How GREAT is Our God!!!!!

This is a post that I didn't think I'd be making so soon. Alot has happened in the past two weeks. I will try my best to fit in every detail!


I hope that not mentioning names of people involved and making fake names for the birth mother and birth father doesn't get too confusing. It confused me, but thats because I know their real names.. Obviously I have to do so for the birthparents and their families best interest.

Here it goes...
Two weeks ago today I got out of a short meeting at work to find that a good friend from high school had called a couple of times. She left a message saying she needed to talk and to please call her back asap. I called her back and she said that her younger sibling has a friend who is 21 weeks pregnant. She and her boyfriend were giving the baby up for adoption. She didn't know if I'd be interested or if I could do anything outside of the agency that we've committed to.

*Just a side note- an adoption where we find a birth mother ourselves (that is comical to even type- of course we didn't "find" her "ourselves", God placed her in our life) we only have to pay lawyer fees. With the agency it is $35,000 PLUS lawyer fees. If you are thinking WOW, that's an understatement.*

Anyway, She shared a little bit of info and then I called a friend who had adopted her little girl from hearing about the birth mothers pregnancy from a friend of a friend. She said that I should call the birth mother. From here on out we will call the birth mother *Suzy. My friend gave me Suzys contact info and I wasted no time and called her. We had a good conversation- talked about 30 minutes introducing ourselves, etc. We made plans for us to meet with her and her parents the following Sunday. Jarrod and I (and our close friends and family) were excited. We prayed and prayed and actually from the beginning had an amazingly peaceful feeling about the situation. I called an adoption lawyer that had been recommended to us by 2 couples from Hartford. I had spoken with him a few times before and he had given me great advice on where to start the adoption process etc. I called him and told him about the meeting, and he gave me yet more advice. I told him that if the newly developing situation worked out, that Jarrod and I wanted to use him as our lawyer. He said he would love to help us and would not refuse, but told me to check around to find adoption lawyers closer to us. He is in Mobile and he said it will cost us more because we will have to pay him travel time. I spoke with Jarrod that night and we agreed that his experience, his passion for adoptions, and the fact that he was a Christian made it worth it to use him. I mailed some letters of recomendation and our lifebook to Suzys parents house for them to look at before meeting us. The week flew by and Sunday came. We went to our church for the contemporary service at 8:30am that we always attend. After that we went to Sardis Church where Jarrod was the guest preacher. (Sardis is where Jarrod grew up in church and is where our best friends Brooke and David go to church.) Jarrod did a phenomenal job. I mean I am not saying that because he is my husband, he really did such an amazing job.

We left church and headed out of town for our important meeting. We were peaceful the whole time, the nerves I expected to kick in never did. The meeting went well, it was tearful and emotional on her parents part which is totally understandable. Suzys parents said that they supported her in whatever decision she made. We were there for a little over 2 hours. We told them about us, they told us a little about their family, and we answered each others questions as best we could. There was a lot of legal stuff that we did not know. I told them that they could call the lawyer that we had been talking to and he would answer their questions. The note that we left on that day was that Suzys parents wanted to feel at peace about the situation before a decision was made and they definitely wanted the adoptive parents to be active Christians who promised to raise the baby in a Godly home and actively in church. Completely understandable. I knew that much of that peace they were looking for would come after talking to the lawyer and getting their legal and logistical questions answered. Before we left, I made sure to tell them that they could probably find a couple with more money, but they would never find a couple that would love that baby any more than we would. Thats the truth. We left a copy of our adoption home study for them to review. We left the meeting that day still feeling very good about the situation.

During the meeting Suzy also mentioned that my friends sibling (how we found out about Suzy) is the only friend that she had told besides a few of her friends at her college. One person in a city that happened to have a sister with a friend ready and looking to adopt. Miraculous? Yes. Divine intervention? Yes.

If you are wondering where the birthfather... we'll call him Tim... was during this meeting, he was out of town with his family. He and Suzy had gotten a chance to look at our lifebook and letters of recomendation together before he left. Tim did want to talk to us and so we told Suzy to give him my number and he could call us. He called me on the following Tuesday afternoon. He was very nice. He asked a lot of questions and told me that Suzy really liked us. He said that he wanted to talk to Jarrod too, so Jarrod called him the next day after practice and they talked for a while as well.

Almost forgot to mention, first thing the next morning after the meeting, I called our lawyer and put him on retainer. I told him about how our meeting went and told him that Suzys mom would be calling on Wednesday. I talked with Suzy one time during that week and we decided that it would be a good idea to spend the day together one day soon. That Wednesday, Suzys mother talked to our lawyer. Mr. lawyer called me after they talked and said that it went well, she was just a little overwhelmed as they had just started looking into everything about adoption. He explained how everything would work. She told him that they were ready to get the process started and wanted to know the first step. He told her that they can't start anything until they choose adoptive parents. He said that she mentioned a couple of different times that they really liked us, but she didn't know if they should also look for other couples as well. Mr. Lawyer told her to pay attention to how they had found us and how she was talking to him, "its not coincidence" he told her. She agreed. Its awesome to have a Christian lawyer. She said that they hoped to make a decision in the next few weeks. I hoped that she wouldn't draw out the process to look for other couples to "interview". Mr. Lawyer mentioned to me and to Suzys mom that he would love to meet with Suzy. He told me that he, like everyone, he has strenghes and weaknesses and that one of his strenghes happened to be talking with birthmothers. He wanted to make sure that Suzy was comfortable with everything and answer any questions she may have. Good idea.

Suzy happened to be in Mobile that week staying with a friend from school. Remember, Mr. Lawyer is in Mobile too. :-)

I talked to Suzy that Wednesday night and asked her if she would go speak with the lawyer. She was a little reluctant because she did not know him, but she agreed to go see him the next morning. Mr. lawyer called when the meeting was over. He said it went great. He was able to explain to Suzy how everything would work. He asked her if she was sure she wanted to put the baby up for adoption. She told him that she was 100% sure because that is what is best for the baby. He asked what she thought about placing the baby with Jarrod and I. She answered that she could not see placing him with anyone else. :-)

During their chat, Suzy mentioned where she and her friend (who was with her) went to school and about the specialty program they are in there. They went on to mention they had another friend from their program whom lived in the area and they were trying to meet up with while on break. Mr. Lawyer asked the friends name. Get ready for your mouth to drop open...

Suzy said her name and Mr. lawyer replied, "that is my daughter." WOW. Talk about God making himself so apparent in the siuation! Now it was clear why it was never a question to Jarrod and I as to what lawyer to use. Mr. Lawyer was in Gods plan for us the whole time. We had felt good about the situation the since day 1, but after that we knew that it was just a matter of the Lord letting Suzy, Tim, and Suzys parents know what we already had known, that we were destined to be that babys parents!

Suzy and I texted that afternoon and we decided to meet on Saturday in a mutual location. Last minute Jarrod was able to go to, which was awesome and probably not coincidence either. We ate lunch together and then decided to go to the zoo. We were having a great time by the way. By this time we are head over heals for Suzy. We all got along like peas and carrots. We were noticing how much she and I were alike! Not really physically, but personality wise. I also noticed that she and I have toes that are very much alike. This was after she mentioned that the baby had long toes like she did:-)

Anyway, we were looking at the otters when Tim called Suzy. Suzy said, "Lindsey, Tim wants to talk to you". Without thinking anything of it, I took the phone and said, "hey Tim, how are you?" Tim replied, "Hey Lindsey, since I could not be there today, I wanted to be the one to tell you that we want yall to be the parents." My mouth dropped open (according to Suzy who was standing beside me watching and smiling). I asked Tim to tell Jarrod! Jarrod said that he could barely hear Tim because Suzy and I were screaming (happy screaming). I was in shock. We made a few calls to annouce our news and then finished enjoying the zoo. I bought a stuffed otter to commemorate the occasion. It will of course go to Easton. Yep, its a boy and thats his name, Easton James Wagner. We've had the name Easton picked out since before we were married. James is our favorite book of the bible. Suzy told us that she knew that we were the right couple from the first time she talked to me. She also said that Mr. Lawyer had found out they were choosing us on the Thursday that Suzy went to see him. The past couple of weeks have been such a whirlwind. We are elated that this is all happening. I stayed in shock until sometime yesterday. I'm just now realizing that I have only four monthes to get A LOT done! He is due on July 18th. I am going to her doctors appt with her on Friday to hear baby Eastons heartbeat. I cannot wait!!

I hope that this post has made sense... Its so much to put into just one blog post! It was just three weeks ago we were officially ready (on paper) to adopt! If I or anyone else ever thought that adoption was not what God wanted for Jarrod and I, he sure proved us wrong! We prayed that we would not have to wait long- talk about an answered prayer!!! We were also praying for the Lord to show us where we would have to get/borrow/find the $35,000 it was going to take to pay the agency. PRAISE THE LORD that he answered our prayer the way he did!