Part 4 – The Meeting

“Come in.”, she said as the legal assistant knocked on the door. My heart and my mind were racing a million miles a minute. Here they were; the man and woman that were giving us the most precious gift from God. And in her arms was that gift.

“J” was feeding her as I stood in amazement. “You can feed her if you want.”, she said. My heart melted as I held my daughter for the very first time. After a little while I handed her to Q and I watched as the man I loved transformed in front of me. She was his, he was hers.

The Lord allowed us more time than we expected with them that night; visiting hours ended at 9pm, we stayed until 10. Q and “D” talked like they’d known each other forever. “J” and I talked family and baby.

After leaving the hospital we headed to our hotel. It had been the longest day of my life and I was just ready to fall into bed. We arrived at the Hampton Inn and I proceeded to check in. I gave her our name and she said, “I’ve been waiting on you all evening, but the girl that was supposed to reserve your room left without doing so and we are booked up for the night, there’s a pastor’s conference in town (ha!).”

Oh.my.goodness! As Q headed over to talk to the pastors in the lobby about having missed David Platt and Danny Aiken earlier in the day, I called Rachel and told her what was going on.

“You’ve got to be kidding me.”, she said. After a few phone calls to sister hotels and an offer of free refreshments for their mistake, we were headed to the only hotel with a free bed for the night!

My phone began to vibrate around 7am. “They are releasing “J” from the hospital today and she want’s to see you with the baby before she signs. Visiting hours are at 9am.” We hurried to get ready, grabbed our complimentary breakfast, and hit the Jacksonville traffic. We arrived right at 9am and met the legal assistant in the lobby.

As we entered “J’s” room she sat holding her baby girl, crying. Q and I approached her and tried to comfort her. We sat and talked for 2 hours. You could tell she was frustrated by circumstance and the lack of compassion from the hospital staff. Around 10am the lawyer texted,

“The social worker said “J” is having a hard time making her decision. Pray.”

I couldn’t say anything, but I silently prayed for the Lord’s will, no matter the outcome.