Five - Part 2

Today is a significant day for our family. Five years ago at approximately 4:30pm mountain standard time, we were handed a little baby in a white blanket. We were in Idaho Falls with freezing temperatures, wide-eyed, and shocked that a wonderful birth mom would actually trust us to raise this child. More on that in a minute.

On September 12, 2003, we were called in to meet with our adoption caseworker. It had already been an eventful week because I found out a day earlier that I had managed to pass the Oregon State Bar and would be sworn in as an attorney. As we sat nervously around the conference table, our casework informed us that we had been chosen by a birth mother, who was having a baby boy due in December. Over the course of the next few months, we wrote letters, we sent pictures, and we had a face to face visit with our birth mother. As time went on we grew more and more excited. We were buying car seats and strollers and all of the stuff that we were told we needed to have a baby.

We got a call from our caseworker on November 19 that our birth mother may go into labor soon and that we should start making arrangements to meet in Idaho Falls. Buddy was born on November 21 around 8:30am via cesarean section. He was three weeks early and weighed all of 5 pounds 13 ounces. We made arrangements, flew into Salt Lake City and drove to Idaho Falls. We had arranged to stay with a family that my cousin knew because we couldn't afford a hotel. Then on November 25, 2003, we were placed with our oldest son. Because of the laws regarding transporting adopted children across state lines, we were required to notify and have the State of Oregon sign off on allowing us to bring him back to Oregon. This was right before Thanksgiving and we had pretty much resigned ourselves to the fact that we would be spending Thanksgiving in Idaho Falls. But by some miracle, all of the paperwork made it through and we were actually able to drive back to Utah to spend Thanksgiving with my family.

Obviously, there are a lot more details that I could go into as well as describing the thoughts and feelings we had. I'm not going to do that now. I can say that so much has changed in the last five years for us. Buddy, as crazy and energetic as he is, has been an absolute joy to be around and try to raise. His love and zest for life is contagious. His sense of humor always brings a smile to everyone around him. His intellect and command of the English language make him a force to be dealt with. His love of music, outdoors, and animals is unparalleled. We can't wait to see where life takes him. Happy Placement Day, Buddy.