Our first match came in February and fell through in March. I wrote a whole blog on that bizarre scenario but we moved on. Our second match came in March and fell through in May because she decided to parent. Our third match came in May and fell through in June because she switched to another attorney. Megan, Paul's assistant, checked to see if we were sure we wanted a girl because they had several boys with due dates in July but no girls. Not one.
I write all of this down to give you a sense of where we were as a family when we headed into our Ocean Shores trip. Dana was relatively calm; I was sort of a well put together basket case. I'll forever be grateful for sisters, a mom, and my YW Presidency who knew all this was going down and were my rock during the disappointment. And our awesome Bishopric who found out from Dana and all "happened" to stop by at random times that last week of June just to drop off cherries or just to chat. We really have amazing friends. We spent the Ocean Shores trip okaying ourselves with the idea of a brother for Clark instead of a sister...or no baby at all. We even had a funny evening at the house spit balling baby boy names. Mom came down heavy on Seth and Ferdinand was suggested at one point.
We go now to July 4th. Blueberry picking. I got back into the car with Clark for the drive back home and there was a message waiting from Megan. In her very awesome New Zealander accent she informed me that they had a match with a baby girl and could I please call when I got this message. I called her right back but told her she could call with more details tomorrow - it was a holiday after all:) Then Dana called. He asked if I saw Megan's email. I said no. He said there was a match. I said, yea, I know. He said no, Kelli, the baby's already born in SLC. I believe I said something smart like, huh whaaaaaa???
And that's how I found out about Charlotte, coasting down the back roads of Wapato. I sped home, literally passing a trooper as I was going up Konnowock pass at about 50 but he didn't pull me over! Whew! When I got home Dana and I retreated rather hastily to the bedroom to discuss and check out the pictures Megan sent. Isn't she gorgeous already? 7 lbs, 2 oz. 18 inches long. Born Cesarean. Original due date: July 19th.
All that hair! It was a no brainer. We called Megan back and left another message - we were in! And thus began the longest day of our lives. Seriously. We came out and made the big announcement to all the family, which was rather hilarious to see the looks on their faces. If I'd recorded it, it would have made a great Youtube reveal video. Mom was even texting someone on her phone and missed it the first time around and did like a double take. Our amazing family rushed to our aid. Sarah and Kristina came home from Target with clothes, diapers and wipes. Mom and Dad took over the house cleaning and Fred and Taylor entertained the kids while Dana and I plotted just how we were going to make this happen. I left a very funny message for Joy letting her know I would not be into work for who knew how long. We packed. Repacked. We considered flying down together on a 6AM out of Pasco and sending Clark in Sarah's car but after seeing what a wreck our poor toddler was after a weekend with cousins and little sleep, we decided I would fly down first and Dana and Clark would follow in the car later.
And then we waited. It was strange watching fireworks and walking around the chaos of Moxee when our thoughts were on a tiny baby in Salt Lake City. Clark ended up in our bed which wasn't lost on me. The last time (hopefully) it would just be the three of us. I fell asleep about 1AM and my alarm went off at 3AM. Taylor and I drove to Pasco, flew to SLC, took my first uber ride and then finally I made it to the hospital at 10:30AM. There is no stranger feeling than walking into a hospital room and seeing a baby and knowing she could be yours but isn't yet and the woman who decides that is in the hospital bed staring at you. But it's the way it works. With Clark, I had Dana. Now i was on my own with suspicious nurses and a birth mother who spoke no english. Thankfully, Ruthy was so sweet and the translator, Jumwe was awesome. Ruthy has a husband and 13 year old son on the island. Her 2 year old daughter was with her in SLC. We aren't sure exactly why she decided to place but apparently she went into labor on the 2nd of July and called Paul on the 3rd wanting to place. The first miracle of this story is that Paul was in Salt Lake for a conference and was able to drive over and meet with her right away. He gave her the night to make sure and Megan called us on the 4th. The first of many many miracles.
I hung out for four hours while they did tests but finally they released her. There's a funny side story in here where Jumwe needed $20 to do some legal thing for the paternity release and didn't have cash on her. All my cash was in the car console in Pasco to pay for parking and of course I left my debit card at home. Taylor to the rescue. He literally dispatched an intern from his office to drive $20 over to me at the hospital. Then because we didn't have any official adoption paperwork done in advance like Paul usually there was a momentary scare were it looked like they weren't going to release her. We ended up doing the old gray area thing where Ruthy walked her out of the hospital, handed her off to me and I put her in Taylor's car and drove off. Yeah, that really happens sometimes.
I had the scariest drive of my life back to Taylors, stopping along the way for some McDonald's when I realized the only thing I'd eaten all day was a granola bar on the plane. Yes baby girl, your first eating out experience was McDonalds. I showed up back at Sarah's newly remodeled house with my new baby and hung out while the Project Manager hung lights and drilled holes. Yup, their construction guy was the first one to meet Charlotte. Sarah and the kids arrived home around 7 and there I was, sitting in their house with a baby. Super weird. Super cool.
The next morning we had her first Drs. appointment to check bilirubin levels but first we had to figure out how to get the Dr. to talk to me since we had no paperwork and nothing saying I was a legal guardian. Yeah, complicated. That was kind of the name of the game that week which is why it's so amazing that I was calm most of the time (Dana will chuckle here). We just rolled with the punches.
Dana and Clark took off at noon on Wednesday (while I was still at the hospital), stopped the night in Boise at a very sketchy hotel and rolled in around 2 on Thursday. Clark didn't even give her a second glance. Dana was love at first sight.
We were all together finally, but stuck in Utah for an undetermined amount of time. In Utah you have to do something called the ICPC to be released from the state so you can leave and adopt in your home state. Which meant while Paul and Megan were frantically working on all the legal paperwork for Utah, we needed an attorney in Washington. Now, we know a LOT of attorneys in our ward but none do adoptions. Enter miracle number two: David Trick. Dana knew it from his law days. We must have left 10 messages on Wednesday the 5th and finally got in touch with him. He jumped into work despite having just down a round of chemo for stage 4 cancer. Yes, seriously.
So we made the best of it. Sarah and Taylor were AMAZING!! Despite the house being half finished and coming off multiple back to back trips, they entertained us and were just awesome with a new baby being in the house. We all slept down in Isaac and Miles' room - Clark on the bottom bunk, Dana and I on an air mattress, Charlotte just outside the door because she was so crazy loud. It wasn't ideal but way better than Arkansas. In between driving over to Jumwe's to sign all the official termination letters, calling in some favors from Woodbury Corp for the use of their scanner, and trying to organize the various necessities of an interstate adoption, we managed to have some fun.
We took Clark to the awesome play zone at City Creek. He instantly bonded with a kid who is the spitting image of Anderson, no surprise. Dana released his stress by buying delicious baguettes and inhaling them on the way home:)
This is Clark's first official "Charlotte and Clark" photo. No we did not stage this. Yes he really was ignoring her completely and looking only at Dana's phone. Sheesh. Dana fell asleep a lot with her. This is his classic Dad move.
We used the pool quite a bit. Unfortunately we forgot Clark's floaties (among some other important things) so he had to be in this dorky baby floaty. He was not amused. Being a true Islander at heart, Charlotte just basked in the sun and was happiest with her arms out.
Saturday was my birthday. Talk about being overshadowed:) But Dana took me, Sarah and Taylor out to a cool fusion taco restaurant, proving once and for all that Salt Lake has way better food than Yakima.
On Sunday, we went to church where I got the usual oooh and aaahs from all the ladies. Then we had dinner with Jim and Necia who were visiting from Texas. Oh yes, there was more family in town. It was awesome that we got to see them even if we were a bit of a wrinkle in the housing plan. We had dinner at Mom and Dad's (who were still in Washington if you'll remember for Natalie's blessing...oh yes the universe has a sense of humor) and then walked the two blocks to Temple square where we got our first family photo. Perfect.
Monday I surprised Jamie and Aubrey with Charlotte which was both fun and mean of me:) Muwahaha. They were in love and it was fun catching up for an hour with these awesome ladies.
And Monday night Mom and Dad finally made it back to Washington and finally got to meet Charlotte.
Tuesday we got word that the Utah ICPC was finalized and even though we hadn't heard from Washington we were so homesick by that point that we decided to risk it and start the drive home. We stopped by Jumwe's one more time for the final goodbye and I'm so glad we did. Ruthy was no much more chatty this time and we were able to give her daughter the matching pink bracelet that we got for her and Charlotte. I am so in awe of this wonderful woman and will never understand how hard this must have been for her but I will be forever grateful.
Oh and we can't leave out Clark in this story. He was perfect. He took this extra trip in stride and spent most of his time shadowing Isaac in the awesome upstairs bonus room. Tuesday was Chick-Fil-A day so this is him with cow ears.
Around 2 on Tuesday we took off. I think Sarah and Taylor were sad to see us go but also really really happy to have their house back. Clark was great on the drive to Ontario, OR. He watched Trolls probably three times on Dana's laptop. At the hotel he finally acknowledged the strange tiny human who came along for the ride. Not sure he understands why she is coming with us but he'll figure it out.
As a last miracle (for now!), right as we were passing the Utah border I got an email from David letting us know the Washington ICPC was also complete. So we weren't outlaws after all. Just one awesome family of four...headed home.
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