Sunday, June 19, 2011

Our new SON!

I'm kind of shaking as I write this, but, my wonderful blog readers...I have a new son! Well, obviously he's not officially ours yet--we haven't even accepted the referral in writing, but we intend on doing just that. It's only been a few days, but we've already mentally added him to our family. He is a healthy, 9 month old (with huge cheeks!), who was born the day after Carson's fifth birthday. (Carson is thrilled with this fact!)

We are going to name him Asher, which means "happy and blessed" which is our prayer for him! (It's also one of the tribes of Judah, by the by.) We love his Thai name, and it will be his middle name--probably will be used interchangeably for many months (forever?) after we bring him home. I don't know if I'll change my mind later, but for now I'm gonna keep his Thai name on the private posts and just refer to him as Asher here.

We only have a few pics so far, but I'm sure you want to see them! The pictures are from December, which is a bummer, b/c he's surely changed so much since then. We have been told that the March pictures should be arriving any day. I put what we have on a protected post and the password is my maiden name (all lower case letters this time). If you don't know the password, please feel free to leave a comment on how I can message you privately, or email me at brazenlilly@gmail.com. If you want the rest of the story, come back and read below! But for pictures, CLICK HERE.

So....THE CALL. I had successfully crammed our month so full that although I daily thought about the call and carried my phone everywhere, I wasn't frantic about it like I was in March. I think that being confident we would get a referral was a COMPLETELY different feeling than the torture of wondering and then being disappointed. On Thursday, Sydney and I were at Michael's craft store when my phone rang. I had a cart full of party and cupcake supplies when I saw who was calling. It was the Holt office in Portland, which was a surprise, b/c I was expecting our contact in the Eugene office, but of course my heart starting racing. In fact, I later realized that in my freak out, I must have been holding a package of paper cupcake liners--because I found them in my purse! Holt has made me a shoplifter! (Don't worry, I returned later and paid for them.)

Our social worker, K, was the one calling. (We are fortunate to live in a Holt state, where the same agency can do both our home study AND all the international stuff.) She was super casual, and her small talk threw me off. I had completely abandoned my cart in the cake aisle and pushed Sydney into the little classroom near the front of the store. I finally said, "Should I be getting excited right now?" and she said "Yes." I was pacing the room at an alarming rate by this time. She told me she was sending me a file on a sweet and healthy baby boy. She told me the birthdate and that's when the tears came. We hung up and I rushed Sydney out of the store, b/c it was 12:15, and Trent has lunch until 1pm. We had agreed to only open the pictures if we were together, and I could NOT WAIT until 5pm. I needed to get to him! Sydney started pitching a fit that we were leaving all her birthday goodies and I broke all parenting rules and just said I would buy her a treat if she hurried. It worked. We headed to the hospital to meet Trent.

To make a long story shorter--we had some complications but finally saw the pictures together...all four of us crowded around the screen at Trent's work. The setting (kids in my lap, Trent controlling the computer differently than I would, kids pushing buttons and moving the screen) did not lend for an ideal first viewing. But when we got home, I put the kids down for nap/quiet time and finally had my mommy moment. I read over Asher's file and had a good long cry for his birth mom. We will not be publicly sharing even the little information we know about her, b/c that is Asher's story to hear first and share. But just knowing some small facts and details made me feel more connected to her and I just grieved. I wept that her loss is now my gain, and what an aching there must be in her young heart. I finally took time to look at the pictures at my own pace and tried to grasp the fact that (because there seemed to be no reason we would not accept) this was OUR SON! I will be the mother of 2 sons and a daughter. Carson and Sydney have a baby brother. He is in Thailand right now, being raised by his foster family. He has no idea what is coming. He's going to be so sad. But then, I pray, he'll be "happy and blessed." So many emotions!

Wow.

So, that's the scoop. In a couple days I'll write about how we kept it a secret from everyone so we could do a big, dramatic, surprise REVEAL (my favorite!) for both of our families at Sydney's birthday party--which was also a costume party. I think I'll wait a few years to show Asher the pictures of Trent and me in blue wigs holding his picture. It might scar him more than necessary.

28 comments:

Kristen Howerton said...

YAY!!!! So thrilled for your guys. Have been waiting for this post from you. :)

Dionne Sincire said...

Asher is so adorable! Congratulations to you and your family! I can't wait to read updates on your blog..., your story is truly and inspiration!

Emily said...

Yay Yay Yay!

Catiejoyce said...

LOVE your story about the call!!!! You are all blessed. ;-)

Rachel said...

Totally teared up reading this. So excited for your family and for Asher. He is beautiful. Thanks for sharing this journey with us!

Anonymous said...

I love referral stories. Thanks for sharing yours - it's awesome and you'll never forget it. Congratulations. =)

Robin

Believedb said...

So Happy for your sweet family. What a sweet sweet blessing! Words just can express how happy, excited and overjoyed I am for you

Alli said...

Yeah! Congratulations! Your story had me in tears. I love the story, I love the name, and I love the precious pictures of your precious son even more! I am so happy for you guys.

SimpleCulture said...

What a wonderful father's day surprise for you and your family... funny how those phone calls catch you off guard!

Kelli said...

I have been thinking about you since Friday! I am so thrilled for you and your family!!!! He is such a cutie Jen!!!

Pascale said...

Wow, such great news, I'm so happy for you and Trent and Carson & Sydney! A little baby brother, how wonderful! Just think of the Star Wars tutorials to come!
So fantastic and thank you for sharing your story with everyone, Jen. Your family is loved near and far.

Kerrie (and Jason) said...

Wow. Congrats. It seems like everyone is getting the phone call lately. Hopefully ours isn't far behind.

chaniemom said...

YEAH! I had just checked your blog earlier today and was sad to see there was no new news. So, I'm so glad that I checked again tonight! I'm celebrating with you! May God bless you and your sweet baby boy!

Lacock family said...

Congratulations!! I am so glad to know that there is one less orphan in the world! We cannot wait to get our call from Thailand as well! All in the Lords timing, is what I have to keep telling myself!

I pray you get to travel soon and welcome him into your family!

I would love to see pics! My email is lacockfam@gmail.com

Keep us updated on all the news. As you well know, it helps those of us that are still waiting to be able to rejoice as others bring their little ones home!

Nina said...

Just to read the words "Our new son" makes me cry tears of joy and thanksgiving for all God has done. Beautiful boy born to be a blessing!!!! Love you Asher... all the way to the moon and back(:

Anonymous said...

yaaay love love baby news!!! so glad to see this post, best ever. Love his name so strong and perfect, also love his Thai name you put on FB (there is a little Thai boy recently home near me with the same Thai name)

woosterweester said...

What a honor Jen to be a part of this tender, exciting, joyful, and holy moment. So precious. He. Is. Beautiful. And I can't wait to (someday when he's attached and ready for visitors) kiss those little cheeks to kingdom come.
Congratulations Tompkins family and welcome little Asher!

Anonymous said...

Oh, BOY!!!! So very excited for you all. I pray those updated pics make it to your inbox soon so you can know more about your youngest son and see more of those chubby cheeks. Thanks for sharing your exciting referral story. Glad you didn't get caught shoplifting those cupcake liners - that would be hard to explain in all the adoption paperwork ;) He is precious!

Gravity said...

I'm so happy for you guys!!!! He is SSOOOO adorable!!

Anonymous said...

Jen, it's so exciting and wonderful!! I love hearing referral stories. Sweet Asher has a wonderful family waiting for him-what a blessing for all of you!

Megan said...

So so so excited for you! And I love his name! So very adoreable. He is truly blessed.

Scuba Wife Life said...

So incredibly happy and excited for you guys! Prayers have been answered and fulfilled! My heart is bursting with joy for you and your family!! I can't wait to eventually have your new little son in my Sunday school class one day! Congratulations to you guys! I will continue to pray that everything goes smoothly!! I love you! :)

Lyndsi said...

Such sweet and wonderful miracles God is performing! Lovelier news there could not be... Congratulations!

Wendy said...

I TOLD YOU!!!!!!!! I KNEW it would be this week!!!!! SOOOOOOO happy for you!!!!!! I don't even have any words other than Congratulations!!!!

Kristin said...

Oh my word, JEN! This is HUGE NEWS! God is so good and so faithful! What a journey!!! Ah, this is a joyous day! My Monday just got better and I'm not even the one adopting! :) Love you!

Maureen said...

Congrats! he is gorgeous! Can't wait to hear about the big reveal. I had tears reading this post...what a blessed little boy to have added you to his family tree.

Unknown said...

Two days later... HOORAY! I had goosebumps and tears in my eyes when I read through your post. I can't believe it! I can't wait to see Asher's face! Love you guys.

Anonymous said...

I need to check blogs more often!!! YA HOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!! Such exciting news! He's gorgeous! A million congratulations to you! :) -Nikki