Placement Day

We are a little late on talking about some of the most important days of our lives. The most important being of course...Placement day!

"I prayed for this child, and the Lord has granted me what I asked of Him." 1 Samuel 1:27

Being a new dad is everything I hoped it would be. Yes, I have fallen behind on blog posts, thank you cards, and pretty much everything around the house that I need to do. But you've got to cut me some slack because every minute that I am not at work, or elbow deep in poop, I just can't quit staring at the most handsome face on the planet. After a month of getting no more than three hours of sleep in a stretch of time my body has finally gotten used to it. So instead of joining Lincoln in dreamland, I will do my best to stay up a little later to work on keeping you in the loop.

Placement day (Wednesday, October 22, 2014) started off super early since neither one of us got much sleep the night before. After a little breakfast and showers we went through our checklist. We triple checked to make sure that we had all of the things we needed to make our first trip back home with our baby boy. After spending thirty minutes trying to figure out how to take the car seat out of the base we were ready to roll. The hour and half trip there was silent for the most part, besides my weeping copilot. We were so full of nerves and excitement, but really just stunned at the fact that our dreams were coming true.

When we pulled up we were greeted in the parking lot by Jackie Spivey. Jackie is a photographer that had reached out to us through our blog. She had asked us previously to do our newborn photos, but since Lincoln was still in transition that would not have been possible. She then offered to take our placement day photos at Gladney. After looking through some of her previous work, it was not lost on us that she was sent to us by God. She is an absolutely amazing photographer and person. We will be forever grateful for her showing up out of her way to help preserve a couple of complete stranger's memories.

We walked in the lobby where our caseworker, Jennifer, was waiting on us. She escorted Jill and I down the hall to start signing papers. With a baby carrier in hand and a diaper bag draped on my shoulder I still felt like I was in a haze. Luckily we were given copies of the paperwork because for all we know we were signing our house over. We seriously just had a pen moving around in our hands with our minds focused on what was to come.

Then Jenny, Maycee's caseworker, escorted Jackie to start photographing Maycee, Lincoln, and Bella's private visit.

After the paperwork, we were finally moved to Gladney's placement room. We got there a few minutes before Maycee and Lincoln so we set up the GoPro in the corner so we would have this blur of a day on video. We sat on the couch and the double doors opened. Maycee walked in holding Lincoln with Bella following behind. Smiles formed on everyone's faces and a few tears down our cheeks. We all took turns hugging each other before sitting down on the couch. We then spent more than an hour talking and respectfully sharing Lincoln time. We all had the opportunity to feed him, stare at his cute outfit that Momma Janet (transitional mother) dressed him in, and kiss him all over his face. When we weren't staring at him we were overly entertained by the beautiful Bella pulling out all the toys.

Toward the end of the visit we had the opportunity to give Maycee a few gifts. It started off with a Chickfila gift card because this was the only time we have been together that we didn't bring it to her and Bella(inside joke). Then she pulled out a letter that I had written her. Having read my other letters to her, she opted to save it for later. Then she pulled out the ring box. Jill had picked out the perfect ring. It is a Sterling Silver ring with two rows of Sapphires. Sapphire is both Lincoln and Bella's birthstones so it was a row for each of them. We also got Jill one so that her and Maycee will forever have matching rings. We then told each other how much we loved each other and started our dreaded goodbyes.

We all stood up as Maycee kissed Lincoln and handed him to us. We didn't cry too much at that moment. As Maycee and Bella walked out and the door shut behind them, it became very real to us. Jennifer asked us if we would like a minute alone. I replied "yes please". We allowed Jackie to stay in the room to continue taking pictures. As the door closed, Jill collapsed on the chair and broke down. The reality of what had just taken place hit her like you couldn't imagine. I only had one arm to rub her back because my other one was holding a sleeping Lincoln. Jackie then put her camera down and started to comfort Jill. After taking a few minutes to collect ourselves, we spent a little bit of time soaking it in.  We then walked outside to take our very first family pictures.

We changed the little mans diaper and got him buckled up in his carrier. I went to pull the car around before coming back for my newly expanded family. Jennifer asked "Can you believe it's finally here?" I told her "If I get him to the door and you say 'just kidding' I don't think I'm going to be able to handle it!" She assured me that this was for real and we were free to leave.

We buckled him up, and started our trip back home. That 40mph car ride home was the perfect final ride to what has been such a long journey we have been on to find him!