The Ember Rose Story

Kallie: Do you want to say something?

Dan: What do I even say?

Kallie: Oh sure you have tons of goofy stuff to say except when I ask if you want to say some things about the story of our daughter.

Dan: I tell you all of it...but I don't know how to tell it in writing.

Kallie: It's the same as telling me, just tell me the story and I'll write it.

So here you go, her story through her daddy's eyes...

What was the question?

Um, we adopted her.

Um, it's a crazy ride. What's on your face? I think she scratched her face. Um, some things will never be the same again but in the best way possible. All the things people said you'd feel are there, but even more than they told you about you feel. I feel I'm different because of her, in a good way. I don't really have the words.

Well, we decided to adopt and signed up with a consultant agency. We had to answer tough questions about it. I was on a work trip when we got an email, I read it six times before I called you. We got accepted, and I was so happy I told everyone. We found out she was a girl and we got excited. Then I took some time off work, and we drove down to Florida. It was really hard because we didn't know what would happen. OH I forgot! My torta. We were at a Mexican restaurant with our cousins, and I had a torta when we got the call the mama was in labor. Later we found out that wasn't even true but we left the next day. Then we found out she straight ghosted us. So that was scary. Um, we were talking if we should go down there, or should we not. The agent lady (they all had the same name) told us not to waste the trip. I don't know, I just had this feeling we needed to go. We figured if we got bad news we'd be there with bad news instead of home with bad news. So we went, and it was a really quiet road trip like we had gotten in a fight, only we didn't get in a fight we were just scared. So we're rolling along and...where were we? We stopped at some gas station in some place, oh Lumberton! We were talking about it, and the lady called us and said "Hey she's talking to us, the baby is good" and all that stuff, so she said "Go ahead and head on down". So we went to Georgia, and had Chickfila at some point. Then since it was close by, we decided to stop at Nine Line to get some coffee and we saw some baby stuff and went "aww that's cute". Then we started driving again, we got off the highway and we were in the middle of Florida, the middle of nowhere where I'm pretty sure your aunt told us to avoid, so pretty much we were close to your aunt's house when one of the agent ladies called and said "Yo, your kid is ready!" which was exciting because we got to meet Ember soon, but mainly because we knew she was healthy. That was the biggest relief ever, because we knew since she was being discharged it was a great sign. So we kept driving and the mood was way different, like we had made up after a fight without any actual fight. Then we got to your aunt's house, then they told us "hold up" and we asked why, and asked if the birth mom was changing her mind and they said "yes". So we sat around for three hours wondering what was going to happen again. Then Amy called again and I didn't put it on speaker, so you got mad at me for it when she was telling me we were pretty much good to go. Then I gave you a thumbs up like it was a Grubhub order or something and it was ready to pickup. SO basically we get the call, and finally after all that mess it's all good to go. We drove to pick her up, and it was weird because it was the last time it would be just the two of us. I was excited but at the same time there was a bittersweet moment knowing this chapter of just us was closed and I had to let it go. Obviously I was excited and I never thought twice about it after we picked her up. She was so tiny, and she barely fit in her carseat. Then we got back, called everyone we knew and was like "hey, she cute". Then we were starving so we stopped at Chickfila, then she smiled and you got that cute picture of her smiling. Then we got home right in time for thanksgiving. It took forever stopping every three hours.

OH! THEN she had the gnarly poop! I wanted to burn her clothes, it went EVERYWHERE. That was a whole ordeal.

Um, I don't know....I just feel a love I never thought was even possible. It's learning all this stuff, it's crazy. I'm a helicopter parent, who would've thought that?! In short, my mindset and how I view the world is totally different. But I like it. I like her smiles.

So there you go folks. The story of our Ember Rose.

with grace,

Dan, Kallie, and Ember