Meeting Our Birthmother

What an emotional and exciting night!  Jeff and I were fortunate enough to meet our birthmother.  We were so nervous and so excited all we could say was "can you believe we actually get to meet her?"  We were so thankful that we got to go through the intense dinner together.  It felt very much like we were going on the most important job interview of our life!  That is all I can compare it to and I know it is not a good comparison!  We kept telling ourselves "she has already picked us..." but the pressure was on.  If we did not make a good imression she could easily change her mind.

We decided I would drive there and Jeff would drive back because we knew it was going to be a late night.  It just so happened that I was driving into direct sun in full rush hour Kansas City traffic while being prepped by our social worker on what to say/not say to the birth mother!  Let's just say that was an intense ten minutes.  I have never been a "great" driver and I was nervous enough without having to remember what I could and could not talk about in the most important dinner of my life! 

We finally got to our destination with a good two hours to spare.  (We wanted to make sure we were not late!)  Luckily there was a Babies R Us right around the corner.  We had so much fun buying sweet little outfits, soft blankets, and registering!  In the back of my mind the thought kept creeping in, "what if she doesn't like us?  I can't imagine having to take all this back...."  I put on a smiley face and tried to keep those thoughts from ruining the sweet time with Jeff.  I mean she already picked us, right?  But what if....

Well went back to dinner with a car load of stuff and pulled directly into valet parking!  What?  Who uses valet parking?  We are definately no that cool and not prepared because our car was a MESS!  Anyway, we couldn't get out of it because cars were behind us.  "Oh great", I thought, "now she is going to think we think we need valet parking and now I can't change into my cute shoes!"  Frumpy shoes and valet parking, lets go meet our birth mother!

We walked in the restaurant and waited about 30 seconds and in walks this beautiful blond girl with our social worker!  I couldn't believe it was her! She didn't even look pregnant!  I wasn't about to look at her belly, but I mean really can this be her!  She and I said hi and she tried to shake my hand but I just had to hug her!  Then Jeff hugged her to and she said, "Thanks, I'm a hugger too"!  I knew it was going to be okay.

We sat down and started getting to know each other.  What started out as a dinner turned into a 2 1/2 hour evening.  We talked and laughed and I just couldn't believe how lucky we were to have her as our birthmother.  She said she was strong willed and once she made her mind up she stuck to it.  She wasn't talking directly about the adoption, but I took it as a good sign.  We didn't talk much about the baby.  It seemed to make her nervous and uncomfortable, which is okay.... I think this is how she is coping.   She wanted to get to know us and get a good "vibe" from us.  I think she did because when we left she said the night was so much better than she could have hoped for.  :)

At one point in the evening, the birthmother left the table and the social worker said that we had been "active" for 1 day when she printed out profiles for our birthmother.  She said she put ours on top with a note saying she thought we were what she was looking for.  The birthmother ended up choosing us from that pile, and the social worker said that if she would have printed the profiles out one day earlier we wouldn't have been part of that pile!  One day, God is amazing.  I really feel like he hand selected the birthmother for us.

We left the dinner and chatted the whole way home and analyzed everything we said and everything she said.  Ultimately, we had a great night!  We love the birthmother and are so amazed by her selflessness and strength.  She is beautiful inside and out.  We saw no signs of her changing her mind.  Lets keep praying!  33 days to go!