I remember that day like it was yesterday, a Sunday much like every Sunday that had preceded it. I played drums for worship. I preached. I greeted folks as they left church to go eat lunch somewhere. I locked the office as I left. We went to lunch with some friends, a couple we loved who knew of our great desire to be parents and who had become dear friends since they joined our church just months earlier. We went toDean’s South of the Border for Tex-Mex, one of my favorite places to eat in Punta Gorda. We ordered our food and talked about church and life. Our food came, and we began to eat and continued to enjoy our fellowship until the moment my cell phone rang. Our adoption agent in Sebring was calling to tell us she had a baby for us, and we could take her home that night if we wanted to!
We had contracted with her to find a baby for us about six months earlier. We knew we were on the short lists of two birthmothers who were both due in late summer, so we were nowhere near ready for the arrival of a baby! When our agent called, we gathered the scant details she had to offer us about the baby, put the rest of our lunch in to-go boxes and headed to our house to change clothes, grab our cameras and drive to Avon Park (our agent had the baby at her house). I had fallen off a horse and broken my arm just over a month earlier, and I still couldn’t drive. Karen feared she’d be too emotional, so our friends agreed to drive us there in our van. We called our parents on the way to tell them the news, but Karen’s parents weren’t home.
We arrived at our agent’s home and spent a few minutes hearing her story of how she came to receive the baby, who was asleep in a bedroom. We saw the diaper bag and clothing that had come to her with the baby, and then we went back to the bedroom to meet her. She was beautiful beyond words! She woke up while we were looking at her, so Karen picked her up, and we took turns holding her and taking pictures and video. After about three hours, we signed the necessary papers, loaded her and her things into our van and headed out. We stopped first at the nearest Wal-Mart to buy some supplies (remember, we had NOTHING!), and we ran into some of our church friends from Sunridge BC. They oohed and ahhed over our little bundle of joy and helped Karen pick out some things, including recommending Dr. Brown’s baby bottles, which we loved! We bought clothes, diapers, blankets, toys--everything we thought we’d need for the first few days. After buying out the store, we stopped and bought supper and went to some other friends’ house to eat and visit. After another hour, we left for Punta Gorda and our baby’s new home.
On our way home, I called our Youth Pastor, who was in the Fellowship Hall at our church overseeing our annual cake auction to raise money for our youth to go to summer camp. The auction hadn’t gotten started yet, so I asked him to grab a microphone and make an announcement for me. He told those who were gathered that we were on our way home with our new baby daughter! He held his cell phone up so that I could hear the cheer that went up from the crowd, and he told me later that there wasn’t a dry eye in the room. Two weeks hence, they threw us a baby shower and showered us with sweet and wonderful gifts for our daughter! Karen’s parents came down that weekend for a visit and were able to be there with us for the celebration. We were so grateful for such a loving church family!
We settled into our new life (Boy, was it new and different!) and took lots of pictures and video. It took eight months, but her adoption was finalized early in 2005, and Desiree was officially (i.e., legally) a part of her forever family. What a time it’s been!
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