magical...

We had our match meeting with an awesome birth-mom today. Her mom was there too, so we met birth-grandma as well. We don't know the outcome of the meeting yet (matched or not matched) since birth-dad wasn't able to be there and she wants to include him on the decision. We felt really good about that and admire her for showing him respect in including him. We are anxiously awaiting the outcome to see if we will be matched with her and start growing our relationship with her.

I said that we were hopeful for a connection with these people that surpassed our wildest dreams. I wanted it to be so wonderful that we could only call it magical. If you joined us in praying for that, you can consider your prayers answered. It was unreal how many things we had in common. We laughed a lot, shared a lot, and found out that there are lots of things that overlap and intertwine between our family and theirs... more details on that if things move forward. I didn't know how to ask God for this connection in words, but I believe that He knows my heart and knew all the things I truly desired from this.

We met her in the waiting room since we were all a little off schedule. I was so nervous and then I looked up and she shook Cameron's hand and smiled at him. Her smile calmed me down so much. She went in with Christine (the pregnancy counselor) and we got called in 10 minutes later to begin our meeting.

I can't remember all the details of how the meeting went or all the questions that were asked from both parties. I do know that leaving the meeting, I learned some really important things:

• Her children are loved deeply by her. This leads me to believe that she is taking wonderful care of sweet September girl. She spoke proudly of the children she has at home and we got to see pictures and everything. Again, lock up your boys. This girl is going to be gorgeous! 
• Family is extremely important to them. Both birth-mom and dad are very close with their families and see them regularly. Birth-mom has a close relationship with her mom. The fact that our families rock was one of the reasons she chose us. Way to go, fam! 
• Birth-mom has a big heart. She shared some really sweet and wonderful things. It was really special for us to spend time with her and hear some of her story. We feel blessed to have had the opportunity to be a part of what went on today. 
• It is important to her that the baby is raised in a house that loves the Lord. She had been working with a family through a private adoption and didn't feel comfortable because they didn't love Jesus. This was really important for us to talk about as well. We thought, "Love Jesus and raise your kids in an environment where they get to know God and understand His truths.... CHECK!"

To conclude the meeting Christine prayed for us and in her prayer she thanked God for the connection we were having. That was neat that she saw it too. Her role is to facilitate conversation, if needed. Well, she really wasn't needed for that purpose since we were hitting it off so well. I was really glad that she felt the connection in the room. We left telling Christine that we definitely want to move forward with this birth-mom. Two hours went by while we were in there and it felt great. 

So.... what did we do next? We went and got a margarita! This match meeting it was much more celebratory than last time. We enjoyed some delicious dinner at America's Taco Shop and it was happy hour... bonus!! 

Keep praying for her decision. We can't wait for Wednesday and will keep you posted on what we hear. Thank you for the time you have put into this up to this point. We are thankful things went well today and we take a step forward hoping it brings our little baby home soon. 

Just a reminder about this baby: it's a girl due September 13th.