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.
           
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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.