24 days!

Yep, that's right! Only 24 days until Dallas' birth mom is induced and we will get to meet our sweet baby boy! It's still so hard to believe and I think I'm still in shock.

We've never been this close!! 

Dallas' room is pretty much all together just waiting on a few finishing touches and his bag is packed just waiting anxiously for the day!

(Reminder, I'm referring to Dallas' birth mom as D in order to respect her privacy)

This past week D and I were able to catch up after her doctors appointment. She and Dallas are doing great. Together with the doctor, D picked March 20th as her induction date. Chris and I will go to Louisiana on March 19th so that we can spend some time with her before the big day. I can not wait to give her the biggest hug and feel Dallas move in her tummy. It is impossible to truly express the love that I hold in my heart for D. The gift that she is preparing to give us will FOREVER be one of the best gifts ever given! 

I love that she refers to Dallas as MY first baby and when we talked last she reassured me by saying, 

"I know you guys are probably still nervous but I really don't want you to be. You have to understand that he is coming home with you! He is your baby!"

So what happens after Dallas is born?!?!

D said she wants to hold him and explain that she love him and it is because she loves him that we are his parents. After that she said, "He is yours!" 

She has to wait 72 hours after he is born (not including his actual birthday) to sign over her rights so technically we will be taking him to the hotel with us before he is even officially ours. Once her right are signed over we will have to stay in Louisiana until all the paperwork goes through. We have been told that can take up to 10-14 business days.

Once all that does go through we get to come HOME!

This coming Thursday we will be talking with her again after her weekly check up and we will get to see one LAST sonogram before we get to see him in person! 

We have a few more fundraisers going on between now and March 19th in order to help us meet our goal of at least $30,000 to cover all the costs of the adoption; we're about $2,600 away right now ...

1. THIS Saturday, Feb 28th will be our Pancake Breakfast 

2. "It's all about Dallas" T-shirt, hoodie, & onesie

All orders & payments are DUE by March 6th!!!

3.Jamberry Nail Party!

4. As always a donation can be made on our You Caring page!

More updated coming later in the week :)

Younique

Check out our newest fundraiser ...

Younique!

Click on the link above and everything you need to know will be on the website. This fundraiser ends on Sat. Feb 21st and a percentage of the order will go to help bring baby Dallas home. 

We are still about $4,100 away from our goal of $30,000 to cover his adoption fees. 

Special thanks to Traci Millen for opening this fundraiser up to us. She's the mother of 2 kiddos because of adoption; she has walked in my shoes and has been very encouraging! 

Skype

Thursday afternoon Chris and I got to Skype with Dallas' birth mom! It was amazing to be able to see her, talk with her and get to know her. Earlier that afternoon she went to a doctors appointment for a check up and she showed us the sonogram pictures of him. She also let us know that she has been saving all the picture from her sonograms for us to put in his baby book!

Here is his sweet, PERFECT profile ...

Right now baby and mom are doing great. 

The doctor said he has hair, everything is measuring perfect, he weighs about 5 lbs and they watched his little tummy go up and down as he practiced taking breaths (the doctor said he's an overachiever)!

Chris and I were very nervous yet SUPER excited to talk with her. We were praying that when we were done we would have a peace about it and honestly I do not think there are words to explain the OVERWHELMING peace that we have. 

I can see God's hands ALL over this! 

Here are some highlights from our conversation:

1. She said when she saw our book she knew we were the ones. We were real and the fact that we have tattoos, and he played in a band and I have my nose pierced was cool because that made us more relate-able to her. 

2. She wants us there when he is born. Chris (and Amy, camera in hand) will wait in the hallway/waiting room and I (most likely) will be able to be in the delivery room with her! I will get to see him take his first breath and hear his first cry! (I'm crying while typing this just thinking about it!!!!)

3. She will be going back to the doctor in 2 weeks and at that time they are going to set a date to have her induced so that we can go down the day before and be ready. We will Skype after that appointment to work out the other details. 

4. She LOVES the name we picked out for him and the story behind it. When we told her she started to cry and said, "Awe, he has a name!" Later on in the conversation she said, "The wait is almost over, Dallas will be in your arms in about 6 weeks!"

5. After he is all cleaned up he will be assigned his own room in the hospital and Chris and I will stay with him in that room until he is discharged. From there we will go to our hotel and wait for all the official paperwork to go through. 

Side note:

She has to wait 72 hours after he is born (not including his actual birthday) to sign over her rights so technically we will be taking him to the hotel with us before he is even officially ours. Once her right are signed over we will have to stay in Louisiana until all the paperwork goes through. We have been told and that can take up to 10-14 business days. Once all that does go through we get to come HOME!

6. We do plan on meeting with her at the agency the day we head back to Texas to let her hold him and tell him good bye one last time. 

7. We are going to send letters and pictures up to the agency every 3/4 months and if she wants an update she can go up there to get the letters. She was so happy to know that we NEVER plan on keeping it a secret that he was adopted and if and when the time does come that he wants to reach out to her we would not stand in the way of that!

8. She saw the pictures that I had taken of the nursery and the things we have already done around the house to get everything ready for him. She kept saying how happy she is that he is already loved by so many people and that it was just more of a confirmation that this was the best choice to make!

9. She asked about our adoption journey and as we were telling her about all the other times things just didn't work out and everything we had done to get to this point she kept reassuring us that he WAS going to be coming home with US! She said I know it's not going to be easy but it's what is going to happen!

Then she said something that I will remember for the rest of my life...

"I love him but I honestly feel like I'm your surrogate, he's not mine, he has always been yours!"

Like I said at the beginning it was AMAZING being able to get to know her and I am so anxious to meet my sweet baby boy!!!

Now that you are all up to date I will leave you with this ...

We NEED your help!

We are still about $5,100.00 away from our the $30,000! 

Here are 3 ways you can help us bring our baby boy home ...

1. Just Love Coffee:

click on the link then click Shop & Support

We will get a percentage of what is purchased.

Click here for the details.

2. Pancake Breakfast:

Mark your calendars!!

3. Make a donation on our You Caring page!

Last but not least I will leave you with this super cute pic of Dallas giving us all a thumbs up