Part 3 – The Trip

It was 3pm by the time we hit the road and anything I’d eaten throughout the day had not stayed down. Looking back, it almost seems as if Satan was trying to thwart the whole thing. But God, He said, “Keep going!”

We made a pit stop around 6:30. Q ran in to get dinner and I couldn’t even stand to get out of the car. Suddenly my phone rang, it was my friend Rachel (also an adoptive mother, fellow Tuesday Bible Study goer, and whom I’d been in contact with all morning.) What I’d found out a couple of weeks before was Rachel knew the attorney in Florida and she had actually helped her adopt her youngest son. Remember, I found out about the attorney through a fellow blogger (God?)!

Anyway, Rachel said, “We’ve paid for a hotel near the hospital for 2 nights and Kevin’s (her husband) parents live in St. Augustine. They said you could stay with them as long as you needed to.”

“No way”, I thought. Then, and now, it blows my mind to look back and see God’s hand in every detail. When we got the call Sunday night we had no idea where we would stay; the Lord provided at the perfect time.

I thanked Rachel (how do you thank someone for something like that?) and we forged ahead.

Around 7pm the attorney texted the first picture of our baby girl!! We started sending it to family and thus the love story began! She captured our hearts from the beginning and she steals it more each day!

By the grace of God we made it to the hospital by 8:30pm, 30 minutes before visiting hours ended. We met the attorney’s legal assistant in the lobby and headed upstairs to meet the birthparents and our baby girl.

I don’t know if any of you have been to Shands hospital in Jacksonville, but there was nothing cozy or inviting about it. We reached the labor and delivery area and had to show our ID’s to a guard at the door. As the swinging doors opened and we neared the room, my mind was racing.