Home at last!

Introducing Malachi William Strunk:

 Malachi was born on June 20th at 3:20pm!  He weighed 6 lbs 14 oz and was 20 in long.

Our son is finally home! 

A LITTLE REVIEW

What an amazing journey this has been.  I am not even sure where to start.  As most of you know, we met Christina back in March.  We spent the past 4 months getting to know her and her family, attending doctors appointments, and preparing our home for a baby.  It was an exciting few months realizing that we might actually be parents soon.

We immediately fell in love with Christina and her whole family!  They are such gracious and loving people. 

We were all pretty sure Mr. Malachi was going to show up early, so we spent most of June anxiously awaiting his arrival.  Although we were super excited to meet him, we knew that the hospital time would be a roller coaster of emotions.  We never could have imagined how God would meet us there!

I think the thing I heard Christina say the most these past 4 months was that she was so excited for us to become the parents of Malachi! How could she feel that way when she was dealing with the grief of such a difficult decision? We could not fully understand except to know that Christina has found this amazing peace in Jesus Christ. He really did give her joy and peace beyond understanding!

 

THE CALL

We received the phone call from Christina on June 19th at 10:30pm.  We were busy sorting through a bunch of clothes that some dear friends of ours donated to us. Their son was also adopted and now that he was 5, they decided to pass his clothes on.  So our living room was piled high with clothes and Kurtis' phone rang.  When he answered the phone and I realized that he was talking to Christina my heart started to race. 

Was this it???  Were we about to become parents?  She told Kurtis that her water broke and that they were on their way to the hospital.  He hung up the phone and told me the news and I started jumping up and down!  We spent the next 45 minutes or so pacing back and forth in our house.  We were supposed to be packing for the days we would be at the hospital, but neither of us could think straight.  We were about to be parents!!!

THE ARRIVAL
We headed to Thunderbird hospital around 11:30pm.  The 45 minute drive seemed to drag on forever.  We got to the hospital and spent the next 15 hours or so with Christina in the delivery room.  We talked, laughed, and attempted to get some sleep (which happened very little).  I had the privilege of being in the room when Malachi was born at 3:20pm on the 20th (9 days early).  He was so precious (and a little funny looking) and it was surreal to think that I was looking at my son!

We stayed at the hospital with Christina and Malachi for the next 2 days.  I had been really nervous about this time.  How would we know how much to be involved? What would Christina think of us as parents?  What would Christina think of Malachi once he was actually here?   A time that I had imagined would be most awkward and difficult ended up being one of the most peaceful and beautiful times we have ever experienced!  It all happened so naturally.  We were all there because we loved little Malachi.  We took turns caring for him and passing him around.  We stayed up late talking about the amazing ways God had provided and what a beautiful little boy had entered the world (he looks just like Christina :)

PREPARATION FOR DEPARTURE

Tuesday (discharge day) came quickly and we spent the day at the hospital enjoying being together and preparing to go home.  The mood was joyful.  As discharge time neared, Christina's dad led us in a prayer dedicating this adoption to the Lord as we wept.  We all had the opportunity to thank God for how good his plans are and for the new family we were forming.  I had been saving up the tears all weekend and now there was no holding them back.  Christina said the most beautiful prayer for her son and for us as his parents.  Once again, we were in total amazement of how God works.  Not that we really should be surprised, but we just could not have imagined it being any more peaceful and right.

ENCOURAGING EXPECTANT PARENTS
Tuesday night was Christina's last child birthing class at the hospital.  We all decided it would be great for her to be able to bring Malachi to the class and encourage all those soon to be parents.  It was such a blessing to see her show him off to the class.  As she stood there surrounded by all the expectant parents, I thought about how much she was giving up.  She would not get the chance to have those everyday proud mama moments with Malachi. 

HEADING HOME

After stopping by the class, it was time to head home.  We placed Malachi in our car.  Christina sat with him, kissing his forehead and telling him how much she loved him.  After she said goodbye to Malachi, it was time for us to head home.  I think Christina and I hugged about 5 times before we actually left the hospital.  The gravity of what was taking place really started to set in.  This amazing woman of God was entrusting her child to us!  She believed that we would be the best parents for him.  We knew in that moment that we would have to fully depend on God to be the parents that Malachi needs us to be.

FAMILY

The bond that Christina and I share is indescribable.  At points along the adoption process I was worried about what a relationship with a birth mom would be like. From the outside it seemed intimidating and messy to meet up with a birth family a certain number of times each year.  But at this moment I knew the relationship we had developed was so much deeper than setting up how many times we would meet.  God had made us family over the past four months, but especially in that moment.  I am so thankful for Christina and her whole family and am excited that we will always be family with them!  Although open adoption was a scary concept when we first started out, we are now so excited that Malachi is going to know his birth family and know how much he is loved! 

We took the long trip home, which Malachi slept through, and thought a lot about the amazing gift we were bringing home.  We spent the rest of that evening sharing Malachi with our family.  Malachi made Kurtis' parents grandparents for the first time, and he is the first grandson for my parents.  As you can imagine, it was an exciting night!

IT'S OFFICIAL

We have spent the past three weeks learning about and enjoying Malachi William!  We received a call on Thursday, July 1st from our agency to let us know that both Christina and the birth father had signed consents for the adoption, so what was already true in our hearts became true on paper.  Malachi became an official part of our family.  The adoption should be fully finalized in about 6-9 months.

Thank you for all your encouragement and support along this journey!  We have so appreciated your prayers and know that God was always listening!  All along the way we knew the "peace that passes all understanding" as mentioned in Philippians 4:7.  We are so thankful! 

 Our hearts are overflowing!