[aclee]

Is there anyone on Earth that doesn't know ours? I think not...but just in case....

After "TTC" for about a year...maybe less can't remember. Wasn't a real eventful "TTC" time for us cause I stopped ovulating almost as soon as we were "trying"...stress rules my body! Just about the same time I actually started ovulating again, I decided I had enough and I needed some CONTROL....I'm sure that's a real shocker for most of you right?? So we came back around and started talking about adoption...again. But this time, we were really through...we wanted to be parents, so in September of 2007 I began researching homestudy agencies with the furiousity that I do anything important to me. In Early October 2007, we decided on one and started our homestudy process. We completed everything but our last homestudy visit to our house by mid November, and we dragged our feet on that one, making last minute home repairs...afraid like many that our home wasn't good enough. In the end it was, and despite many set backs on our time line (our SW mom was struggling near the end of a fight with terminal cancer) we trudged along and had in hand our approved homestudy on December 19, 2008. I dreamed of a miracle baby by Christmas, and set about viciously hunting down every situation that was in our budget...thankfully there were many and they kept me busy, and emotionally exhausted. I recall speaking with relatives on Thanksgiving (before we were even approved) and filling them in on FIVE situations we were submitted on all of whom were due before Feb 1st. None of those worked out and as Christmas drew nearer, I felt my dreams of a Christmas baby slipping away...chaulking it up to one more thing I didn't "get" when I wanted...WAH! right? Never the less the day after Christmas I was crying my eyes out, sure we would wait forever and never find a baby and I would never be a mom...ever.

January 26, 2008 I attended, and helped run a bridal shower for a good friend. I did all the flowers and made some food, and it was a great day. I returned home at about 5:00 after skipping out on hitting the local bars to go home to DH. I walked in the door and DH says...There is a bird in the garage, got stuck in the glue trap but I freed it...might be hurt. ...goes back to playing a computer game... (as IF!) So I trek out the garage with a small box intent on catching the bird and seeing what I can do. Let me tell you that little thing has some determination. Could barely hop cause her little feet were all wrapped in glue, but she hopped with all her heart to stay away from me...squeezed out the garage door to get away even. So I banged on the front door to rouse DH from his computer and make him aid me in the search and rescue and we followed the little thing all around the neighborhood. She hopped and hopped and hopped, but didn't fly, so I knew she needed me and I was relentless. About 5 minutes later, we finally cornered her against a neighbors house and dropped a kitchen towel over her and picked her up. I carried her inside and DH kenneled the dogs so they wouldn't eat her if she got away. I called an animal rehabilitator I knew of and she said to use warm soapy water and a Q-tip to gently clean all the glue off her beak, and feet. That if she was still alive in the morning, I could bring the bird to her. So for an hour that night I sat in the bathroom with Q-tips, warm water and dish soap working away on this little thing. After about 10 minutes, I was finally able to free her beak and it was MANY more minutes as I worked on her little feet. I was determined for her to make it through the night. And she did. We identified her as a Carolina Wren and named her Gwen. Gwen the Wren. Made sense to us! The next day, in the middle of a snow storm we set out with the 4 wheel drive to travel 1.5 hours away to safely deliver Gwen to the rehab facility. 1/2 way through, my cell phone rang. I juggled Gwen's little box, and my purse and managed to drag it out. It was the Utah agency. Great...an otherwise sweet day was about to be ruined. We had decided we wouldn't accept a Utah situation where a Bmom had flown out to UT for the birth. It didn't sit right with us, and now we were going to have to tell them why. But we didn't. THIS bmom wasn't in UT (which they presented like it was a BAD thing!) and would we still consider being submitted under these very strange circumstances? Could we get RIGHT on a plane and be there tomorrow? Were we ready for an immediate baby? I put her on hold and asked DH what he thought. He said...she's not in Utah? I said, No. He said, can we afford it? I said...I'm pretty sure. He nodded excitedly. I told her to fax our profile. She said she and a few other workers were making calls, they expected the bmom to make her choice quickly, since she would be discharged tomorrow. I said we would wait for her call. We dropped off Gwen, and could barely speak. It was SO different than anything else. It wasn't the only baby born situation we had submitted on, but it was different...SO different. We couldn't even talk to each other we were so scared that we would jinx it. In my head I was already wondering how expensive airfare would be. A short eternity later, she called back. I was almost gagging as I answered the phone, sure I would throw up if this wasn't our baby. But it was. Apparently the bmom was nice enough to say kind things about all the other couples, and each time she said something nice, they would say, So you want Blank and Blank and she would say...ummm...no. Move on, say something nice about the next couple, again...no I don't want them...then at the very end she said...they were all nice, but I definitely want Aclee and her DH.

So...the night before, as I was tending a sick little tiny bird, who wouldn't have lived had I not spent some serious time on the edge of the tub with about 1,000 Q-tip, my son was being born. Ty was born at 6:04 PM.

We feel Gwen was a huge part of our adoption story...4 weeks later (after a whole OTHER story with DH's heart) we traveled back to the rehab facility, picked Gwen up and brought her home. I held Tyler while Dh opened the box, and we all watched as Gwen took off..Good as new with her brand new feathers...

We told her to stay the heck out of the garage though...