Different Meet and Greet

We set up an apointment with a pediatrician, just to visit and see if we liked her. We had thought we might have a kid by now, but there was no reason to cancel the meet and greet.

Bonny couldn't beg off work, so I went alone. The doc seemed pretty cool, and seemed like she'd deal with kids well. She had the problem almost all female doctors have, namely; cold hands. But what can ya do. Women have more centralized circulatory systems than men.

Another thing dealt with.

I think we have most everything done, that we need done, before we get a kid. Although, I hear rumors of a baby shower...but I don't know if I'm invited.

Profile

So, here's the detailed profile. There's one picture I was begging Bonny, NOT to put in. Can you guess which one?

Anyhow...

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The top left is a bit of a tribute to our first nephew, Alexander: Justin holding Alex, Bonny playing the mirror game with Alex, Bonny holding newborn Alex in the hospital and Alex with his mom, aunt, two uncles and friend.

The bottom left are pictures of various friends and family doing various things: croquet, Christmas and renaissance faire.

The center picture is us at Terra Studios. To either side are pictures of Justin and Bonny at Sarah’s wedding reception. Above is a picture of Justin performing Sarah and Daryl’s wedding ceremony.

Top right is a display of our many talents. Bonny’s ability to make beautiful cakes, and Justin’s ability to eat them. Don’t worry, Bonny made the cake for Valentine’s Day. Justin wasn’t ruining anyone’s wedding.

The pictures below that are of us and our dogs, Sugar and Cookie. Justin was busy getting a bit tangled up, but they calmed down for Bonny.

The picture with Sylvester is Bonny and her dad at Six Flags, and the picture below is of us in front of the computer.


Left to Right (Jeremy, Bonny, Justin, Ann and Randall)

This is Justin’s family with us on our wedding day. It was a pretty hectic day. An ice storm meant tuxedos, catering and many of the guests didn’t make it. But those that could make it, had a great time.


Left to Right (Dan, Shelia, Sarah, Bonny, Justin, Thomas and Jonathan)
Up Front (Shannon and Will)

This is Bonny’s family with us on our wedding day. Since then, Sarah and Jonathan have each gotten married and have one child apiece.



Finally, we had a more recent picture taken. It seems one of us is always the one behind the camera, so we had a friend take one of us together.

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Dear Birthmother,

Thank you for considering us. We know that this is one of most important and difficult decisions you will ever have to make. We admire your courage and selflessness in making this choice. It takes a special kind of person to put the needs and well-being of another so far ahead of their own. If you place this child with us, we promise we will always love the child with all of our hearts and always place their needs before our own.

We have been married four and a half years, and have talked about having children since before we were married. We have always loved and wanted children. We have attended church all our lives, and currently worship in Fort Worth. We are both actively involved in church. We are involved in teaching bible classes and Justin preaches and leads singing upon occasion. We also attend a weekly class for young married couples.

Bonny comes from a family of eight (three brothers and two sisters). Her parent's love for children is endless and that characteristic has been passed on to their daughter. When Bonny visits our friends who have children, she always seems to spend the most time with the kids. She loves taking the kids to places like the zoo, Six Flags, or the renaissance fair. She takes great joy in her aunt and sister roles. Bonny especially loves babies. Since the birth of our nephew, our trips to her sister’s house have at least doubled. She currently works as a cake decorator. However, when a child is placed with us, she will be a stay-at-home mom.

Justin comes from a family of four (one brother). His parents both wanted more children, but were unable. They have always been involved in church and his father preaches regularly at the congregation he attends. Justin is very close with his brother. They grew up in the country and loved going on “adventures” in the woods or down by the creek.

Justin loves spending time talking and playing with children. People often comment on how kids seem to gravitate toward him. That is because he always takes what they care about or have to say very seriously. Although sometimes; it is because they mistake him for a tree or a jungle gym. Either way, they love spending time with him and he loves spending time with them.

Justin works at Lockheed Martin as a software engineer. He makes a good living, enjoys his work and, if the Lord wills, intends to stay thru retirement. He has worked at Lockheed for just over four years and is expecting another promotion soon. He is currently working on his Master’s degree at SMU and will graduate in December.

The most important thing to consider throughout this process is the welfare of this precious child. We want to be parents, but more importantly, we want children placed with the best parents for them. We know we can be those parents, and we trust in the Lord to send us the right child at the right time.

In Christian Love,
Justin and Bonny Carrell

Commissioned

We’ve been commissioned to make a more detailed profile; at least a profile with more pictures in it. We don’t take a lot of pictures, so we may want to grab some new ones. (any excuse to use the new camera)

Anyhow, I’ll post the profile once we’re done with it.

-J

New news

Well, we went to visit the Hash's this weekend. Sarah, Johnathan, Heather, Josie and Alexander, were all there too. So, we got some good visiting and support.

We're back home now. We actually got a call from the agency this morning concerning another birthmother. I won't be able to give as much detail on this one, but I'll give detail as it comes in.

She is young and we are working on scheduling a meet and greet with her. I really don't know a whole lot more than that right now.

BAD NEWS ...

We received notification that Reka has decided to parent her child.

We request prayers on Reka & the baby's behalf; and our behalf.

We will be out of town this weekend but should be back Monday.

-J

PICTURES

They were taken with a camera phone, so they are small, but they are better than nothing.

More Info

Well I just got a call with some more birth stats so I thoght I'd better share.

Birth Time 6:57pm
Weight 6lb 6oz
Length 20in
Head 12in
Chest 12 1/4in

And we hear she's the most beautiful baby in the nursery (of course)

xoxo
Bonny

Play Pen

Just a quick post. Here's the play pen. Click to enlarge.

Saturday it is

Well, Reka has decided that she wants to be there to give us the baby after all. Latest report says that will be saturday morning. We've been advised to be in Witchita Falls by 9am on Saturday, but that we'd be winging it on the exact time. Justin got the Bassinet/playpen thingy put together last night and got it all situated next to the bed. Hopefully we'll have someone to fill it soon.
--Bonny

Sleep is for the weak

Like they'd let us sleep. :)

It's a girl. It weighs 6 lbs 6 ozs.

Er, she weighs 6 lbs 6 ozs. Not sure the length, but she has light brown eyes and reports say that she's the most beautiful baby in the hospital.

It's looking like it might be Saturday rather than Friday.

But who knows. We'll update as we get word.

It's a ... baby

And that's all we know. Apparently, Reka’s water broke about 2am. So, for all we know it was born before I even made my last post. When the adoption agency found out, visiting hours were over. And the nursing desk wouldn’t tell them jack. They were reluctant to even tell them that it had been born. We don’t know its weight, length … gender. Natural, c-section … we don’t know. But, we do know that Reka wants us to wait to get the baby until she’s left the hospital. So, that means Friday. She seems very steady in her decision to place it, but we’re still gonna hold our breath for the next couple of days.

I’m gonna go to work tomorrow and maybe even finish off my work week.

We bought a portable play pen that has a bassinet insert and a mini changing table. I think I’ll make an attempt to put it together. Perchance an attempt to work my camera. Perchance fancy 4-megapixels pictures of it. We’ll see. :)

Reka is in Labor

Oooo, I bet that caught your attention. :)

But anyhow, she is in labor. When will she give birth? Who knows?

So, anyhow, they say that it is likely that it will be Friday when we need to come up and get the midget. The baby should be emerging on Thursday.

Details to come.

Reka wanted to see pics of the baby room.

But I sure couldn't send her here. She'd see pictures of people sitting in watermellons. We'd never get a baby. :)

So, we made a little site for her to look at. It's here. We tried to give credit where credit was due. :/

Welp, back to drawing crosshairs ... I mean ... uh ... drawing ... something else... yeeeeesssss, something else. I'm certainly not drawing crosshairs at work...

Uh...gotta go.

The latest

Well, there really isn't a lot to tell, but I'll give you what I know. All signs continue to be good. As ya'll know, she was due four days ago. Ergo, she's about to pop. And much like Sarah, she's saying, "Last call. All kids out of the pool."

Actually, she's probably saying, "Get this thing OUTTA ME ! ! !" And who can blame her.

Anyhow, the doctors have decided that she needs to have a "c section". However, they have not yet set a date. Normally, it is done with in the first post-due-date week. But, with first children, it can sometimes be extended a half a week and in rare cases a full week.

We should recieve a call as soon as a date is known.

All accounts report that she still feels we are a good fit, and that she made a good decision picking us. We'd like to think the same.

Anywho...I'm sick. So I'm gonna get off of here and work on getting well, so I don't get the baby sick.

-J

Tick Tick Tick

Tick Tick Tick Tick Tick

Jumpy much?

So, the stage is set. It is 9:30AM. Justin got to work about thirty minutes ago. Bonny, last Justin knew, was in bed.

Justin steps away from his desk for about twenty seconds. When he gets back Wilfred tells him that he got a call. It's normally Bonny, so he calls home. It's busy. So, he calls the cell phone. Bonny doesn't pick up. He calls again. She doesn't pick up. About three minutes later he calls home again. It's still busy. He calls the cell phone again, but no answer. Three minutes later he calls the cell phone. Again, there is no answer. He calls the home phone and finally gets an answer.

Justin - "Hey, did you try and call me?"
Bonny - "No."
Justin - "Who were you talking to?"
Bonny - "Your mom. She tried to call you."


... now before we go on, Bonny's perspective.

Bonny gets a call from Ann Carrell. Ann mentions she tried to call Justin at work. They continue talking. And then the cell phone rings. But Bonny is on the bedroom phone that is not cordless. It goes to voice mail. About 10 seconds later it starts ringing again. She lets it go to voice mail again, but doesn't hear the sound indicating she got a message. About three minutes later, the cell phone rings again. Again, no message is left. About three minutes later, the cell phone rings again. She figures it must be important since the calls keep coming and gets off the phone with Ann. She gets the cell phone and sees that it was Justin calling each time. Just then the home phone rings...

Justin - "Hey, did you try and call me?"
Bonny - "No."
Justin - "Who were you talking to?"
Bonny - "Your mom. She tried to call you."
...
Justin - "Oh, okay."
Bonny - "Is that it?"
Justin - "Uhh, yeah."
Bonny - "You called my cell phone four times."
Justin - "Well, I thought I missed a call from you, then the home phone was busy. I didn't even think you were up. I thought you might have gotten some news. Then you didn't pick up the cell phone, so the call had to at least be important enough that you weren't saying, "Just a sec" and checking the cell."
Bonny - "I thought you had heard something. You called my cell phone 4 times in 7 minutes."
...

So, I could go on, but the point is we're a bit on edge. :)

Diapers and Wipes

We decided we might need a little stuff at home before a kid shows up.    So, we bought some weird v-neck diapers...    Well, not v-neck ... v-torso ...    I don't know.    They are cut out for the healing belly button.    And we got some wipes.    We still don't have a place for the kid to sleep...    Well, we have a crib with blankets and sleeping bags padding it up.

I think the ladies at church are planning a baby shower.    They finally said, "Well, we'll just have it, and ya'll will get a baby eventually."    I'm not sure if a date was scheduled for that.

School Woes

Maybe school just wants to keep me so busy I can't think about the adoption. Like that would ever happen...

Anyhow, I had to give a 60 minute speech in class on Saturday. Everything went well and that closed off the semester. But what did I get via email the very next day?

Homework...

HOMEWORK

I have something due for the fall semester this Saturday. I thought I might get a 6 day break, but no, we already have homework.

That's okay. I just have to look longingly toward December.

-Justin

P.S. Bonny, you should post more.

UPDATE

Okay, before I say anything, I must cover myself.

I did try and call you, Bonny. I keep getting an "all circuits are busy" thing.

Secondly, please people, try and not get excited. Again, nothing is ever sure.

So I called up the agency for an update. Reka never ended up meeting with any other couples. This could be good or bad.

Bad version first. It might mean she's considering the adoption less seriously. She's not opening more options because she's not sure she's going to do it.

Good version. She might feel very uncomfortable in meeting couples and doesn't want to mess with any others to avoid the pain of thinking about it so directly. She still says she liked us pretty good.

The point is, I doubt a definitive decision will be made until very very near the birth date. Of course, the due date is only 1 week away.

So, good news. But really, the waiting is torture.

My bank is gone...

I'm living in the dark ages of 10 years ago. My debit card doesn't work and online banking is gone. It's only been three days and yet I'm already afraid to go outside. The outdoors are so bright and scary.

Seriously though, it is quite annoying. I have bills to pay. I hope the checks still work. I've been calling for the past 2 hours trying to transfer fifty bucks. But it's still busy.

Who to blame? Who to blame?

I blame......Alexander.

How DARE you Alexander?

Dog days of summer

Maybe God is making it so hot so it distracts me from the adoptions. Must find way to cool off.


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