God is cool.

In February, we applied for a grant from ShowHope (Steven Curtis Chapman's Adoption funding ministry). This weekend, we received a letter from ShowHope stating that they are going to give us a grant that was significantly more than we ever expected. Thank you God!

We are thankful to all who have prayed for us and have given financially. We will continue to fund-raise, but are SO thankful for God's provision! He's made it so clear that HE'S IN THIS!

In other news, Bella is great - she's 6 1/2 weeks old now, and is growing like a weed. She's recently acquired a double chin, which is super cute. :) The warm weather is my personal fav, and Julianna and Greg are enjoying playing outside as much as possible.

More updates to come...

Destiny... or is it pre-destiny?

Something cool happened concerning Bella’s destiny as an O’Neil. You can read the story at www.allweathergod.com. (Sorry, you have to manually type the blog URL. For some reason, the link isn't cooperative today.)

Photos done by Laura Wagner Photography http://www.laurawagnerphotography.com/blog/ (same deal, link doesn't work).

Settling In

Our Bella Rose

Sleeping so sweetly.


Julianna LOVES being a big sister. This was one of our first nights with Bella in the hotel in Texas. Anna got up in the middle of the night and wanted to be close to Bella, so she fell asleep in the arm chair next to Bella's crib without blankets on the cold leather.

We've been home since last Wed, and are finally settling into 'regular' life. Bella and Julianna were great on the flights. Our 8 days in Texas were great, but definintely challenging without the comforts of home. We were so excited to touch down in Boston. Bella is progressing wonderfully - she's eating lots and is going 3 1/2 - 4 hours between feedings at night. She's a peanut still weighing just over 6 lbs at 2 1/2 weeks which seems so small to me since Julianna was 7 lbs 4 oz at birth.

I forgot how challenging it is to get out of the house with a newborn, but we've managed to get out almost every day.

Please keep up the prayers as we move now into the finalization process. It takes 6 months to complete finalization at which time Bella will be issued a new birth certificate with our names on it, etc... Also, we're still fundraising. I just found out today that the finalization has to be paid for up front and it's an additional $1400 due next week. Since we've been home, our washing machine and dishwasher have both broke and need replacement. We went and picked them out today at Sears. It's coo though b/c I know God will provide. He's been faithful through and through. We do still need to raise funds, and are so grateful for any contributions.

Thank you to everyone for your fervent prayers and financial support. It's obvious that God has gone before us for every step of this adoption process. We're excited that you all have been a part of Bella's life since the beginning.

Update and Donate

Good News, our federal clearance went through and now we await New Hampshire's response and approval. It's stormy here - looks like it's going to be a stormy weekend actually. We've been trying to come up daily activities of some kind to entertain Anna. Tonight, we were invited to a home cooked dinner at our social worker's home. It was such a refreshing time.

Bella is eating and sleeping well. We are so blessed to nurture and love this little one!

We also have faith that the finances of the adoption will be met. Although, after tallying up the adoption expenses, we need to raise $12,000. If you'd like to be a part of this and can donate, please click the DONATE link to the left to donate securely with PayPal.

With love,
Greg, Jess, Julianna, & Bella

Bella Rose O'Neil

Phew, these last 48 hrs have been a whirlwind. We are so thankful for our amazing new blessing, Bella Rose O'Neil. She is doing wonderfully, and we are all adjusting to life with a new baby and life far away from home.

Recap:
6:37pm Sunday, 5/9 Bella Rose was born; 5 lb 7 oz, 19"
3:30pm Monday, 5/10 Received phone call stating that there was a mom potentially interested in us
4:00pm Monday, 5/10 Received phone call that we were chosen!
4:00am Tuesday, 5/11 Left home to catch two planes to Dallas, TX
11:00am Tuesday, 5/11 Arrived at airport at DFW, acquired rental SUV
12:30pm Tuesday, 5/11 Met social worker, birthmom & baby Bella
7:30pm Tuesday, 5/11 Birthmom signed paperwork relinquishing rights to Bella
8:00pm Tuesday, 5/11 Left hospital with our new baby girl!
9:00pm Tuesday, 5/11 Arrived to Hotel with two sleepy children
8:00am Wed, 5/12 Greg & Jess got FBI fingerprinted

I apologize it's taken us this long to get a photo out. I will hope to get more photos on FB later today or tomorrow, but just as I was ready to upload them, I realized I grabbed the wrong cable from home, so we have to buy another one.

This photo really captures how Anna feels about Bella. She chooses Bella over food, playtime, and even a lolly-pop. She already calls her "my sister". It's so cute. Sorry Bella's outfit isn't the cutest. I had her in a cute pink one, and just before I took this photo, she peed all over herself. ~:-)

We are well. We're enjoying this time to bond. I have to say the whole experience thusfar is quite surreal. It almost doesn't seem real. It's great to be parents again, and as the day goes on, it becomes more and more a reality that we have a new baby in our family.

Sidenote, we get some interesting looks for sure in taking a 3 day old baby out in public. Of course, this isn't my preference, I wouldn't recommend it. But in living in a one room hotel without a kitchen - away from home, we've had to go out to get food, diapers, clothing, etc... Thankfully Bella enjoys her carseat and the Baby Bjorn.

Thanks to everyone for their congrats on FB, text, email, etc... Eventhough, we're so far away from ya'll, we feel the love.

We know that God has gone before us as we had fantastic flights w/no delays, we've gotten good prices on rental car, hotel (yes, of course I negotiated). The nurses at the hospital commented on how smoothly this birthmom/adoptive family transition went. We know it's God's orchestration of every event leading up to and His continued grace and provision.

As a mother, I had an amazing experience with T (the birth mom) that I'd like to share with you. She was just so sweet and SO excited to see us. She said she watched the clock every hour for the 20 hours she knew of us and until we arrived. She kept saying that our little family was "adorable". BTW... T is a Christian. She knows God, and prayed to God for Him to "send her baby a family".

I am in tears right now just considering how she may feel going thru this process. She carried Bella in her for 9 months, nurtured her, cared for her., felt her kick inside. She went thru the labor and delivery and held her baby girl. All the while, knowing she would be giving her up. She knew how much she loved her, and knew that the best thing she could do for her baby girl was to allow her to be adoped. I told her that I feel this so clearly exemplifies what God did for us. He sent his Son to Earth to die only because of His love for us. I explained to her that I felt that God did this because He knew it was the best for us, His kids.

Ok, I'm done crying. On a side note, I will mention that Texas is a cool place. I have been here before and so has Greg, but we are mystified by the large expanse of land. The fact that everything IS bigger in Texas, and their parking spots are so small. Not sure why. Those of you who know me well, know that I LOVE thunderstorms. So, here we are in tornado alley in the height of the season. I doubt we will see a tornado, but I would love to see a kickin storm. It'll come, I know... it's just a matter of time.

Just a quick note on Julianna. We have spoken to those who handle newborn adoptions, and there are differing opinions on bringing other children to the adoptive situation. We were both confident that Julianna could handle it. She's so accomodating at this stage of life, and we would miss her SO terrible to not have her with us. Also, we knew she would have forever memories of this time with Bella and us. She has been fantastic! She can't get enough of Bella, and is really helpful to mommy especially with feedings and baby care.

Again, we are thankful for the warm responses we've received from you all. We do wish we were home, but are enjoying the fun of being here as well. Can't complain as I see it's 53 degrees in NH. It's about 85 here! We had an issue with our FBI clearance (it was done in 2007, and it had to be within 2 years, so it was expired) and had to rush to get our fingerprinting done today. This will probably delay the paperwork process a little, and require us to remain in TX for extra time. We are hoping to get home early next week, but that's hopeful. It may be longer. God's in control, and we covet your prayers in regards to the paperwork and finances.

A couple prayer points:
God's continued favor in our doings here (the paperwork, expenses, etc...)
Peace and comfort for the birthmom "T" (to protect her name)

We love you all, and look forward to seeing you when we get back!

Our New Baby Girl!

Hello all, today has been especially amazing for us. We found out this afternoon that a birthmom has chosen us to be the adopted parents of a baby girl! The baby was born yesterday, healthy and happy, and we are heading to Texas super early tomorrow morning to take her home from the hospital.

We will spend some time in Texas (somewhere between 5-14 days) while the paperwork processes. Julianna is coming with us.

Please pray for the birthmom as she processes all this. Also, please pray that our flights go thru without a hitch, no luggage lost, no complications, and financial provision, etc...

Sorry this message is so short. It is 10:45 PM, and I still haven't packed a thing. It's been a whirlwind of a day.

We covet your prayer! More updates to come as soon as the dust settles. :-)

God's heart and grace...

It's been about 4-6 weeks now that we've been an active "waiting adoptive family" with our ministry contacts. The waiting is the hard part for sure. I am thankful for God's soveriegnty in knowing that it's in HIS timing that the right baby will present for our family and us for her.

We've been contacted a few times already about potential situations - which is really encouraging to us. Timing, available finances, and the birth-mom's preferences all play a part in whether a situation is a potential match for us or not. But, it's exciting that we are getting phone calls and emails. It is remarkable to us just how large the need is for families to adopt babies. We had no idea that we would hear of so many birth-moms in desperate situations.

I read another article today put out by Focus on the Family's Citizen Magazine on adoption. It identified again the need for adoptive families. Specifically, the writer challenged Christian families and churches to take responsibility for the unwanted/neglected through the miracle of adoption. It's clear that God's heart is for the orphan.

James 1:27 (NIV)
"Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress..."

Please continue to pray for us as we raise funds and hear from agencies about potential situations. This whole process is quite the emotional roller-coaster. We hear of a situation and are hopeful we're a match (some of the situations are fairly immediate, so we start thinking about travel planning, scheduling, etc...). Then for one reason or another, we find out this isn't the baby for us. This is fine, we rest in God's choice and timing for us and the baby, but it's just a lot of mental planning, prep, and emotional flip-flopping. I believe our experience in foster care helped prepare us for this process. In foster care, we had the surreal experience of the social worker calling and saying "we have a baby for you today." Also, we've learned God's grace in holding loosely to things until they are for certain.

I'm encouraged by the Hillsong song "You'll Come" with these lyrics:

"We are not shaken, we are not moved, we wait upon You Lord"

God will bring all things in His time.