Silas James Burnette

Together at last!

At birth, Silas weighed 8pounds 4ounces and was 20 and 3/4 inches long.

When discharged from the hospital he was 7 pounds 4 ounces.

At his doctor's visit today he was 8 pounds 2 ounces, and 19 and 1/4 inches long.

He still had his hospital bracelets on so we got to cut them off.

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We had such a great visit today with Silas and his foster mother, Janet. She is an amazing woman and is taking really good care of Silas. Silas is just as Janet described him. He is so happy, except when getting his clothes changed. He is very handsome and he likes to snuggle. I think he may look a little like Gabe but he is definitely his own little unique self. I am so thankful for our visit today. It was hard to leave him but it was also really good to meet his foster mom and it gives me peace to know he is being take care of. Hopefully, we will get to bring him home soon. God is good!

Silas' Foster Mom

So we didn't get to go see Silas this weekend like we hoped but I talked to his foster mom, Janet, today on the phone.  She describes him as being beautiful, happy, and content.  She says he rarely cries, he eats well, and burps easy.

I asked her if we can come visit him tomorrow and she agrees!  I can't wait to hold my little boy.  I have thought so much about what he must look like and all I can picture is Gabriel as a baby.  I am so excited to see him, kiss him, hold him, and smell him.  Thank you God for the opportunity to see my little boy!

It's A Boy!

Silas James Burnette was born Friday, November 25th in the morning!  All we know is that he is healthy and will be discharged to a foster family on Sunday.  We hope to go see him this weekend!

Thanksgiving

Well, we are still waiting for Baby Burnette to make his or her grand appearance.  The birthmother is 7 days past her due date but the holidays are a good distraction.  We've filled our days visiting with family and we are looking forward to seeing more family tomorrow. 

We have a lot to be thankful for this year.  At the beginning of 2011, Gabe's ear infections intensified which ultimately led to tubes.  Since his surgery, he has been so happy and healthy.  Eden continues to amaze us with all she has learned.  Her language and ability to remember details has really taken off recently.  God blessed Daryl and I with our trip to Ecuador this summer.  We met a lot of people and have learned a lot through this process.  I am so excited to see what God is going to do in 2012!

As if there weren't enough toys out already . . .

Eden has just recently taken an interest in baby dolls.

 

A baby shower at Piney Grove

My wonderful coworkers quickly organized and threw me baby shower. The theme was a diaper drop where the main items on the "list" are diapers and wipes. The twins came to the shower and proudly wore their "Big Brother" and "Big Sis" shirts. It was so much fun to hang-out with everyone and talk. We are blessed with wonderful friends.

It's hard to wait!

Although the birthmother hasn't yet reached her due date, November 17th, I can't believe she's not yet gone into labor.  It's really hard to wait for everything to fall into place but I have to keep reminding myself that God is in control. 

We've still not heard from the tribe but we may not hear anything until after the baby is born.  There's nothing I can do but pray and I do it constantly.  I'm praying for the birthmom, the social workers, the tribe, for my unborn child, and for all of those that come in contact with he or she once they are born.  God is good and I thank Him constantly for putting me on this roller coaster of emotions!

Homestudy!

Our social worker, Angela, came today for our homestudy.  We were amazingly able to complete the paperwork part of the adoption process in just a few days so the next step was to have Angela over to our house. 

The visit went really well except one minor issue; the pool in the backyard.  We live on a family farm outside of the city limits.  There is an in-ground pool in our backyard that does not have a fence around it.  Angela had to make a few phone calls and was told that we can slide by this issue by making a few adjustments.  First, we have to buy alarms for all the doors on the first floor that open up to the outside.  Secondly, we have to install a pool alarm that goes off once something enters the pool.

With the homestudy behind us, we now enter the waiting period . . .
We are waiting for the tribe to give us an answer . . . waiting for the birthmother to go into labor . . . and waiting to see what God has in store for us!

It's all in God's timing

The past few days have been a whirl-wind.  It started with a phone call on October 28th from Angela, our social worker at Bethany Christian Services, who we've not talked to in quite sometime.  She called to tell me that Gabe and Eden's birthmom is pregnant!  Angela told me that the birthmom is pregnant with the twins' biological father and she wants to know if we are interested in adopting this child; a full sibling!
I immediately said YES to which Angela told me to call Daryl.  Daryl agreed but then logically thought that we first need to pray about it.  We've talked about such a scenario before, if she was to get pregnant we would take a child if at all possible.  After praying for about an hour I called Daryl and we both still felt like this was definitely God.

So I in-turn call Angela and told her that we wanted this child. 

Here's all the logistics:
1. She's due November 17th!
2. The adoption paperwork is being sent to us express so we can complete our homestudy asap.
3. Angela needs to come to our house again as part of the homestudy and wants to do it very soon.
4. After our homestudy is complete, the birthmother's tribe will be contacted for permission to let us adopt this child.  This process took a week in a half to two weeks with the twins.
5. She knows she is not having twins, but she doesn't know if it is a boy or girl.

This whole situation is very overwhelming but I'm not worried at all.  God brought this to us and He has made everything work out so far so He will be in control of the rest.
Here is some of what God orchestrated:
1. Bethany's prices have increased but our tax refund is scheduled for direct deposit the same day I got this phone call.
2. Two days before all of this happened, Deena Jackson, told me that for some reason she kept envisioning me pregnant. She was close, very close.
3. Our whole family needs physicals for our homestudy.  Since Daryl and I went to Ecuador we had to have physicals this past spring so those are done.  Gabe and Eden had a physical completed in July at their 18 month check-up.
4. We've filled out this paperwork before so we are very familiar with it.
5. We live with Daryl's grandparents because we are trying to sell our house in order to go to the mission field.  They have another bedroom that isn't being used we can transform into a nursery.

God is amazing!  I can't wait to see how He continues to work in our lives.

Orphan Sunday

Today is Orphan Sunday; a time for all believers to stop and think about God's command to care for the fatherless.  This Sunday our orphan care group, Miles of Hope, recreated Third Day's music video for Children of God.  We had 13 families participate in the event all in which have some connection to adoption.  The main purpose of this song was to remind our church that we are all orphans until we accept Christ as our Father. 

A Wedding to Remember

Daryl's brother, Jake, and his fiance, Lauren, were married in Cleveland, Tennessee on Saturday, November 5th.  They had a beautiful outside wedding followed by a reception in an old barn.  The ceremony, location, and everything else was perfect. 

We are so thankful to be part of this couple's lives.  They are truly genuine in their quest to love God and one another. 

Congratulations Jake and Lauren!