The story of Kate (part I)

About four years ago Justin and I started the adoption process. We filed the paperwork with our agency and began to complete the steps to bring a child into the U.S. from Guatemala. It required passports and paperwork with the government.

In January were set to have our home study, but then it began to snow. The social worker called and asked to postpone it. I was so sad. I wanted to hold a baby in my arms and this was still another set back to that. We rescheduled for a week later, hoping for better weather.

The following Tuesday morning, I’m not even sure why I did it, I took a pregnancy test. For the first time, it was positive. I was so excited, my head was spinning. I rushed to get myself ready for work, so I could wake Justin and tell him our news. Then he wouldn’t wake up. He didn’t budge. It was getting late and I had to get to school.

I was standing in the copy room, when Justin’s best friend Joel came through. He asked how the adoption was going. I can NOT tell a lie to save my life, so I looked around and saw we were alone and spilled the beans, and the fact that Justin had no idea! I told my dear friend Margie that day too. How I kept it from everyone else that day I’m not quite sure, but I did.

Justin got home that evening and was heading upstairs to work on the remodeling we were doing. I kept trying to get him to sit down in the kitchen to talk, but he insisted he had to get a few things finished before the home study. Finally, he sat down. I gave him the news. He was completely shocked. We called our parents to share the news with them.

The next morning I sat the girls in my room down and asked if we could switch our coffee to de-caf. One of them asked why and I said because all the caffeine isn’t go for the baby. The screams of joy and excitement were heard down the hall, though no one knew what they were about, at least not yet.

Kate came as a surprise, a shock, and a joy all at once…and that was before we even met her. It has not changed since!