No news has been good news so far. It has been a month since we first met Danielle and we were so excited when we found out last week, we would get to see her again on Saturday.
We met Danielle, our social worker, Cindy, Danielle's parents, Michele and Danny and Gwendolyn's sister, Scarlett yesterday. We were so happy to see Danielle so happy and full of joy. She was so excited for her parents to meet us. Michele and Danny were such "down to earth" people and strong Christians which made us happy. Sixteen-month-old, Scarlett, was a cutie pie. She has beautiful brown eyes like Danielle with curly hair. She really kept her grandparents on their toes at lunch. Scarlett didn't know what to think of us when she first got there, but she warmed up to us by the end. Michele and Danny spoke about their adoption of Danielle and how God placed her in their home. At first, Michele wanted to raise Gwendolyn, but Danny put his foot down. They both realized that Danielle would never learn if they kept raising her babies. So they made the hard decision to place her in the maternity home. Michele and Danny feel that placing Gwendolyn with us will give Danielle a better chance of turning her life around for Scarlett's sake. It made me so happy to see how much Scarlett loved Danielle. She just wanted her mommy to hold her, but Danielle's pregnant belly kind of makes that a challenge. I feel that having Scarlett will help Danielle's family cope with the reality of placing Gwendolyn in our home. Levi and I both made it clear to Michele and Danny that we want an open relationship with all of them, including Scarlett. They hope that we will be family and so do we.
Michele was so sweet to mention she's been smocking for Scarlett and wants to smock for Gwendolyn. I told her I would love that. Levi and Danny talked a lot at their end of the table and I spoke with Michele, Danielle and Cindy. Michele is a person that speaks her mind, which I love. She basically said Danielle has been a tough child to raise, but she has seen a real change in her in the last two months. Michele mentioned that Danielle has rededicated her life to Christ and wants to stay on the right path. Michele has faith that Danielle will be able to make the changes that need to be made in to provide a better life for both her and Scarlett.
Finally, as we were leaving, Michele mentioned something about how Danielle acted during labor with Scarlett and she said "oh, you will see when you are in there." I didn't know what she was talking about. Then Danielle looked at me and said, "I forgot to tell you, I want you to be in the delivery room when Gwendolyn is born." I responded with tears filling my eyes, "Oh, Danielle, I would love to." I'm looking forward to getting the phone call to say Danielle is in labor next month!
Now for a prayer request, New Life will begin the process of terminating the birthfather's rights this month. They will try to serve him within the next week or two. Our prayer is he doesn't respond and we can quickly terminate his rights. I know Danielle is anxious for this process to be finished and so are we, so please pray the process goes smoothly with no hiccups along the way. Up until today, he hasn't responded to any of the correspondence with New Life and we hope it stays that way. We know that God is in control and His plan is sovereign.
Thank you again for all of your prayers! They have helped us during this process. I can't believe that it has been 89 days since we started this process with New Life. God is GOOD and for that we give Him all the GLORY!
