Life with Two Special Needs Children: Happy 10th Birthday, Sweet Caleb!

Not sure what happened, but I had scheduled this to post yesterday, because I was doing an exercise as part of our church small group study of a media fast and for whatever reason it didn't post. So, here it is, a little late, but still wishing my big boy a very happy birthday!!!!

Ten years ago, one of the most beautiful and precious little boys came into this world and made Tony and I parents for the very first time through the miracle of adoption. Every year on Caleb's birthday I am more thankful for the selfless decision that Caleb's birthmother made in choosing adoption for the sweet little boy she was carrying instead of the alternative.

I remember sitting at my desk at work, with my cell phone in my pocket, working away when my cell phone rang. On the other end of the phone was a friend of Caleb's birthmother telling me that she was at the hospital in labor. I called Tony, told my boss and my co-workers and our HR department that we had just received the call and I needed to leave. I called our counselor and she told us to start getting ready to travel. Tony and I met at home we began the frantic packing process and calling to change our plane tickets that we had booked for a couple of days later to fly out the very next day. Later that afternoon, about 4:45, we received the phone call that our son was born. We were so excited. I could hardly sleep that night!

The next day we began the long flight to California. I called the hospital and talked to our son's birthmom before we got on the plane. She told us that the nurses said it would be okay for us to come to the hospital as soon as we got into town, even though it would not be until about 10 p.m. that we would even land at the airport. We did go straight to the hospital and this is the first time I was able to see our son, Caleb Alexander:

I will never forget setting eyes on him the first time!

Caleb's birthmom, Nova, was in the NICU waiting for us to get there. When I first walked in after getting washed up, she handed him to me and said, "Here is your son."

Caleb spent five days in the hospital and then was discharged to us. His birthmother was resolved in her decision and signed all the necessary papers when she was asked to. We even had to do it a second time due to the fact that there was some mental health questions and we found out that she needed to have a psychological exam performed before actually signing the papers. So we had to hurry and get all of that accomplished. We were told that it could take weeks to get the necessary ICPC paperwork approved, which meant we had to stay in California until that happened. It so happened, that because our home study would have expired while we were in California and would need to get it updated as soon as possible, we were actually able to receive a conditional approval and leave California to go home to North Carolina within a week of Caleb being discharged from the hospital.

Things have definitely not always been easy with Caleb, but we know - without a doubt - that God chose us to be Caleb's parents.