P is for Paxton

Paxton Clark was born on August 26, 2009. 7lbs. 4 oz. 19.5 inches long. We learned about him last Saturday. At that point, he wasn't yet Paxton. The details of this baby boy seemed so similar to Holden that our hearts were immediately drawn to him. We had no face to picture in our minds but emotionally we were already becoming quite attached to the idea of adding this little guy to our family. Originally, I had planned to space my kids out 2-3 years in age. Obviously, I am not a quick learner. I should understand by now that God makes the plans, not I. So we are going to have 2 little boys almost 16 months apart! And we could not be more excited. We were able to share with friends at church today and I couldn't wipe the huge grin from my face. We love adoption and how it changes our view. It has recharged us, refocused us already and he is not yet even in our arms. Above is a scanned photo that his birth mother provided to us. We have yet to meet him face to face, so daily we just stare at this sweet photo. We will meet and bring home baby Paxton next Monday.

I love that it's another boy. With the boys being so close in age, I am very hopeful that eventually they will be the best of friends. We were able to meet Paxton's sweet birth mother on Friday night. I will refer to her as M. This meeting was something that we had never experienced before as Holden's adoption is closed. How do you ever prepare for that moment? Meeting the woman that is going to hand over her son for you to love and raise. She must experience loss and grief as our lives are doubled over with joy. In many ways, it doesn't even seem fair. I know that next Monday will be bittersweet for Jeremy and I as we head home with Paxton. But Friday night our visit was great. This sweet girl even sent us home with some cute baby clothes and a little elephant that she had purchased for Paxton! M is truly beyond words. We count it a blessing for us and for Paxton to have the opportunity to continue a relationship with her. And I do love that she will soon have our blog address to see all the new developments going on in our family. That was one of my purposes in creating this blog - to share our everyday events with my children's birth mothers.

What's in a name? Jeremy is extremely picky when it comes to names. He can tell me "no" to a name as it's coming off my tongue. I barely get it out of my mouth as he shoots it down. After 20+ name suggestions from yours truly, we both decided that we loved the name Paxton. Since Holden has a family name, Wayne, we decided to do the same for Paxton. Clark is my meme's (my dad's mom) maiden name. And I have always liked the name Clark. He may also have a second middle name from M, just as Holden does from his birth mother. We are leaving that decision up to her. And so these are the details that we are sharing about our adoption. We are beyond thrilled to meet our son next Monday. For this week, we plan to enjoy our time with Holden and spend some time preparing for Paxton to join us.

This past week I have been thinking of the days when I was so anxious to start a family and it just wasn't happening. I will never forget the pain and loss I experienced in that time of waiting. And now it feels as if God is surely pouring out blessings over us. He is filling our home with children!
He gives the barren woman a home, making her the joyous mother of children. Praise the LORD! Psalm 113:9

Just curious . . . is this the news you were expecting?