother) she immediately handed baby girl off to me. Oh my heart was so full, this beautiful baby girl, her full locks of hair, was sleeping in my arms, and she was to be ours. We all sat down, had an update on how baby girl was doing, how the BP were doing, everyone was doing over all great. I cannot believe the strength they all have. We discussed the "openness plan" what that would look like, and how we want the future and such to go. We all agreed, feeling very comfortable with one another. Both the BP apologized for what had happened at the hospital the day she was born. We had a very intimate conversation, they shared with us the overwhelming effect that took place, and the support that they now have from both their families to place her with us. We told them, we forgive them, yet we are so happy that this was a hard decision for them, that now they know and believe what they are doing is right. The BM grandmother even shared what a gift this is all around, for us and for baby girl. We all laughed, cried, took photos of all of us and overall had a nice time. It was bittersweet for them, but they were strong through the end.
           
               ................................................................................................................................

We spent had to spend eight days in Washington before we were able to come home. It took time for all the paperwork to get assembled from various places (since we weren't placed with her directly from the hospital.) Parental rights were terminated at the courts the following Wednesday, and we got the phone call we could cross the border to go home Saturday June 29th! It felt amazing to head home, we were blessed with a wonderful time in Washington bonding together as a family, but were eager to get into the nest of our own.

So yes, we come to a close, its final she is ours! Praise Jesus! Thank you all for your prayers and support! I will continue to do blog updates and share photos. For this journey is not over yet!

Please meet our daughter: Maryellis Adsen Tyler Marie Imlach.
Adsen (Name both BP agreed and liked, pronounced Addison)
Tyler (BF middle name)
Marie (Family name from BM)

Yes its a long name! Her school, medical so on and so forth will be Maryellis Adsen Imlach. Shes a doll, and we couldn't be more blessed by her. Thank you Lord for the gift she is.