Tough News

I'm sure many of you have seen in the news today that Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a bill into law banning the adoption of Russian children by U.S. families.  As we understand it, Russia drafted the law in retaliation of a U.S. law which blocks a list of human rights offenders from traveling into the United States.  In some ways, it only reinforces to us the lost and cold hearts of the Russian government officials to make a political move which hurts its own children in response to the U.S.'s attempts to stop injustice.  

We are certainly saddened by this news.  First and foremost, we are sad for the children who could have found forever families but now find themselves stuck in Russian orphanages with very grim prospects for their futures.  Second, we are sad for the families who are deep into the adoption process and now may never bring their children home.  Forty-six families have passed through Russian courts and were simply waiting the required 30 days before their children can leave the country with them.  These families have traveled to Russia twice, both times visiting with who they believed would be their future child, yet they may never be able to bring them home.  Probably another hundred plus families have referrals and pictures of a child who they expected to be their son or daughter but may never see again.  

As for us, we do know that God has plans for our family.  We know He is not surprised by this change, as He wasn't surprised by the change in our timeline when He created Matthew.  This does not change the ultimate plan that He has for us.  Andy and I still believe that God called us to adopt several years ago and that He will complete that work one way or another.  We feel sure that God has a child chosen before the creation of the world to join our family.  We prayerfully chose Russia two years ago for a variety of factors, but we also know that if God allows that door to close, we will prayerfully seek His guidance in another direction.  Please be in prayer for us as we do that.   

Most of all we are assured of this as we complete the Christmas season: Galatians 4:4-7 shares our great news, "But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship.  Because you are his sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “Abba, Father.” So you are no longer a slave, but God’s child; and since you are his child, God has made you also an heir."

God has offered us adoption into His family.  Though we deserve judgment for sin, He sent His Son to redeem us.  It isn't just the baby in the manger who is His child.  "Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God—children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God," (John 1:12-13).  Those who know Christ as Lord and Savior have an place in His family that no Russian dictator or parliament can change.  And for that, no matter what else may come, we praise Him.  

Family of Four

On Friday, September 7th, we welcomed Matthew Dennis Waldroup -- 7 lbs. 14 oz. and 20 inches long.  After lots of early contractions through the third trimester and "taking it easy" (partial bedrest), we had a smooth labor and delivery at 38 weeks and 2 days...praise God and thank you to all who prayed for us the last few months.  I continue to thank God for my OB, Dr. Emily Cunningham, and I am thankful for her grace to not put me on full bedrest and wisdom to see us safely to 38 weeks...as well as a wonderful delivery.  My contractions were regular and about 4 minutes apart on Friday morning around 7:00 am but not much stronger than all the early ones I'd been having for months.  We went to the hospital and were 4 cm (which we had been on Wednesday at our 38 week appointment).  After walking around the hospital for an hour or so, we were closer to 5 cm.  Dr. Cunningham broke my water around 1:30 followed by a nice epidural, and we welcomed our little man at 5:39pm after only 15 minutes or so of pushing.  You just can't ask for much better!

God also brought us two blessings from our anesthesiologist.  First and foremost, a great epidural.  Second, she has a son from Russia who is about seven.  She showed us pictures and encouraged us to do whatever we could to finish the adoption.  To be honest, with all the early contractions, our adoption had been somewhat out of mind the past few months.  But even during labor and in the delivery room, God began to bring our son/daughter in Russia back to my mind, and it's stayed that way the past few weeks.  He/she has come back to front and center in our prayers as we wait to update our paperwork next year.   We're uncertain (as most adoption stories) how long we will have to wait once we resume, but we know we will welcome this third child in God's timing and that Matthew's birth and the change in schedule that created was fully in God's plan all along. 

Matthew turned 5 1/2 weeks old and is doing great.  He's gaining weight and starting to sleep in longer stretches (4 to 5 hours at night), so I feel like the sleep-deprived fog has lifted somewhat.  Joshua has done beyond amazing.  We've surprisingly seen almost no jealously.  I think the time of partial bedrest made him more independent just in time and gave us plenty of time to talk about what it will be like to have a new baby.  His love for Matthew has truly brightened our hearts.  Our favorite new pastime is "family stories".  I usually feed Matthew while Andy reads or we all sing, and Joshua is about to bust with joy.  It's such a sweet time for Andy and I as we gather as a family of four, thank God for our children here and pray as a family for the son/daughter across the world. 

Thank you to so many of you for your prayers for us and for your encouragement and support through this pregnancy and time of transition.  We are truly blessed!  Please continue to pray for Waldroup #5 and for God's hand on our adoption process. 

Our family of four in the delivery room

Matthew's thinking face while Pops held him at the hospital

After a bath at Grammie's house

Joshua couldn't be more thrilled with baby Matthew

Baby News

So we have Waldroup family baby news...but not the kind we had expected in early 2012. We are 10 weeks pregnant...and not the paper kind of pregnant. We are very unexpectedly expecting, and we find it quite humorous that despite the baby road God has given us in the past, He has a great sense of humor and power over the whole thing. So in case any of you had doubts, God and only God makes babies. He makes who He wants when he wants, and every baby is a blessing.

Though the news definitely took some adjustment for both Andy and myself, we know God is in control of all of this, and we are more than excited that He chose to give us this blessing.

So our biggest question at this news...and maybe yours, too...is what about the adoption? We had a couple of early ultrasounds because of our miscarriage history, which showed good growth and a little heartbeat, even at just 6 weeks along. So we've had some time to discuss our situation with our adoption agency, Buckner Adoption. They have advised us to put the adoption on hold until our new baby is about 9 months old. We definitely felt sad to hear this. We've been waiting now for about a year and praying daily for a son in Russia that we had yet to meet. But at the same time, we believe this is wise counsel from experienced professionals who have our new son from Russia and our whole family's best interest at heart. From a logical perspective, it would take us about four months from the time of referral to get a child from Russia home, and I could not travel internationally past June per my OB. So this left a very small window for us to accept a referral at all. Also, even if we were able to come home in May or June with our new son, this would not allow much time for us to get him adjusted to life in the United States and in our family before the new baby would arrive in September. While we know that our agency could certainly have taken the other perspective that we should do what we could to add this new son to our family as soon as possible, we feel comfortable and confident in this new delayed road. They also confirmed that had we already received a referral, we would have completed the process and brought that child home, even if it was on a tight timeline.

We also, as we said, know that our God is sovereign over all things. We still believe He has a child for us in Russia, and, despite our expectations, that child may or may not be conceived or born as of today. As any family with children who join their family through adoption will attest, God's timing is perfect, even when it seems painfully slow to us as we wait.

We also have other exciting family news. Andy's brother Eric and sister-in-law Joni Beth are expecting as well. Eric & JB will welcome the next Waldroup grandchild around August 1st, and our baby will come around September 19th. Today, we had back to back ultrasounds, as we use the same OB. It was such a fun and unusual blessing to get to share our joy together. We had confirmation that our 10 week old is thriving, and they found out the gender of their 17 week old(watch Facebook for this news...no spilling the beans on our blog). Needless to say, Andy's parents, Denny and Lee, are just a bit excited about two new grandbabies this year, and we all thank God that Lee is retiring in May to make more/longer trips to Lexington possible.

Joshua is very excited. We shared the news of a baby in mommy's tummy with him tonight. He is convinced the baby is a boy. (I guess a year of talking about his brother may be a hard habit to break, if need be.) He loved seeing the pictures of "mommy's baby," so this adds to our joy of this new pregnancy. He also said tonight before we had our family prayer time that, "I love him (baby). I will tell him I love him when he comes out. I will pat his hair."

We would appreciate everyone's prayers through this pregnancy, and please continue to pray that God would prepare us to welcome our child from Russia in God's timing. Thank you as always for your love and support.