Gotcha

November 21st 2008 will forever be etched in our minds.

For weeks we had been traveling to Chicago to visit our son who was to ill to come home. He was living in a house for medically frail children, slept in a room with 5 others who were deemed to sick to live a "normal" life. Some were their because their parents felt their child was to difficult others were their because their parents chose to abuse them while still in the womb. Then their was Malachi, born with the odds stacked against him like so many of the other children, his future looked bleak. Little did he know...little did we know our lives were going to be flipped upside down and out of the darkness of that modern day orphanage we were given the most valuable gift ever!

I still remember the first time I walked into that "house." Their were twenty some kids, with different stories, different challenges they needed to over come. We were introduced to Malachi's nurse Dee. She was holding Malachi. That exact moment my heart melted and I fell in love. After an hour visit, we left in tears. We promised we would be back to get him. We made many more trips to the city over the following weeks, each time we bonded with our son more and more. He was already teaching us so much.

Due to the fact that he was born 6 weeks early, had a heart defect and very immature lungs, he got sick and wound up back in the hospital a week before we were supposed to bring him home. His gotcha day was up in the air. Our hearts were broken. His room was ready, clothes were washed, diaper bag packed and the car seat secured in our car but we didn't know when we could welcome our new bundle of joy home.

November 21, 2008 we went back to Chicago praying Malachi would be able to come home. We had a CPR training, a final test on his medication and a meeting with the DCFS case workers and the nurses that had cared for him. We were told that they still hadn't heard if he was going to be discharged so we decided to head to the hospital to visit him. While we were driving through the parking garage we got a call. With a joy unexplainable we were told he was going to be discharged directly to us!!! We ran back to the orphanage to pick up his stuff then rush back to the hospital to get our baby!

Here is a picture of us waiting to be discharged.

At 7pm we walked out of the hospital with our son!!!!!!! It was one of the best feelings ever and our lives have not been the same ever since.

My sweet boy,
      I love you more than words can ever say! Your smile melts my heart and your hugs bring tears to my eyes. You are so loved! Thank you for blessing us all! God brought us together as a family and I will forever be thankful. Happy gotcha day! Momma and daddy love you to the moon and back!!