What an AMAZING, MIRACULOUS, OVERWHELMING week we’ve had. There’s NO possible way I can even begin to try and share every detail of everything that has happened in the past week, but I definitely want to share the highlights because I haven’t had a chance to update since we got to Florida. I’ve gotten so used to being able to share all of the details when I update the blog, so the past week has been hard. :) There simply hasn’t been enough time to sit and update everything the way I would have liked to. However, I am determined to get an update out today so I am going to do the bullet point method again.
As you know, we got the call last Wednesday letting us know the BM wanted us here in FL when the baby was born. We were overjoyed with this news. We rushed around packing things up and had a great time together on the road trip to Florida. Here’s a very brief description of the major events that have happened in our lives since the last time I posted…
THURSDAY NIGHT -
· We arrived in Florida around 8:30 and settled into an apartment that was made available to us for the week. It’s been such a blessing this week to come home to a cozy little apartment instead of a stuffy hotel room.
FRIDAY -
· After unpacking and trying to wind down from a long road trip, we finally headed to bed a little after midnight. As I was falling asleep I remember hearing a train outside the window. I didn’t think much about it at the time, but would later make an unbelievable connection to something the Lord had spoken to me several weeks ago.
· My cell phone rang at 3:30am and it was the director of the agency (Miss S) here in Florida. She was at the hospital with Josiah’s BM and she was in active labor. The BM wanted us there at the hospital so we shot up in bed, frantically got dressed and headed to the hospital. We carefully made our way through the small unfamiliar town (with the help of our GPS) and made it to the hospital by 4:15am. On our way to the hospital I noticed that we had to go over at least 6 different rail road crossings. It appeared this little town was surrounded by trains. As we were approaching the hospital we passed a cute little train station. As I mentioned before, I will post soon about the significance of trains in this whole story, but you need to know that I had seen the train station near the hospital in my mind weeks before we ever knew about the situation with this BM. God was blowing me away with the little touches He was putting on this journey just to remind us that He was in it from the beginning.
· Miss S met us out by the nurses’ station and we followed her into the BM’s room. She was in so much pain and instantly began to apologize for getting us out of bed so early in the morning. I was amazed at the instant connection we had with her. (Side note…I hate having to refer to her as the BM. She is so much more than that to me, but I want to respect her and the privacy of this situation so I can’t share her name. I couldn’t think of a name that I wanted to use so I decided to just stick with BM. Just remember, she’s not just some woman who gave me her son. She is my hero who I love more than I ever thought I would.)
· We decided we would wait in the waiting room until she had her epidural and got some rest. Miss S sat with us and we talked for several hours as the BM rested after getting her epidural. Miss S explained to me that the BM wanted me in the room with her when he was born if I was comfortable with that. I wasn’t sure what to say because I was so overwhelmed with the reality of what was happening. All of this was so much more than I ever imagined. God was truly knocking my socks off and showing me once again that He is a faithful and loving God.
· At 7:00am we had not heard anything from the nurses for a few hours so Steve and I decided to head down to the cafeteria to eat breakfast and get some coffee. As we were leaving the waiting room, Miss S jokingly said “You know as soon as you get down there they’ll check her and she’s going to be ready to start pushing.” Sure enough, when we were almost finished eating my cell phone rang and Miss S said “Get up here now. Your son is coming soon!” I dropped everything and ran upstairs, leaving Steve to clean up and bring our coffee up. LOL I could barely contain my excitement. I think I floated all the way up the elevator and into the Labor and Delivery unit.
· When I walked into the room, the BM was sitting up and the nurses were getting everything ready. We talked for a few minutes about how she was feeling and everything that was about to happen. She asked about our trip and again apologized for getting us out of bed so early. All I could do was smile and tell her to stop apologizing. lol She had obviously already talked to the dr about us because as soon as the dr entered the room she looked at me and said, “You must be the adoptive mommy. It’s so nice to meet you. Why don’t you come right over here so you can see your son being born.” I looked at the clock at 8:10 and thought “We’re going to have a baby by 9:00.” Well, five pushes later, at 8:21, Josiah Steven Wayne Todd was born. He weighed 7 lb. 15 oz. and was 21.5 inches long. I was instantly in love. The dr looked at me and said “Do you want to cut the cord mom?” OMG!! I couldn’t believe it. Once again, God was overwhelming with His special touches that were going above and beyond anything I had ever dreamed of.
· I instantly started taking pictures and sending them to Steve who was anxiously waiting out in the waiting room. After everything was cleaned up and put away, Steve joined us in the room and got to meet his son for the first time. I will never forget that moment for as long as I live. From the first touch, they were instant buddies.
· As I look back on the rest of that day and all day Saturday, I can see how anyone on the outside of this situation might think the events of last weekend could be a little awkward and even uncomfortable at times. All I can say is that God was at the center of everything that happened in that hospital and I will cherish the time we got to spend with his BM. The hospital was very small so there weren’t any open rooms for us to stay in with Josiah. It was obvious though that God had ordained for us to spend the next 24-36 hours with Josiah’s BM making memories and hearing about her story in more detail.
· I ended up spending the night at the hospital with Josiah and his BM so I could take care of him through the night. The hospital didn’t have a typical nursery so the only place he could stay was in the room with the BM. She was nervous about being there by herself because she knew it would make saying goodbye even harder. I volunteered to stay with her and we had a great night. I was honored to help take care of her and of course I was thrilled to be there for my son’s first night in this world. It was a great bonding time!
SATURDAY
· What an emotional day! Steve and I spent a majority of the day talking and ministering to the BM. She had so many questions for us and God allowed us to impart some wonderful things into her life. We prayed together and even ate a wonderful lunch together provided by the hospital.
· Surprisingly, I hadn’t cried at all since we got to Florida. I am usually an emotional basket case and can cry at the drop of a hat. The BM said she is the same way, but we were both amazed that neither of us had shed one tear. She believed it was because the peace of God, that passes all understanding, had filled that hospital room and helped solidify that we were doing exactly what He wanted us to be doing. However, when it came time for us to say goodbye to her, the emotions started flowing and I cried all the way to the car. She is by far the most courageous person I have ever met! I truly believe that we will meet her again someday. She has a long road ahead of her so we covet your prayers for her. She has a desire to follow God’s plan for her life and stop making some of the choices she has made in the past. We believe that God is ready to radically change her and make her life something beautiful. However, we also know there’s an enemy out there who would want nothing more than for her to fall again and turn her back on the Lord. Thank you for your prayers for her.
· The BM signed consent and the other paperwork Saturday afternoon while we were at the store. When we returned to the hospital, she had been discharged and it was just the three of us. As much as I loved the time I got to spend with her, it felt wonderful to be there with just Steve and Josiah.
· Josiah wasn’t able to be discharged until 48 hours after birth, so I stayed at the hospital with him Saturday night. One really cool thing that happened that night was we go to Skype with the girls. We were missing them so much and we knew they were chomping at the bit to see their brother. We have walked this journey together as a family from the very beginning. It was hard not having them here to experience it all with us. This has been especially true as the week has drug on and on.
SUNDAY
· Josiah was released from the hospital and we brought him to the apartment. It’s really important for adoptive parents to bond physically and emotionally with their adoptive child. I have several amazing friends who gave me some great advice about this bonding time and some things we could do to help the bonding process with our son. We spent the next several days being very intentional about bonding and talking to him. As each moment passes, we fall more and more in love with him and we realize more and more what a blessing he is to us.
Now it’s the waiting game again. After consents were signed on Saturday (10/22), everything was sent to the lawyer’s office on Monday. The way I understand it, the lawyers here in Florida had to submit all of our paperwork to the state ICPC (Interstate Compact for Placement of Children). Basically, ICPC is the process where Florida has to approve and recognize the adoption in their state and then send the information to Ohio so they can approve and recognize it in their state. Until both states have done the paperwork and communicated with each other, we cannot leave the state of Florida. We are so anxious to get home to the girls and the rest of our family. It’s getting harder and harder to be so far away and be stuck in this small town.
If any of you have ever walked through a miracle or a time in your life when you knew God was moving in a mighty way, you can understand what I mean when I say the enemy (the devil) gets really mad. He often attacks people in these times as a way to discredit what God has done or as an attempt to distract and discourage people from what God has or is doing. Well, we have definitely felt some of this spiritual attack this week. Even though we would not trade the time we’ve had with our son, it’s been a very lonely week here being so far from family and friends.
As you know, we got the call last Wednesday letting us know the BM wanted us here in FL when the baby was born. We were overjoyed with this news. We rushed around packing things up and had a great time together on the road trip to Florida. Here’s a very brief description of the major events that have happened in our lives since the last time I posted…
THURSDAY NIGHT -
· We arrived in Florida around 8:30 and settled into an apartment that was made available to us for the week. It’s been such a blessing this week to come home to a cozy little apartment instead of a stuffy hotel room.
FRIDAY -
· After unpacking and trying to wind down from a long road trip, we finally headed to bed a little after midnight. As I was falling asleep I remember hearing a train outside the window. I didn’t think much about it at the time, but would later make an unbelievable connection to something the Lord had spoken to me several weeks ago.
· My cell phone rang at 3:30am and it was the director of the agency (Miss S) here in Florida. She was at the hospital with Josiah’s BM and she was in active labor. The BM wanted us there at the hospital so we shot up in bed, frantically got dressed and headed to the hospital. We carefully made our way through the small unfamiliar town (with the help of our GPS) and made it to the hospital by 4:15am. On our way to the hospital I noticed that we had to go over at least 6 different rail road crossings. It appeared this little town was surrounded by trains. As we were approaching the hospital we passed a cute little train station. As I mentioned before, I will post soon about the significance of trains in this whole story, but you need to know that I had seen the train station near the hospital in my mind weeks before we ever knew about the situation with this BM. God was blowing me away with the little touches He was putting on this journey just to remind us that He was in it from the beginning.
· Miss S met us out by the nurses’ station and we followed her into the BM’s room. She was in so much pain and instantly began to apologize for getting us out of bed so early in the morning. I was amazed at the instant connection we had with her. (Side note…I hate having to refer to her as the BM. She is so much more than that to me, but I want to respect her and the privacy of this situation so I can’t share her name. I couldn’t think of a name that I wanted to use so I decided to just stick with BM. Just remember, she’s not just some woman who gave me her son. She is my hero who I love more than I ever thought I would.)
· We decided we would wait in the waiting room until she had her epidural and got some rest. Miss S sat with us and we talked for several hours as the BM rested after getting her epidural. Miss S explained to me that the BM wanted me in the room with her when he was born if I was comfortable with that. I wasn’t sure what to say because I was so overwhelmed with the reality of what was happening. All of this was so much more than I ever imagined. God was truly knocking my socks off and showing me once again that He is a faithful and loving God.
· At 7:00am we had not heard anything from the nurses for a few hours so Steve and I decided to head down to the cafeteria to eat breakfast and get some coffee. As we were leaving the waiting room, Miss S jokingly said “You know as soon as you get down there they’ll check her and she’s going to be ready to start pushing.” Sure enough, when we were almost finished eating my cell phone rang and Miss S said “Get up here now. Your son is coming soon!” I dropped everything and ran upstairs, leaving Steve to clean up and bring our coffee up. LOL I could barely contain my excitement. I think I floated all the way up the elevator and into the Labor and Delivery unit.
· When I walked into the room, the BM was sitting up and the nurses were getting everything ready. We talked for a few minutes about how she was feeling and everything that was about to happen. She asked about our trip and again apologized for getting us out of bed so early. All I could do was smile and tell her to stop apologizing. lol She had obviously already talked to the dr about us because as soon as the dr entered the room she looked at me and said, “You must be the adoptive mommy. It’s so nice to meet you. Why don’t you come right over here so you can see your son being born.” I looked at the clock at 8:10 and thought “We’re going to have a baby by 9:00.” Well, five pushes later, at 8:21, Josiah Steven Wayne Todd was born. He weighed 7 lb. 15 oz. and was 21.5 inches long. I was instantly in love. The dr looked at me and said “Do you want to cut the cord mom?” OMG!! I couldn’t believe it. Once again, God was overwhelming with His special touches that were going above and beyond anything I had ever dreamed of.
· I instantly started taking pictures and sending them to Steve who was anxiously waiting out in the waiting room. After everything was cleaned up and put away, Steve joined us in the room and got to meet his son for the first time. I will never forget that moment for as long as I live. From the first touch, they were instant buddies.
· As I look back on the rest of that day and all day Saturday, I can see how anyone on the outside of this situation might think the events of last weekend could be a little awkward and even uncomfortable at times. All I can say is that God was at the center of everything that happened in that hospital and I will cherish the time we got to spend with his BM. The hospital was very small so there weren’t any open rooms for us to stay in with Josiah. It was obvious though that God had ordained for us to spend the next 24-36 hours with Josiah’s BM making memories and hearing about her story in more detail.
· I ended up spending the night at the hospital with Josiah and his BM so I could take care of him through the night. The hospital didn’t have a typical nursery so the only place he could stay was in the room with the BM. She was nervous about being there by herself because she knew it would make saying goodbye even harder. I volunteered to stay with her and we had a great night. I was honored to help take care of her and of course I was thrilled to be there for my son’s first night in this world. It was a great bonding time!
SATURDAY
· What an emotional day! Steve and I spent a majority of the day talking and ministering to the BM. She had so many questions for us and God allowed us to impart some wonderful things into her life. We prayed together and even ate a wonderful lunch together provided by the hospital.
· Surprisingly, I hadn’t cried at all since we got to Florida. I am usually an emotional basket case and can cry at the drop of a hat. The BM said she is the same way, but we were both amazed that neither of us had shed one tear. She believed it was because the peace of God, that passes all understanding, had filled that hospital room and helped solidify that we were doing exactly what He wanted us to be doing. However, when it came time for us to say goodbye to her, the emotions started flowing and I cried all the way to the car. She is by far the most courageous person I have ever met! I truly believe that we will meet her again someday. She has a long road ahead of her so we covet your prayers for her. She has a desire to follow God’s plan for her life and stop making some of the choices she has made in the past. We believe that God is ready to radically change her and make her life something beautiful. However, we also know there’s an enemy out there who would want nothing more than for her to fall again and turn her back on the Lord. Thank you for your prayers for her.
· The BM signed consent and the other paperwork Saturday afternoon while we were at the store. When we returned to the hospital, she had been discharged and it was just the three of us. As much as I loved the time I got to spend with her, it felt wonderful to be there with just Steve and Josiah.
· Josiah wasn’t able to be discharged until 48 hours after birth, so I stayed at the hospital with him Saturday night. One really cool thing that happened that night was we go to Skype with the girls. We were missing them so much and we knew they were chomping at the bit to see their brother. We have walked this journey together as a family from the very beginning. It was hard not having them here to experience it all with us. This has been especially true as the week has drug on and on.
SUNDAY
· Josiah was released from the hospital and we brought him to the apartment. It’s really important for adoptive parents to bond physically and emotionally with their adoptive child. I have several amazing friends who gave me some great advice about this bonding time and some things we could do to help the bonding process with our son. We spent the next several days being very intentional about bonding and talking to him. As each moment passes, we fall more and more in love with him and we realize more and more what a blessing he is to us.
Now it’s the waiting game again. After consents were signed on Saturday (10/22), everything was sent to the lawyer’s office on Monday. The way I understand it, the lawyers here in Florida had to submit all of our paperwork to the state ICPC (Interstate Compact for Placement of Children). Basically, ICPC is the process where Florida has to approve and recognize the adoption in their state and then send the information to Ohio so they can approve and recognize it in their state. Until both states have done the paperwork and communicated with each other, we cannot leave the state of Florida. We are so anxious to get home to the girls and the rest of our family. It’s getting harder and harder to be so far away and be stuck in this small town.
If any of you have ever walked through a miracle or a time in your life when you knew God was moving in a mighty way, you can understand what I mean when I say the enemy (the devil) gets really mad. He often attacks people in these times as a way to discredit what God has done or as an attempt to distract and discourage people from what God has or is doing. Well, we have definitely felt some of this spiritual attack this week. Even though we would not trade the time we’ve had with our son, it’s been a very lonely week here being so far from family and friends.
We covet your prayers for some very specific things…
· A speedy answer from ICPC. If we don’t hear anything today then we won’t be able to leave Florida until at least Monday. They don’t process anything for ICPC over the weekends. There doesn't seem to be a sense of urgency with anyone besides us so we easily get frustrated when no one keeps us updated.
· Encouragement for us as we wait. We are constantly reminding each other of the waiting period we went through to get to this point in our journey. We know that God is still in control and He has a reason for us still being down here. However, it’s easy to look at our circumstances and get frustrated. This little town is far from a touristy town so there isn’t anything to occupy our time during the day.
· Continued prayer for the BM. She is a beautiful person who has an amazing heart. We are praying God radically gets ahold of her heart.
· Continued prayer for Josiah. He is absolutely perfect and we can’t wait for you to meet him. He melts every heart he comes in contact with.
· Safe travels when we finally get to leave. We are so anxious to get home, but we know traveling with an infant will be much different than the trip down here. :)
Thank you for your continued prayers during this entire journey. I can’t wait to update later with more pictures and more details about the special little things God did while we were here in Florida. We are planning on having a HUGE party in a few weeks (I don’t want to call it a baby shower…it’s SO much more than just a baby shower.) We would love to have you all there. More info about that later. We love you so much!
· A speedy answer from ICPC. If we don’t hear anything today then we won’t be able to leave Florida until at least Monday. They don’t process anything for ICPC over the weekends. There doesn't seem to be a sense of urgency with anyone besides us so we easily get frustrated when no one keeps us updated.
· Encouragement for us as we wait. We are constantly reminding each other of the waiting period we went through to get to this point in our journey. We know that God is still in control and He has a reason for us still being down here. However, it’s easy to look at our circumstances and get frustrated. This little town is far from a touristy town so there isn’t anything to occupy our time during the day.
· Continued prayer for the BM. She is a beautiful person who has an amazing heart. We are praying God radically gets ahold of her heart.
· Continued prayer for Josiah. He is absolutely perfect and we can’t wait for you to meet him. He melts every heart he comes in contact with.
· Safe travels when we finally get to leave. We are so anxious to get home, but we know traveling with an infant will be much different than the trip down here. :)
Thank you for your continued prayers during this entire journey. I can’t wait to update later with more pictures and more details about the special little things God did while we were here in Florida. We are planning on having a HUGE party in a few weeks (I don’t want to call it a baby shower…it’s SO much more than just a baby shower.) We would love to have you all there. More info about that later. We love you so much!
3 comments:
Okay I am sitting in my office balling like a baby!! Love you guys and so happy for all of you! Praying for you guys to get home and be with the girls and have your whole family together. And praying for the bm for strength and courage. Love you guys!! Brooke
It's sp amazing the way in which God can work, and God is working in a mighty way with you and Steve right now, you two are two of the most mighty people of God I've ever met in my entire life and have been waiting in enticipation for a long long time that He was going to give you a son, and you guys were so so faithful and now you have your Josiah!! You guys and your story are such an inspiration to me when I am going through trials of my own. I love you guys so much,
Loving and praying for you,
Josh Jump
We are in constant prayer for your family and are so happy for this addition to the Todd family.. What a blessing !!!!
Love you guys!!
The Gillums
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