Paying It Forward

There has been a deep desire within me to thank the amazing Doctor who helped her patient find a family to adopt her baby because we were that family and our lives have changed forever. But saying thank you is not enough and money is not appropriate and what do you get as a gift for a doctor without being too personal? So we've hemmed and hawed and done a whole lot of nothing but think about what we want to say and do.

We got the opportunity to Pay it Forward on Tuesday, 12-12-06.

Back in August I got back in touch with a friend who lives in Mississippi with her 5 children. She and the 3 oldest were in our wedding almost 4 years ago. Then the distance and time and life got in our way of being as close as we once were. When we spoke on the phone, she learned of our inability to get pregnant and interest in adopting. The following week she called and told us that her sister's friend was about 5 months pregnant and wanted help finding the baby a home and were we interested.

That baby was not meant to be in our home and our daughter arrived 10-08-06 through the a series of destined events, a super doctor and a very brave woman. After she came home and we had time with her, we realized that we could not take another baby so close in age into our home. There was just no way that we were going to be able to give of ourselves to 2 babies 2 months apart and we felt it would not be fair to anyone; especially the babies.

We let our friend know that we weren't going to be able to take this baby but that we did have at least one if not two other families interested in adopting the baby. This, of course, did not go over well with the birth mom and she was not interested in hearing about the other families. Two weeks later, on 12-12-06 at 4:42 AM, my friend called to tell me that a beautiful, baby girl was born and were my friends still interested.

These friends were people through another close friend who got in touch with me after hearing our story. I had never spoken to them until that morning when I called to tell them that a baby girl had been born and they were parents if they were still interested. After a few shocked comments from them and advice from me, they were well on their way down the parent path.

Today I got an email with beautiful photos of their daughter, Emily Lynne and it made me cry. Today they supposed to leave on a 7 day trip to Hawaii that had been a surprise gift from her husband... instead they cancelled their trip and went to Mississippi to get their daughter.

I now know how to thank the Doctor. I paid it forward and changed the lives of these people and their families; just like she did for me and mine. Emily Lynne is one lucky girl. Her birth mom is one brave woman. This man and woman are now parents and will be home by Christmas with their baby girl.

wow. what an amazing feeling. I can't wait to meet them.