Worth the Wait!

Last Tuesday evening, we received a phone call telling us that the birth-mom we were matched with was being induced at 8am the following morning, Wednesday.  It was a week earlier than we were expecting and we hardly slept that night!!!  

After a 3.5 hour drive to Pinetop Wednesday morning full of prayers, questions, dreams & excitement, we arrived at the hospital literally just minutes before our soon-to-be finalized son, Nathan Lane Holt was born!  Nathan means "Gift from God" and that is exactly what he is to us!  He arrived at 1:48pm weighing 6lb 12oz and 20.5 inches long and being perfect in every way :) 

This was only the second time we had met our birth-mom and her father, and it was the first time we would meet her mother in from out of state.  We were greeted with open arms by each of them along with her aunt and uncle and many of her close friends.  Her friends bought Nathan clothes and gifts, a friend's mom knit booties and a cap for him, her aunt quilted a beautiful blanket for him, and her cousin knit a beanie for him.  They were so gracious to us.  We spent every day in her hospital room getting to know her, and her family  even opened their home up to us for dinner the night she was released.  It was more than we could have ever imagined and hoped for and we are in awe of the blessing the Lord has given us!  AMAZING... 

On Saturday afternoon at 2pm, Eric & I, the birth-mom and her parents, and the pregnancy counselor gathered together for a blessing ceremony for Nathan.  It was a chance to celebrate the decision that she had made and pray over everyone.  Words can't describe that time but it is a moment that will be etched into our memory as long as we live, and I look forward to sharing the experience with Nathan when he is older.  There were buckets of tears shed during that time but it was so evident the Lord was present and working in each of us at that moment.  Watching birth-mom place her child into our arms as our own was the most amazing conclusion and beginning of our adoption journey, and both Eric and I can now say with confidence that all the heartbreak has been worth it!

We could not have imagined a more wonderful relationship to be a part of and we look forward to getting to know birth-mom as time goes on.   She is the bravest 15 year old that we will ever meet and is truly our hero!  She made a decision that I could not imagine making as a mother and she gave us a gift that we will never be able to repay her for.  We continue to pray for healing for her body, but more importantly for her broken heart.  We pray that she gets to go back to high school and cheer-leading and track as any high school kid would.  We pray that we get to continue our relationship with her as Nathan grows up and we live out "open adoption."  We pray that her family is able to see the love of Christ in us as we love Nathan and them.

At this time, because of a technicality, the birth-father is letting his parental rights expire in Texas and has cooperated 100% thus far and has zero intention of parenting.  We don't know much about him at all and we're not even sure what he looks like so the chance of him being in Nathan's life in the future is virtually non-existent.  We will continue to pray & trust the Lord until December 15th, at which time it will be final and we will be 100% confident that Nathan will be ours forever.  What a huge gift to celebrate at Christmas!

This has definitely been a journey we never anticipated and we've cried too many tears to count, but we have seen that the Lord is faithful . . . Nathan is proof of that :)  Here's a few pictures to share...