Happy Birthday Jake!

Three years ago today our lives changed in a major way. After 5 1/2 years of marriage we were finally blessed with a little baby boy! We started the adoption process in Jan '03, we were approved in August '03, and then the wait began. In July of '05 (almost 2 years of waiting sice we were approved) I got a call from our caseworker. I thought he might be telling me that there was a birth-mother who wanted to meet us, but he told me that we had been chosen. There was a birth mother who was due in on November 8th and was having a little boy and she had selected us!!! A few days later we got a picture of the ultrasound in the mail. We were so excited. A few weeks later we met Elizabeth, Jake's wonderful birth-mom. We had dinner with her and went to see a play that she was in. On October 23rd, we got a call from our caseworker telling us to get to the hospital, that Elizabeth had gone into labor. (I almost had not answered the phone since we were visiting with Stan's parents and I did not want to be rude. They reminded me that I was on baby watch and that I sould answer it. I thought we had a couple more weeks.) Well, we rushed home, grabbed our things, and headed up to Northside hospital. We were quickly led to Elizabeth and chatted with her for a little bit, and then went to the waiting room for the rest of the night. Around 6:00am we were told that we could come in. We were in the delivery room for the last 1/2 hour of Elizabeth's labor. She had decided to go all natural and was obviously working hard...she is such a trooper. (She did not even take pain meds afterwards.) Well, after a little while of encouraging her and her pushing hard, Elizabeth gave birth to a beautiful baby boy, Jacob Orion Johnson. Orion is the middle name given by Elizabeth. We were so blessed to be there from the first second that he was born. Elizabeth wanted one of us to be with him constantly. We were able to get our own room in the hospital and Jake stayed with us. Elizabeth was a couple of rooms down and we would visit each other. Some of my family came to visit and a day later we were able to bring Jake home with us. I remember the first morning we woke up to a baby in our home. I remember holding and rocking Jake in my rocking chair that had sat and waited to be used for so long with tears streaming down my face. Words can not express how much this little boy has blessed our lives. He was the answer to many many prayers by us and loved ones. He has brought more joy than I ever thought possible. The joy definitely outweighs the pain I endured waiting for so many years. We love our baby Jake...who has not been a baby for quite a while now. Happy Birthday little boy! We love you! You were worth the wait! This is a video that I made a couple years ago. It has some very cute shots of Jake as a baby.

This one is when Jake was first learning to walk.