We Finally Meet!

Today we had an amazing opportunity. We got to sit down and have lunch with Nichole and her two grown kids. It was incredible and we are so happy we got the chance to meet them before the excitement begins tomorrow. Needless to say I was a bit nervous this morning, while talking on the phone with a close friend, I was pacing the floor of the hotel room and thinking of all of the details of this upcoming meeting...Will she like us, will her kids like us, will we come off as relaxed or a nervous wreck, what does she expect, will we get into deep conversation or can that wait until the hospital, will she cry, will I cry, if we run out of things to talk about what can we pick up on? And so on and so forth. We called her about 11:15AM confirmed our meet and on we went, checking out Binghamton and all of the important points of interest (hospital, hotel, shopping). Binghamton is much larger than I ever expected. I was thinking size of Joplin, but it is much larger or maybe just more spread out. It actually is about 5 little towns all smushed into one. Elmira, Union, Johnson City, Vestal, Binghamton, and Endwell...maybe Endicott as well...I can't remember. Anyway. The time came and we headed towards her house. She lives in an older apartment complex and told us that she would wait outside for us. When we pulled up it was Nichole (very pregnant, still very tiny), her daughter (16 years old) and her son (18 years old). We got out of the car and I asked immediately if I could give her a hug. She agreed happily and then we squished into the Rav4 Rental and scooted off to lunch at a little chain around the east coast called Friendly's. The ride to the restaurant consisted of talking about our travel and Binghamton, just general let's break the ice convo. After we sat down to lunch we began talking more about the baby, her kids and what their interests are as well as what they have coming up. School, work, summer activities. Again general conversation. Then Nichole started to tell us thank you again for adopting her child and I wasn't sure how to handle it. I told her about Friday and spending time with my mom and balling my eyes out as I was telling her that there are not enough words to explain how blessed and amazingly grateful we are for what she is doing for us. How we would not be able to fulfill this dream of becoming parents without her. I kind of cut it there knowing I might lose it and realized we will have a lot of time in the next week to exchange our deepest thoughts and emotions. We will have time to cry (if it happens) and have time to continue bonding. Overall it went amazing. They are all wonderful people and we could not be more excited to be a part of their lives and can't wait to continue building them a special place in our hearts. Maren is so lucky to be surrounded by so many people who love her unconditionally. Tomorrow is the big day...she gets induced in the evening. More updates when I can.

Blessed, Loved, and Sooo Happy to Have Officially Met Nichole, Kassandra, and Sean,

Ali