Meeting David / Say an Extra Prayer

Last night we were able to spend about an hour at the hospital with David and his birth parents. Together Taylor and I probably held him for about an hour! And I changed the biggest poop -- who would have thought such a little thing could create such a big mess!

My two Davids

We were filled in on the exact birth details: He was born at 4:38 pm on Tuesday, August 28th. He weighed 8.1 pounds and was 20 inches long. He came out crying, and was soon squinting at the big bright world!

I have not shown the birth parents,
in case that would make them uncomfortable

However, the birth mom is understandably having a really difficult time giving him up. They left the hospital today with him (he had to stay till nearly 5 pm, and it would have been harder to do all the "hand-over" things at that point in time, though we were ready to do so). The plan is that he will stay with them tonight, they will take him to her doctor tomorrow (I'm not sure why they feel they should...), and then the adoption agency rep will meet with them, have them sign the relinquishment papers, and call us to show up. So if all goes well, we will receive him by the early afternoon.

Still I can't help but worry that having him in their apartment will make it even harder to say goodbye. The birth father and the birth mom's sister are both encouraging the adoption, as is her pediatrician. But I guess some of the nurses in the hospital asked her why she'd ever want to give up this beautiful baby boy. How much her heart must ache. And how fretful we are right now!! I have been on pins and needles since the labor call Tuesday, and tonight has been the worst of all.

So please keep them, us, and especially the baby in your prayers. We all could use them right now!

Birth mom in labor -- David is on his way!

The birth mother just called at 12:53 pm to say that she is in labor, at a 6. I tried to call her back but got a message. My stomach is doing a thousand sommersalts!!

Keep her and David (the baby) in your prayers!

...He's here (5:30 pm is when I found out, but I don't yet know the exact time of birth)! Taylor talked briefly with the birthdad, and is now picking up flowers, then picking up me, so that we can go by the hospital tonight!

We'll keep everyone posted!

Ultrasound Photos & Name

Back in July, I was able to “meet” our little boy when the birthmother invited me to accompany them to his first full ultrasound. That was also when we found out his gender. I’ve seen ultrasounds in the past, but they’re usually done much earlier in a baby’s development (when s/he still looks like a tadpole!). But what I saw on the ultrasound monitor was a fully formed baby’s face! Just yesterday we were able to visit with the birthparents, and scan in the ultrasound images they had received. So here is what I saw over a month ago (turn your head to your right shoulder):

And here is his profile:

We’re getting so excited as the due date (August 29^th) approaches! It’s crazy trying also to set up for school, but I’m fortunate that my department and district have been so supportive.

We’ve decided that his first name will be David. It means “beloved”, which he will be. It is Taylor’s middle name, and the birthfather’s 1^st name (though he goes by his middle name, so we didn’t realize this at first). We’re still working out the middle name; the birth parents like “Leif”, but I'm not sure "Leif Halverson" fits with a boy of his ethnic mix!

Home in Oregon & Climbing Mt St Helens

On top of Mt St Helens

I flew to Oregon ahead of Taylor, in order to make my grandma’s 99^th birthday on Sunday the 12^th. Taylor taught his last lecture Monday morning, and by that afternoon was on the road to Oregon. He stayed with my aunt and uncle (Marie and Wes Rampton) in La Grande, Oregon, Monday night, and was on the road by 6 am on Tuesday. I was so glad he had made the long drive safely – accompanied by Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban on book on tape for the ride. (We’re loving the experience of listening to these books on tape!)

Meanwhile I did baby shopping with my mom, my little sis Sara and her baby Jasper, and Sandra, a college student from the Ukraine who has been a great translator for the Corvallis Sister City reps while in Uzhgorod. Sara has used cloth diapers, and I would like to too (well, we’ll go “hybrid”, as the sitter may not like cloth). So Sara is my diaper diva; she teaches me a lot. We didn’t actually buy a ton of stuff, though Mom bought us a pack’n’play as a gift – we will use that as his crib for the time being. Sara is lending me tons of newborn clothes from Jasper – David will be styling!

Wednesday night we drove up to Washington, picking up Rob and heading to the base of Mt St Helens. I bruised or cracked a rib just leaning over in the back of the van, unpacking stuff. Stupid – on Friday, with all my sore muscles and a sore throat I picked up from my mom, the sorest part of my body was the rib! Anyway. We stayed up late having a hootenanny (Anna’s songbooks remain one of the world’s best compilations!), with Dad, Sara, and Rob rotating two guitars amongst themselves. Finally we hit the sack around 11:30 pm.

The next morning we hit the trail about 7:30 am. The first third of the climb is up a forest trail. That was the easiest portion. The second third is over gigantic rocks. It’s kind of fun to scramble up them – but it was killing my knees on the trek back down. The final third is through the skreet (sp?) or ash, and is like walking uphill through sand – two steps forward, three steps back!

Taylor heading through the rock portion

The ash portion

What is most amazing is that Sara and Rob decided to bring their 4 ½ month old, Jasper, up with them. That’s an extra 16 pounds! He was such a trooper, as were they. Despite their care in hiking with him, they still left me in the dust. In fact, their blog has some great details on the hike, too. (The photo of Sara & Jasper comes from them, too.)

Sara & Jasper

Rob & Jasper handle the rocks

We finally reached the rim about 12:30 pm. It was so foggy by that time we couldn’t even see into the cauldron. So the reward of reaching the top was minimal. So we quickly turned back and headed down!

The sky cleared a little on the way down

Smiling despite sore knees

The hike hurt the knees, and we were quite sore the next day as we drove down to Palo Alto. Still, it was a great sense of accomplishment, and fun to be with family. I hadn’t hiked a “big one” with my dad since we climbed the South Sister together in 1992 or ’93. I was proud of my 60 year old dad making it to the top, as well as my 4 month old nephew!

Thanks for taking us up another mountain, Dad!

Grandma Turned 99!

I don't have any photos of this (the wife of one of my cousins was taking them, so perhaps I'll post something later). But I just wanted to say, Happy 99th Birthday, Grandma Dorothea! So glad you've lived the life you have!

St George Weekend

On Friday night we drove down to St George, Utah, stopping at Kolob Canyon on the way, and arriving at the home of our good friends Chris and Rena Redmond. Chris had been our bishop while in Bloomington, IN, and Rena had been the Activities Chair (a calling I hold now in Palo Alto). Chris had also been one of the three owners of the business, Crimson Homes, which built our house (and he had given us a spa bathtub as a wedding present!).

Chris & Rena Redmond at Leeds

They moved to St George in 2005, and we haven't seen them since them. They live in a lovely home with the best swimming pool in their backyard. It has a hot tub, but the pool itself is even more fun. It is long and narrow, so Rena can swim for exercise. It gets 10 feet deep, and has a rock formation that gets up to about 10 feet. You scramble up it and then dive or jump off. Very fun! We went for an evening swim and had a blast.

The next morning we went on two hikes. We drove to Leeds, where Chris and Rena led us on a hike/challenge course. The first one was straddling a rock crevasse and trying to climb up it; I worried my arms would give out!


But thereafter I felt more and more confident, as we shimmied across narrow ledges and down & up slots in the terrains.



Chris really ran us hard, though, and by 10:30 am the sun was already hot, 95 or even 100 degrees! Still, the views were spectacular and made the run in the sun worth it!


After Leeds, we drove to Kanarraville, where we had lunch in the shade, and then headed up into a slot canyon. Taylor said it was similar to the Subway at Zion National Park. We loved it! Hiking in the cool water was so refreshing after the sun at Leeds.


The slot canyon too had some challenges, where we scaled waterfalls using rope ladders, and we slid down natural water slides and hiked through water and on the river banks.



I think Zion and its environs is one of my favorite areas in the whole wide world! The bright reds are so gorgeous!

Sundays in Salt Lake City

It's been nice, while we've been in Utah, to be able to attend church with friends and visit family. Sunday July 22th, we realized at the last moment that Taylor's cousins, with whom we'd thought we would go to church, were out of town. Luckily we reached Mike and Kristen Atkisson, friends from Bloomington who moved also moved away last August, one day ahead of us; we were able to go to church with them in Salt Lake City. In the evening we went to visit Macy Halverson, our niece, so she'd feel more comfortable driving to Yellowstone with us.

Yesterday we went up to Salt Lake City and spent an hour before church at Matt & Jessica Sherry's lovely home. They've painted and put in crown molding, decorated and landscaped it so beautifully. There is a house for sale across the street from them, whose owner is a horticulturist, whose yard is just about on par with theirs! They've made a beautiful home for themselves. (And it's so tempting to want to buy a house across the street from them! Homes seem so cheap out here after the Bay Area! And we'd be even closer than the Sherry & Rampton parents will be once Mom & Dad build their new house just down the street from Tom & Anne!)


It was fun to talk with them about our coming adoptions -- they have been selected by a birth mother who is due on October 18th, and are having a girl. We're so happy for them! You can read more about their adoption story on their blog.

After church with them, we drove to South Jordan and joined Rock & Teri Ballstaedt and their kids for dinner. I had known two of the Ballstaedt cousins (Joel & Brooke) from BYU Jerusalem, and hadn't seen Brooke since 1994, so it was fun to catch up. Taylor has such interesting and fun family!

As we drove away Taylor repeatedly remarked how he loved the time with family and friends this summer. It definitely has!