EARTHQUAKE!

On Tuesday, August 23rd Charlie and I were enjoying a leisurely vacation nap at the beach when I was roused from my sleep by a strange shaking sensation. At first I though Charlie was kicking the bed. I looked over at him and he was sound asleep.
I closed my eyes again. The shaking got worse. I looked over at him. His eyes opened too with a look on his face, like "Why is Mama shaking the bed?" Then I thought, maybe it's the washing machine I turned on before naptime. Nope. IT WAS AN EARTHQUAKE! Not something I had ever experienced! Now this wasn't a huge one mind you, but enough to wake me from my slumber and get my attention. The funny thing was, that earthquake wasn't the last time that my world was rocked that day. God sent two earthquakes our way that day.
Later that night, a message came through from a person I hadn't spoken to over a year. A person that I always thought fondly of, a good person, a sweet person. A person pregnant with a baby that she couldn't keep. And then those words you can never imagine hearing-would you and Chad consider adopting the baby?
In case you missed our August 31st post (SOS) the next three weeks were a roller coaster of thoughts, emotions, and prayer. I had a hard time blogging because this baby consumed every waking thought in my tiny little mind. We questioned God's timing. We questioned our sanity.
After fighting for Charlie for over two years, this baby just drops into our laps. At that point, in less 12 weeks this little boy will make his grand debut. With Charlie we filled out paperwork, paperwork, paperwork and then when it expired filled it out again. Fingerprinting, fundraising, homestudies, doctor exams, chest x-rays, blood work, certificates of home ownership, tax returns, the list goes on and on. And now this. A simple question, a not so simple answer. It still seems too good to be true. It's like God knew that another adoption nightmare might just send me over the edge. He gently nudged us and said "take this baby, I'll make this one easy on you...."
So here we go. In 64 DAYS, Baby Jack will make his grand debut and take up residence in our arms. It's funny, he's already found a place in our hearts. Less fighting to get him home has not made me love him any less. It's funny how fiercely we can love someone whom we have never met, never dreamed of and didn't even know existed till the day the earth shook twice.
It's funny how little baby clothes are. It's funny how many brands of bottles are in the store (it's even funnier to see the look on my husbands face while trying to decide which bottles to register for....) It's funny the way Charlie wakes up every morning and says "Baby yet?"  It's funny how God blesses our socks off when we are least expecting it. It's funny how we "plan" our lives and obviously God finds humor in that too. It's when we cross our last "t" and dot our last "i" that He shakes the earth under our feet to get our attention.
So ready or not, we will double our family size in less a year. We are buying tiny things and cleaning out closets.
Thank you so much for your Charlie prayers, now we need Jack prayers. Pray that he is healthy. Pray for his birth mom, I can't imagine what she will go through in the next two months. Pray that she will remain strong and brave. Pray that our path through this adoption will be smooth- I am scared to death considering our less than illustrious track record when it comes to smooth adoptions....Pray for my sweet husband and for big brother Charlie too. We just need some intense, solidified prays in the next two months. You had two years to pray for us last time, so this should be short and sweet, but much appreciated!