Today is Abby's "Gotcha Day"

Abigail Ruth McMillion

8lb 6oz ~ 19inches

Born April 1, 2010 at 2:54 pm

In Wapella on Thursday April 1, 2010, we had discovered that James truck was over the legal height limit and we put it up for sale on craigslist and the tradinpost.

Loved that truck.

In Florida on Thursday April 1, 2010, a little baby girl with no name was born at 2:54pm weighing 8lb 6oz. She was 19 inches long, had brown hair and deep blue eyes. 

Love this little lady so much more!

            On Saturday April 3^rd I woke up at about 6:30 and had no idea that by 6:30 that night I would be on a plane headed to Florida to meet my daughter. Marranda had spent the night and we were just hanging out waiting to head out to Hudson for an Easter egg hunt with Caleb and the rest of the family. James also got a call that morning (9am) from someone interested in buying the truck. While he was on the phone with the potential buyer the house phone rang.  I answered and Jerry Callens (the director of our agency in Florida) was on the line and he began to tell me about a baby girl who was born on April 1^st. This all came as quite a shock partly because we hadn’t even finished the process of paperwork with them yet. Since we hadn't completed that process, I wasn't expecting any phone calls.

We had no clue that our lives would be drastically different in a matter of 14 hours. It took about 14 hours from the time of the phone call to the moment we met our daughter. Jerry told us about this little girl and a little bit about her birth mom. This little girl was given a clean bill of health, but there were some issues we needed to discus. We told him that we would let him know our decision within the hour. After hanging up the phone we just stared at each other with a look of disbelief and we knew immediately that we would take her. We had been praying for so long that we just knew it was right. We took a few minutes to talk over the situation and called our parents to receive their blessing and then called Jerry back within 20 minutes to accept this little girl. We did all of this while on our way to Hudson with Marranda. While James had Marranda at the park I sat in the truck and called Roberta, Karrie, and Deanne. It was pouring, but who cared. After the Easter egg hunt was rained out we went to the house and booked our one way flights to Jacksonville, made arrangements for Easter Sunday at Wapella, and then sold the truck (for 2000 more than we paid) to my cousin (unbeknownst to me). Then we took Marranda home/met at DQ to get something to eat. I could barely eat, but I had Ck Strips. My stomach was churning pretty good. Then we went home to pack in a flurry of emotion. It was so hard to concentrate. We kept waiting for that call that would take it all away, but Jerry said that the birth mom was excited that he chose us. She told him to choose the family and he chose us. 

This little girl needs parents and we’ll be there for her every step of the way. When Jerry called to ask if we had a name, I looked at James and said “Name?” He said “Abigail Ruth” I asked if he was sure he still wanted that and he said yes. I wanna call her AbbyRu when she’s older.

After packing way too much stuff (and not at all the right clothes for Florida) we got in the car and headed to Bloomington to get James a physical before our plane took off at 6:44. We also went to Starbucks and then Walgreens for a notebook and then to La Gondola for a sandwich and then to the airport.

We were a mess of emotion!

It was weird to load the plane with an empty car seat. It’s hard to describe how we felt as we took off. We were all crazy nervous and excited and scared and in shock. While I was waiting for James to get his physical Jerry had called to talk about when we would meet Abby. We decided that she would be discharged from the hospital to Jerry and Monique and that they would bring her to us at the hotel.

We arrived at the hotel at about 11:45 Florida time. We knew that the baby was at the hotel, but we didn't know that she was in the lobby waiting for us. When we walked in the door with all of our baggage I spotted her in Monique’s arms (she's the office manager at the agency). They had her dressed in pink and wrapped in a pink fluffy blanket that said “I Love Mommy”. She walked over to me and placed her in my arms and of course I cried. That was the first time we saw her dark brown hair and her deep blue eye. I hadn’t even thought to ask what color her hair and eyes were. While we were staring into her face and taking it all in, Jerry was taking some pictures. I probably looked awful with my tear streaked, red, blotchy face, but who cares, I had my baby in my arms. What a day! 

Jerry took this picture when Monique handed us our little girl.

 We sat in the lobby for a few minutes while James took care of the room. Her eyes were open and she was looking all around. Not to shabby for a 2 day old baby. We got to our room around midnight and Jerry and Monique stayed until 2 or so going over all the paperwork and new born baby gotta knows. Her birth mom had already signed away her rights, so all that was left for us to do was sign the papers to make her ours... at least until the court dates that make her ours forever legally. It eventually took about 3 months to finalize all of the paperwork.

This is the first time James held Abby.

Lots to talk about in the middle of the night.

Still in shock.

He's in love.

 Thank you for joining me as I relive this day.  I can't believe Abby is 4 now! So much happened so fast. Nothing could prepare us for the joys and challenges this little lady brings to our lives. Love her so very much!