Courtney

This is Courtney, Evan's birth mom. I came across this picture on her myspace from last summer working with a friend painting porch rails. She's really happy that she had lost her baby weight from having Evan, she'd colored her hair coppery red (you know i love that!) and is just looking cute like Evan. I just had to post how well she is doing. In our last conversation a month or so ago, she was on her way to earning her G.E.D, had plans to attend college and was looking for a new job (is now working at McDonald's. way to go!). I am again, so impressed that a girl who grew up too fast, teaching herself about life, still knows what to do with her life, even if it's taking her longer than she wants and even when there are 'bumps' in the road to her dreams and goals, she has for the most part taken care of the obstacles responsibly. I am so proud of her. We love you Courtney, keep up the good work!

Happy Birthday Courtney/Brooke!

Evan's birthmom Courtney also goes by Brooke and today is her 19th Birthday! We want to wish her a very

Happy Birthday

today and our wish is for you to have a great year, full of love and success. We are greatful you are in our life and we look forward to seeing you again in October! We can't wait. Please feel free to laugh at me for dropping the camera at the end of this video. LOL. ;) I hope the rest of you will leave comments for Courtney on her birthday too.

We love you!

Mike, Lila, Evan and Pets... :D

Locked and Loaded!

Our People! We are finally leaving Georgia! Agghhh... Don't get us wrong, we thoroughly enjoyed our stay in GA, everyone was so nice and very happy for us wherever we went. Whether it was at the hospital, walking around 'Cobb Mall' or at the hotel's breakfast bar, everyone gave us well wishes and beamed at our newborn (much as I imagine all of you will do when you read this & see Evan yourself the first time. smile). So as we slept in, thanks to powdered formula (who knew?) as opposed to the liquid we've been using but ran out, Hannah left a 'gift' on our voicemail that we are good to go home! We packed our stuff took some pictures, prepared the baby and off we have went! Let's talk about what we will miss...
Having someone else pay the rent for a week! lol. Thank you again a million times Tara!
What we will miss is Courtney. We didn't visit but once after Evan was born because we we so busy getting adjusted but we love her so much.
Courtney, if you are reading this, you know you have changed our lives. We know that you are as excited for us as we are that you have given us such a gift. You have also given Evan the life you want him to have and with that, you have made you're first responsible decision on behalf of your child. We hope you will always feel proud of your choice. Your unselfish sacrifice effects everyone we know because a stranger has not passed our way without knowing how badly we wanted a family. Not a stranger has passed that hasn't prayed for us to get a baby and that also prayed for our potential birth mother to choose us. You chose us. In my prayers at night when I would plead to my Heavenly Father for our dream of having children to come true. I prayed that our birth mother would 'recognize' us when she saw us (be familiar to her) and we would also 'know' her when we saw her (we didn't want to
miss a thing) and since we first talked on the phone it is as if we Have recognized each other and always known each other. You said it best when we met in person the first time. You said it felt like a reunion and I told you that I believe we knew each other before we came to earth & somehow hatched this plan to help each other. We're so grateful our plan came together... We love you and look forward to seeing you again.
With that I will leave this posting to stare at my beautiful sleeping son and reminisce with Michael on what has just happened to us and what is next to come...

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As requested, more pictures. Obviously it is busy with a newborn and we have been up all night and sleeping in late. Frankly we'd rather spend time with him than talk to you, no offense. ;)

Today we met with Courtney and gave her our gift. She loves it. We had a great time visiting and she enjoyed watching Evan move and open his eyes and make baby noises and even cry. (but is very glad WE are up with him all night) he he he.

We hope to be home soon and to get adjusted in our own house. Hope all is well with you and your love ones. Please enjoy the show below...

Visiting with Courtney today. She loved holding my hand with her finger and seeing how much I look like her and the people she knows.

The Best.

"everybody was kung fu fighting"

Glamour Shots.




Displaying my superior swaddling skills. And a sweet moment with Daddy / staring contest. (Michael won)

My favorite gift to myself... a sling for Evan. And sleepy time in the car.

Don't really like the first one of this series but wanted you to see what a "little man" he is next to me. Crazy. Video is especially for "Mee-ma" Jennie. ;) Not just displaying the "born in 2008" onesie but also how huge these preemie clothes are on our son. (I can fit three fingers into his waistband) And another "couldn't resist".

I love you but why is your finger in my mouth? Eat your heart out Amber...I know you are jealous of me kissing those lips! LOL.

Serious contemplation. Evan the Jawa (that's for you Uncle Jesse - smile)

Pure Love. pure love.

Giving a "thumbs-up" for the Halloween knit cap gift from the nursery at Kennestone Hospital and foot close up that NO one can resist.

Home Alone?

Whispering me sweet nothings.....and ...displaying "I still live with my parents" onesie on my FAVORITE blanket.

Well, What do you know, Patience IS a virtue.

tangled feet. long toes.

new born

proud daddy

shocked mommy

eternal friends

loves to look around!

first diaper

(do you see him looking at me? loves me already!!)

first scrunchy pose

full lenth

first name plaque

So, WOW we have had a long (two) day(s). We haven't slept since we woke up Monday morning for work (MDS is actually snoozing right now but i HAD to write to my people! :) he he). Here's a run down...

Hannah called Monday to say Courtney's been contracting all weekend and she was going to get to the bottom of it.

(i KNEW i needed to pack Evan's bag, of which I have nothing of course (it was pitiful)! so we packed the onesies and blankets that I have bought. lol)

H called back, around midnight to say, she really is contracting and i'm gonna take her to the hospital to make sure she isn't have false labor. I asked her to call me back if the hospital admits her and we would leave THEN. I start to nest and get ready, packing etc. MDS is NOT convinced at this point and is REALLY tired (= cranky) and wanted to go to bed. I begged him to please trust me and help get things ready so at least when H called to say it's for real, we'd have the car packed up for Evan and would just need to add ours. eventually i talked him into helping me till 130am, then i promised he could go to bed.

130am: H calls and says, THIS IS IT! We are now both tired and cranky and prepare to pack for up to 2 weeks away from home and at 330am leave for Atlanta.

H calls periodically to give updates that sound like she's progressing fast and It seems we wont make it in time for the birth! yikes!

We get there around 820am (eastern time)! Poor C is exhausted and even seems a little dilerious from pain meds (NO EPIDURAL!) and quickly progresses from there.

At one point the pain is really bad for her and she agrees to the epidural only to be at 10 and 100%! The nurse said, I think you can handle it courtney, you wanna go for it? YES! so it seems like only 10-15min later while i am at her left side, holding her foot back and encouraging her breathing, HIS Head was crowning! (sorry for the visual but this is the circle of life for goodness sakes!;)) Within 2min, his head was out! I couldn't believe it! I have never watched a birth in real life before and never of my own child obviously but I was overcome with emotion (fear and excitement) and tears flowed. Courtney was watching me intently. When Evan was fully delivered, she was so excited, she pulled me in with her eyes and exclaimed, "Your Son! Here is your son!" Having just been in searing pain, she was now motioning for Michael to come closer to see him. She was so happy for us and didn't want us to miss a thing. (thankfully, cause i wasn't in scrubs) they didn't hand him to us but quickly, C made sure to direct what was, next, that Mike and I would cut the cord, Michael did the major severance, I did the section closest to his belly button. it was a wonderful experience! we were whisked away to a room alone with Evan and told to try to feed him a bottle, (this was wierd to me) and after courtney was 'cleaned' up and about to finally rest, she requested the 3 of us. we gladly returned to her side as we love her company and wanted her to see and hold him, this beautiful perfect Child of God. She cried and said, "Can you believe I made this miracle?" She continued to inquire of our feelings about being parents finally (a whole 20 min at this point. we were/are clueless) and hung on every word. finally our wonderful visit with her was over and we had to take Evan to the Nursary. He was soooo good the whole time. He doesn't cry yet, just sleeps. This evening we went back after checking into our lodgings (THANK YOU TARA!) and brought Evan to Courtneys new room to meet her new boyfriend, her friend that introduced her to our agency and her boyfriend (also another caseworker assistant to mediate?). we took pictures and visited and as usual we always especially love when it's just us and Courtney. It's like hanging out with family after a party, basking in the glow of the celebration with someone you trust. Tomorrow morning we will sign our paperwork so we can be on our way back to Tennessee. Hopefully by Monday night or Tuesday morning. We can't wait for Smokey and Oliver to see him and see how they react to a baby. Anyway, despite our exhaustion, we are happy and glowing. Each moment we spent with Evan, the more we love him and feel comfortable with the idea that we are now parents finally. We logged on tonight and had something like 80 well wishes and congratulations. We know this has been a ride for you too and thank you for the prayers and love. Courtney thanks you too, honestly. We cannot wait for you to meet Evan.

We are lovin' life. Amen.

Meet "Our Baby Mama" ;)

(click pictures to make them bigger)
Isn't she wonderful!? We know she is "eclectic" and we love it.:) She is soooooooooooooooooo wonderful! If any of you know my sister Ashley, she's worse at random conversations! smile. (love you ash AND your random conversations, i passed them on to you after all) As you can see her hair is not a natural color, it's blue but fading to green. She did it last Saturday. This picture was taken at the end of our visit at 530pm (see, still smiling!). You are enjoying one of my 'signature', 'I don't want you to see my body so here's a self portrait head shots' with Courtney. She loved it. smile. Our "face to face" meeting started at 12p today. We were still driving to Kennesaw when Hannah called and said, "Hey, do you guys just want to come and meet us at Courtney's Doctors appointment?" Ahhh, YEAH! So we get to her doctors office (she hadn't met him yet, it's a new Dr. since leaving jail) after getting late for the looooongest 10min of our life and were ushered into a hallway with Hannah. Apparently C was giving a "sample" in the restroom (man, this is just how I pictured meeting my birth mother! LOL). The employees were introduced to us, "the Adoptive Parents" and we got, "OH! Nice to meet you!" So we're talking casually (the hallway is getting hotter) when 'someone' pops their head out of the bathroom,' psst'ing Hannah to let the employees know "someone's pee is already in there" then turns her head to us and says, "oh, hey!" and goes back in the bathroom. LOL. I know descriptive but I have to give you an idea of how crazy this is. We are totally rolling with it at this point, despite beginning to perspire from stress and the increasing heat! Finally Courtney comes out with a HUGE smile on her face and arms outstretched for me (lingered of course cause i'm so huggable) and then Michael (sooooo he 'says' she lingered for him too but, we know i'm better ;). We just took off from there. She wanted us to come in to be part of the examination because she wants us to "experience everything we can for our son!" I'm not making this up! She is crazy or an angel, I say both. smile.


So first of all, she's wearing this crazy shirt. It's something my mom would wear or appreciate at least. It's completely my families sense of humor. Then, on the exam table (nothing was exposed, Michael was comfortable) she and her Dr start right in to mixing it up when he makes fun of her hair color. I cannot repeat the other exchanges as some where inappropriate for mass consumption but (Lindsey c. in particular) some of you will be very upset you weren't there yourself to experience this. We were laughing and having a great time. The Dr. got her prepped to hear the heartbeat with the old school 'midwife' heartbeat detector thingy. He finds the heart beat immediately and says, "Here's number one"... Courtney gives him 'the eye' and says "I don't think so" and he moves the Doppler to the other side of her belly and detecting the heartbeat again says "and here's number 2"! (NO, not twins, he was totally playing with her the whole time and they fed off each other, it was great) She just shot him a look of 'I'm not going to let you get away with that' and bantered back and forth. We are soooooo grateful to have been able to go to her appointment and meet the very casual doctor (but professional too). We will look forward to meeting him again and are thankful he was willing to take Courtney in her ninth month. What a blessing (thank yourselves for all those prayers!).


(her idea to "oh wait, take one from the side!" she's so amazing!) After lunch at "Joe's Crab Shack", (one of C's cravings while in jail) with Courtney, Hannah and her intern "Ashley" we went to her hotel to visit more personally after Hannah had to go to Sealing of a baby to it's family in the Atlanta Temple. Eventually we gave her her wrapped belated Birthday gifts along with letters from Michael's Mom and Step-Dad and from my Parents. She LOVED the letters. She really enjoys learning about our families and especially is enamored with the idea that my family is so big and still close. (wait, she likes both families equally but is mesmerized with a big family... hope that clears that up?) Anyway, after seeing her in person and getting to know her on that level, I have to revise the second part of the gift but, she liked the gifts. We gave her the book "Oh the Places You'll Go" and "Fablehaven book 1" (of 4 or 5) and a hand made by me, GREEN scarf. She was very impressed with the handmade aspect especially. We will omit the mention of "movie theme" as she has apparently sold her PS2 she was watching movies on and the doctor was worried about her sugar levels soo, I might be omitting some of the candy to find a new home in my purse! She'll still get the robe and socks etc.


Anyway, before I forget, she said it meant a lot that so many people are praying for her. She specifically said to tell everyone (doesn't know I have a blog but knows I let lots of people know what's going on, at a time), thank you so much for your prayers cause she feels them. She explained that it's what helped her to feel so confident, SURE and "at peace" about choosing Michael and I (THANK YOU ALL SOOOOO MUCH! We know this is real and will be indebted to you for all our lives. We will name our son after all of you. lol)! Again, I do not kid and cannot make this stuff up, she is so great! She also informed us (we had NO idea) that when the baby is born, we will get our own room next door to stay for a couple days, as if I had the baby! AWESOME!!!!! During this conversation, she re-iterated her Birth Plan to us, that we would be in the delivery room and this time she said, when the baby is born, they will hand him to ME! OH MY GOSH! I told her that she could hold him, it's ok and she said she's learned it's really not good so she doesn't try to get attached to the baby. (I'm sure she will hold him later, she's just distinguishing the first time). It's exciting for her to see us be parents. She cannot wait to bless us, she says it over and over. It's almost like all of you, knowing our history and wanting it so bad for us. She's like, "do you want to see all my family pictures so you can see what he could potentially look like!? It was just so great. She shared so much, very personal feelings (even poetry and writings about life and the baby and she is actually very talented with it). Anyway, we finally had to close our meeting with her cause we got about 3hrs of sleep each last night and had yet to check into our hotel. We had the greatest day today! The cherry on top? Can it get any better?? YES! We shopped at IKEA! We bought our crib! And highchair! AND etc! Here is a picture of that to close....



Ahhhh to all your well wishes for a wonderful day. We also, thankfully made some headway on names! No I will not share yet!? Are you crazy?! ;) I will however, announce it when we know what his name is for sure. Just to wet your appetite though, we are decided... his last name WILL be... "Stuteville". LOL! There. you got it out of me... smile. I'm actually really excited that we made some headway cause before MDS was shooting me down right and left! smile. He means well, he just wants it to be important too. Alright, I'll keep him.

We got to go to

We got to go to her Dr's appointment! We heard our sons heart beat and met Courtney's Dr. who is HILARIOUS. More later.

Pshhhh... you know I ain't sleepin'!

Not on a night like this! I worked a gloriously long day at the Chop Shop (of which, because of the immensely beautiful day out, I was able to open my back door to clear the air and enjoy some sunshine! the real thing!). During which, Michael and I were blessed with a lunch break together (thanks for being late Jill! smile) at Buster Burger on Broad for those of you asking. MMmmmmm, cheeseburger and fries... did i mention... mmmmmm. After lunch we had to drop the truck off as it has been acting up but it's perfect cause we can leave it there all weekend to get fixed! Why you ask? Duh, we're leaving for Atlanta to meet our baby's momma in... 6 hours. *grin* I'm looking forward to it. I imagine it'll be sunflowers and moonbeams at every moment. I will try to be a great photographer though I dream of actually having a great camera to do that with. smile. one day.

So, here's what I got folks. Courtney's "Care Package" or "CCP" as I like to call it (just kidding, I just made that up) has come together like this.... Her 18th Birthday was Sept 19th so it took on a 'gift' theme and by 'gift theme' I mean movie theme sprinkled with an excuse to give her junk food and t.v. type dinners. LOL. So here's some pics and explanations:


FIRST: Birthday gift of, green crocheted scarf (her favorite color) in box with my personal copy of Book 1 for the FABLEHAVEN series (do yourself a favor, check it out. http://www.fablehaven.com/ ). Other wrapped gift is the book, "Oh the Places You'll Go!" by Dr. Seuss (need I say more?).










SECOND: A VERY plush robe and soft soft socks! I know, black but the robe is so comfy I was willing to ignore the unattractive color. Anyway, she can lounge away before and after baby in this bad boy.

THIRD: The Movie "IRONMAN" that came out in theaters while she was in jail and is now on DVD and 'the fixin's" (that's southern United States for: stuff on the side). Plus there is a journal and some pens on there if you click on the pic, you'll see it better of which I will be writing scriptures and quotes in throughout the pages in a random fashion. A reminder of US and that we are always a page a way. smile.

p.s. i stopped typing at 144am! good night!