Wow! What a crazy ride this adoption has been but it has also been a huge success! Today we are praising the Lord for our new, beautiful daughter, Kara Anne. We are so thankful that God has blessed us with her to love and guide. She is already blessed us beyond measure. We cannot say it enough how much we love her and are truly thankful for her :)
Here is our story: Most of you know that we started the whole process in January and the preparation actually went quite quickly. In April we were ready to start looking for a family. We have been waiting and waiting not hearing much and just praying. Then Matt on July 8th, Matt left for a week long banker school. On July 11th, Matt was in class when he got a call from a number he didn't recognize. Since his bike had broken a spoke the night before, he assumed it was the bike shop. When he didn't answer they called me at home. Jim Thompson started by telling me who it was and that they had a baby but there is a problem. She was born with a disease called Dandy Walkers Syndrome. He had an adoption counselor on the line, she told me it is a rare disease that affects the cerebellum and that there are different ranges from mild to severe. Unfortunately we had no way of knowing how severe it was. Also she had something called Hydrocephalus. Apparently that is water in the brain and tends to happen to children affected by Dandy Walkers. She had already had a stint put it and seemed to be doing well. She was born on June 22nd and the attorney told me that his mother had picked 3 profiles before they knew about the Dandy Walkers and Hydrocephalus. Ours was the only one of those three that didn't specifically say "No special needs." We had first pick before they went on to the special needs list. So I got of the phone head reeling. I got a hold of Matt and then got online to look up these two things. Matt and I were both not sure what to do. We were leaning towards taking her in the morning. That afternoon we were leaning away. It was probably the toughest thing I have ever been through. Thursday I was able to see the babies medical records. They didn't really tell me much but he suggested I call a doctor that we trusted. I called our local family doctor who referred me to a pediatric unit who referred me to a referral service who referred me to 2 pediatricians who had never heard of Dandy Walkers. As you can imagine I was rather frustrated after that. I called the attorney back and he told me that the baby is being treated by a neurosurgeon right here in Greenville. Friday morning the secretary of the attorney set us up and appointment for Tuesday morning. Then I made the request that changed our life. I asked for a picture of the baby. She stole my heart instantly, this was a real baby who needed a home. I think that was when I was ready. That afternoon Matt came home and we spent some time in prayer and talking about it and decided we wanted to bring her home. I called the attorney's office and told them that we wanted her! They told me we could bring her home as early as the next day or we could wait until after the doctor's appointment on Tuesday. There wasn't a way I could wait till Tuesday. We set up a conference call for the next day. On Saturday we had the conference call we drove to Spartanburg and  brought our baby girl home. Fun Fact: We brought her home on July 14th 2012. On July 14th 2007, Matt asked me to be his wife :)
We want to thank so many people for their prayers and support. Especially our parents. We also would like to think Brian and Jenny Bibb for recommending Jim Thompson. Also we are very thankful for Jim Thompson for all his hard work for us and being so understanding and supportive as we wrestled with the decision. We are so blessed and thankful for our sweet baby girl.