Pictures as promised

Here are some random pictures taken in the last week! Enjoy.

Settling In

Well, we are settling in to our lives as a family of 5 instead of 4. It's hard to believe that a month ago we knew nothing of what would transpire and how our lives would change so quickly. It's been so amazin to see God's hand at work. I don't know why I am newly amazed everytime I see God working in our lives. I just am!
Gabe is doing well. He is still sleeping for about 5 hours between feedings at night, so we have not been too sleep deprived:)) Anna is a wonderful little mom, and Jude is quite the big brother. They are so proud of the newest member of our family.
I will post some new pics in the next few days. In the meantime, I just want to say "thank you" to all who have prayed for our family and for our little guy! I know that your prayers have brought us to this point, and, for that, I am forever grateful!
Have a wonderful evening. I'm going try to get some sleep before it's time to eat again! Good night.

IT'S 5 O CLOCK SOMEWHERE

In our case, it is 12 midnight in Georgia, which means that the revocation period has ended. Gabriel James Guidry is our little boy. All legal risk involved is over, and now we just have to go through the system to make the adoption official. I feel that we can breath a huge sigh of relief. God is so good! Thank you all for your continued prayers and support. We can now move forward as a family of 5! How sweet the sound:))

HOME SWEET HOME!

We are home, we are home, we are home! We arrived home Friday night around 6PM with family members waiting for us in the driveway (we love you, Granny!). My mom made dinner for us, and we had a good ole fashion family party! Gabriel got to meet Jude and Anna for the first time. Anna wanted to hold him all night (she is such a good little mommy). Jude, on the other hand, kept his distance while everyone was here. After everyone left, though, he went immediately to Gabriel, loved on him, and asked Lee if we could adopt another child after Gabriel:)) One at a time, Jude!

The 3 kids (and one of the dogs) slept together Friday night, as you can see in the picture below! How sweet!

Saturday, I unpacked and re-organized our lives, and today we went to Mass and went to the Guidry family reunion for the afternoon. I can't tell you how good it is to be home, and to share our little guy with our family and friends.

We continue to thank God for this newest blessing in our family and for your continued support and prayers. Enjoy the new pictures!

ON THE ROAD AGAIN

We are on our way home! We just left Atlanta. Mrs. Bobbie made sure our bellies were full with a delicious breakfast before we left. I was sad to say "goodbye". We definitely have an extended family now here in Atlanta. God bless them! We can't wait to introduce Gabriel to Anna, Jude, our family and all of our friends. We'll see you when we get home!

Louisiana, HERE WE COME!!

Yes, that is right! We received notification this morning that we can come home! Oh, how good that sounds! Lee is riding up to Atlanta with his sister (who was coming this weekend anyway), and we will drive back home tomorrow. Please continue to pray for all us during this revocation period (expires Monday at midnight) and for safe travels. God bless you all!

A Quiet Day

Nothing much has happened today. Gabriel was a little fussy this morning, but I can't complain. He has slept in 4 to 5 hour increments during the night and falls right back to sleep after he eats. I'm really being spoiled:)) I've gotten some funny reactions the last few days. A frazzled young mother asked me today how old Gabe was. When I told her "1 week", she said "WOW, you look great!" I hesitated, but then I told her that he is adopted. She smiled with a huge smile and big sigh of relief and said, "thanks so much for telling me that. I feel much better now!!!!". People are funny.

Hope everything is good back home. Thanks so much for your kind emails and prayers. It's so good to know how much everyone loves us back home. We can't wait to be back.

Enjoy the pics taken today. The lady in one of the pics is Mrs. Bobbie Pope holding Gabe. She says she'll miss us when we are gone. God bless her! She has been an angel.

Good night!

One state down, one to go!!!!!

Just a quick update......I got a phone call from our agency this morning. The state of Georgia received our packet this morning and it was approved 3 hours later. This is almost unheard of!!!! We are so excited. This means that our packet will be off to Louisiana today to arrive there in the morning. Once Louisiana approves our packet, our agency will be notified and we are then free to go home! So, keep the prayers coming! It is looking like we'll be home by the weekend!

All systems are a go!

Well, Gabriel had a good night again last night. He went 4.5 hours between 1 feeding in the middle of the night. I am getting good rest, which is really nice (and unusual)! He had his checkup at the pediatrician's office today. I arrived prepared with the excel spreadsheet that my husband set up which lists every feeding, poop, and pee pee since he's been in our care. The pediatrician was quite impressed (so she said)! He is a perfectly healthy little boy and is doing great.
Our paperwork will arrive in Georgia's office tomorrow morning. The agency said today that they are anticipating us to be able to travel home by the end of the week. YIPPEE!! Keep the prayers coming. They are working!!
The Pope's continue to take really good care of us, and, of course, are spoiling Gabriel greatly.
Many of you have asked about the picture of the girl with Gabriel on the last post. The girl in the picture is Lindsey Pope. She is my nephew's fiancee. It is her parent's home that we are staying at. Did I mention that they are getting married in 3 weeks here in Atlanta?? What a fun time! I am enjoying seeing them wrap up last minute wedding details.

This picture was taken a few days ago. We were washing his hair. He loved it!
Of course, thank you for all of your prayers. God continues to take care of us in so many ways. He is so good. I keep pinching myself. We are so blessed!
Please continue to pray for us. Please pray specifically for our return home quickly. Also, please pray for the surrender process to continue to go smoothly. The birthparents have until next Monday night to revoke their surrenders. Our case worker continues to reassure me, though, that they are very comfortable and at peace with their decision and have not waivered with their choice. She does not anticipate any complications or suprises, but, again, I will feel much better when this period expires.
God bless you all!

Just chillin'

Last night was a better night--MUCH BETTER! Gabriel woke up at 12AM to feed. Lee offered to take that shift, not realizing that he would not wake up again until 5!! That's right. He slept for 5 hours! Lauren, I took your advice and let him sleep in his carseat. It obviously worked! Lee left early this morning to fly back home. We wanted him to spend the day with the kids swim at the Invitational. I think they, and he, were happy to see each other.

Gabriel and I, on the other hand, had a very lazy day. He slept most of the day, and I washed some clothes, made some breakfast, and just enjoyed the moment.

Hopefully, we will have another noneventful night, especially since I will be by myself:((

We are doing well overall. Besides missing the kids and missing being home, our stay in Atlanta has been great. The paperwork extravaganza should begin tomorrow, so we anxiously await news that we are cleared to travel back home. There is a small (very small) chance that we could get clearance this Friday. Please pray for such a miracle to occur!

Thank you all for your prayers. I know things have been so smooth because of you. Enjoy the pics from today.

OOOOOO KKKKKKK

Sleep all day, cry all night. This guy did not say a word all day yesterday, did not sleep a wink last night, and has not MOVED since the sun came up today. BUT....we'll take it! All systems are go (as indicated by the 4 or 5 outfits we went through last night) and he is doing very well at feeding time. He is really alert and tracking with both eyes (only at night of course), and already knows the sounds of our voices. We can get him to stop crying for 5 seconds with some words of encouragement from across the room as we negotitate on whose turn it is to get out of bed. We will keep you posted. Thanks again to all, the flood of prayers and support continues non stop. God bless you all. Here is a pic of his LSU hat! Geaux Tigers!

At last!!!!

After a short ride in the hospital cart (there are procedures you know), we are out of the hospital as of about 11am eastern today. We decided to keep the name Gabriel James. We are just enjoying our little boy and spoiling him. We have Skyped some of our family so they could see him on the Webcam. Now we just settle in, get back in the mode of parenting a new born, and wait for the governments of Georgia and Louisiana to process our paperwork. Thanks again for your prayers love and support. Here are more pictures of us leaving and our social worker Carla and one relaxing at home(the Pope's house).

Almost there...

Well, it has been a long day, to say the least. We stared at our baby boy through the window the nursery for most of the day. After 2 hours of being there this morning, the nurses asked if we would like him to be put "closer to the window" for us to see. Before that, we had to admire him from afar (about 10 feet away). At about 4:30PM, all of the paperwork for both the birthparents and us were complete. So, at about 5PM, the staff gave us permission to enter the nursery and FINALLY hold him and love on him! We were ecstatic (and exhausted) by that point. We held him, took some pictures, and just enjoyed finally getting to hold our son.

The pediatrician says he is perfect and will be discharged tomorrow morning.

Many people have asked what the process is from this point. The birthparents have 10 days to revoke their surrenders. They are firm on their decision to adopt out and always have been. Our social worker feels very comfortable with their decision, but technically they still have 10 days to revoke. We ask for continued prayers during the next several days.

Finally, many of you have also asked for his name. We will decide for certain on a name tomorrow. We have a name that we both love. The birthmother frowned at our suggestion, so we decided to sleep on our decision.

Thank you so much for your prayers and support. Thank you, Kay, for taking care of Anna and Jude. Thank you to the Pope's in Atlanta for being such wonderful hosts. Thanks to mom and dad for taking Jude and Anna next week. Thanks to Nanny Pat for getting our mail. Thanks to all of you who have helped us in so many ways. We love you all. God bless and enjoy our handsome little boy!

Finall....Oh no, more wating.

Well, a healthy baby boy was delivered at 1230 today. He was 8lbs, 10.8oz, 21" long and has a FULL head of black hair. He has slept most of the day so far. We will try to post some pics with this if we can figure out how. The hospital staff will not let us see him yet, so he is resting in the nursery for now and we can only press our faces against the glass like kids at the candy store. We should get the required paperwork done tomorrow afternoon and be able to take him home then.

in the thick of it

Well,Amber has had her epidural and is resting comfortably. Her contractions are 1 1/2 minutes apart. We got to meet she and James, the birthfather. They are really nice and friendly. We are just waiting for more word. We'll update as soon as we know something.

The countdown begins

We have finally arrived in Atlanta and are settled with our gracious hosts. May God bless the Pope family many many times! We will try to get one last full night of sleep before the feedings begin. As soon as pics are available tomorrow, we hope to have some up. Thanks for your continued prayers and support.

Off we go.....

Well, we are off to Atlanta. From the luggage estimation, it looks like we'll be there for at least 6 months:)). I forgot how much you need to pack for a baby! We should be there this evening around 7. We appreciate your continued prayers. God bless.

Induction scheduled!

So, we have plans for delivery! Amber will be induced on Wednesday morning around 7. An ultrasound was done today, and everything looks great. We will be leaving for Atlanta tomorrow morning. Please continue to pray for the baby, our family, and everyone involved. We are so excited. I think I may start walking to Atlanta tonight to get a head start!!!!!!!!! We'll update tomorrow from the road.

And we wait......

Yes, we are still waiting for the big call!  I spoke to our case worker this morning.  Amber is doing fine.  She is relaxing this week and ready to have a baby, but, obviously, the baby is not ready to come!!!  She has an appointment on Monday, so we continue to wait..... As much as I'm ready to meet our little boy, I am enjoying this week of anticipation.  Please pray for Jude and Anna.  I worry about them missing us while we are gone.  Thanks again for all of your prayers!  

Still waiting.....

We spoke to the case worker this evening. She spoke to Amber, the birthmother. Amber had some contractions this morning, but that is it:(( The kids ask everytime the phone rings if it "is her"! We have our bags packed and are ready to leave at a moment's notice. We'll keep you updated! Hopefully next time we can update from the road!

Here we go!

We have decided to start a blog because, well, we are quite overwhelmed at this point! Our adoption journey is in fast forward right now, and we can't keep up!
We started our journey about 3 years ago. Realizing we could not have any other children, we decided to grow our family through adoption. We have had highs and lows through the last 3 years. Now, though, I think we are finally moving forward!
We got a phone call from our agency on Saturday afternoon letting us know that a birthmother had contacted the agency. She was due the next day (yesterday), and she had decided to place her baby up for adoption. The agency wanted to know if we were prepared to travel "at a moment's notice"!! Since we have been waiting for 3 years, "at a moment's notice" was music to our ears. She and her boyfriend met with a social worker that evening, looked at 5 different families, and decided to place their child with us! We were able to talk on the phone to her yesterday. They seem to be very intelligent and sure of their plan. All I can say is "WOW"!
She met with her MD today. He wants her to either go into labor on her own, or he will induce next Tuesday.
So, we wait for the BIG phone call! Thanks for all of your support and prayers during our adoption journey. Anna and Jude jump everytime the phone rings. They can't wait to welcome a baby brother (did I mention we are having a BOY?)!! We are excited to share this part of our journey with you! Stay tuned....I think the best is yet to come!