The first time...

 

One year ago today... November27th,  2012 our lives changed for ever...

 

 

 

This was the very first picture we saw of our soon to be son... (emailed to us by our adoption agency representative)  I literally had just been in Greg's office,and left with the youngest 4 to head to the sprint store... no more than 2 minutes away and got a phone call from him... The agency had called him with Isaiah's  birth mom on the phone saying that she had chosen us to be Isaiah's parents... Greg relayed all that information to me and I literally sat on the curb outside of the Sprint store, first of all saying... YOU'RE KIDDING ME... YOU'RE JOKING... and once I realized he was for real...

the tears started falling... disbelief... and pure elation!

 

Then we proceeded to the gym where Louis and Caleb were practicing basketball.  With computer in hand we did what any proud brand new parents would do... we kept motioning from across the gym ... pointing to the picture on the computer... "You have a new brother!!!"

 

Oh my the excitement... after practice off we went to the store to grab a few preemie outfits, which believe it or  not, were too small for him... he was such a peanut...

 



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One day later Greg and I drove the 2 hours to meet Isaiah's birth mom for the first time...

She was emotional... understandably so...

She asked if we minded a biracial baby...

  We told her how excited Hope was to have a brother that would look more like her... This made her happy...

We laughed... she honestly told us that while she was looking at our profile book and seeing the pictures of the kids, she told her friend... word for word... "You can't slap that kind of happiness into kids!" 

 

She was witty, funny, sweet, tender hearted, and broken...

 

So were we... we left her room and I just collapsed into Greg's arms in tears... I could hardly take the sacrifice she was willing to make to give her son a better chance...

 

Then we got to scrub into the NICU and  meet Isaiah for the first time...

 

People say... protect your heart... you don't know for sure this will go the way you are hoping...

ahhh... not a chance with this mama...

He had my heart from the moment I saw him...

In love...

(I would deal with the heartbreak later if it didn't pan out how we hoped)

 

I will never forget having been briefed on his rough start in the womb and having received all the information of possibilities he might face in his life in the coming years... and had already faced...

 

Greg just said over and over again... It is ok... This is ok... God's got this... We can do this...

 

Who would have dreamt that Isaiah would be so perfectly healthy a year

later...  What a gift from God!



 

(I think he wanted to give me a high five!!)

 

My 10 day stay with Isaiah in the NICU was a learning experience for me. 

What a gift to have all that time just with him... He took to nursing right away... and his birth mom loved that I was going to nurse him.  He got down to 4 lbs. 9 oz. at his lowest and had some issues with jaundice... but all in all he was one tough little fighter and slowly improved with each

 passing day!

 



 

(What a cool little cat sitting under the bili lights for a couple of days)

 

He had some of the funniest facial expressions... I kept imagining him saying... "Huh... I am gonna have 6 siblings at home???  What am I in for???"

 

 

 

 



 

Pure bliss... pure baby love...

 

How good and faithful is our God to bless us with this sweet little miracle, Isaiah James Hintz one year ago today...

 

He is a total joy to our hearts!

 

Adoption...

 

 has changed our lives...

 Has opened our eyes to a different kind of love...

Has opened our hearts to fully grasp how our Heavenly Father has adopted us as His own...

Has enriched our lives beyond what I could ever imagine...

 

The love that I have for this little guy amazes me... He is perfect for our family... I have to remind myself that he didn't grow inside of me... We are so very thankful for the beautiful gift that Isaiah is to our family!