Part 2 of Azariah's Story

Part 2:

After our first visit we got home safely just in time to get snowed in for Christmas. Fortunately my Mom and Dad have a gas stove and we were able to make it over there when our power went out to eat a hot meal and spend time with family.

On the 30th we had made plans to meet with Carol for our first Dr Appointment with Azariah (even though it wasn't his first, it was our first :) We drove up early that Wednesday morning and of course it was snowing again... see the theme?

The Awesome Weather

Azariah was 12lb and 23in at this visit which was his 2 mo visit. It just so happened that his Dr was not 100% ok with his heart sounds and wanted to be sure so an Echo was set up for the next day and we were invited to go along. We then got the pleasure to spend some more time with him and Carol at Carol's home for the evening and then meet them in the morning again the next day.

Spending time with Azariah

For our 5 year Anniversary we went out to eat on the 30th, and on our Anniversary we spent the morning at the Dr's office with Azariah getting his ultrasound of his heart done and then the rest of the afternoon we spent with him again at Carols. This was the last time we'd see him until the legal risk period ended. It was hard to leave knowing that it may be our last time with him. The drive home was long and stressful. I had such a migraine from the stress Jason had to drive the whole way. For the next few days Jason and I prepared for Azariah like we never thought we would. We didn't sleep hardly at all until the 7th rolled around.

Azariah's Echo

Out to Dinner, Just Jason and I to Celebrate 5 years of Marriage!

My emotions ran high on Jan 7th, it was supposed to be the day we took Azariah home but again... due to the weather and snow all the roads were closed and we weren't leaving our house even if we wanted to try. So with extreme disappointment and frustration we had to push it back until the next day. Thankfully Carol knew how hard that must have been for us and e-mailed us a picture of Azariah smiling. It really made my day and helped me wait. That evening I slept very good knowing the legal risk period passed and God really did give me a son. I laughed and told Jason how touching for God to play with our emotions by having us push back our plans another day... Oh little did I know it wasn't over yet!

I should have known that setting up to meet the next day at 11am was being too optimistic. Jason and I left our home at 6:15am on Friday the 8th to go pick up our son in the Twin Cities. We made it to Worthington since the Hwy to Windom hadn't been plowed yet and upon entering Worthington we found out by a State Trooper that all Hwy's were still closed from the day before. We got lucky for not picking ourselves up a ticket for driving on those closed roads but were also now stuck in Worthington.

So we waited! We first stopped on Hwy 60 behind some semi's and waited for a good half an hour before deciding to go get some breakfast beverages at McDonald's. It was still so dark our and below you can see a picture I took. I figured that I might as well document this with our camera knowing that later it would be funny even though it wasn't at that time. It was there at McDonald's we heard from other truckers that the roads weren't opening until Noon. NOON, I screamed to myself in my head!! NO NO NO was my thought then I began laughing... only God would do this and think it was funny! So we spent the next 4.5 hours in Worthington at Walmart, Perkins, and in our car behind a 2 mile long line of semi's waiting for the roads to open. We finally left at 11:15am on open roads and began our journey.

Luckily our social worker was able to push back the meeting until 3pm which ended up being 15 min before we made it there! Perfect timing. However, on the drive up we ended up seeing 18 vehicles in the ditch! 18! God was protecting us after all, and making a really good story too.

We made it to Carol's and signed our papers and were back on the roads just in time to hit early Friday rush hour. We ended up stopping in Jordan to give Azariah a bottle then back in he went and slept the rest of the way home.

Family picture with Grandma Carol

Azariah's ride home

What an amazing story he has to be proud of. Jason and I want to thank you all for keeping us in your prayers through out this entire time, our patience was pushed to the max and with your support we were really able to keep it together. Our lives are forever changed and we have God to thank for it all. So this is the end of the beginning of our story! We hope you are enlightened and encouraged that with God's hand and a LOT of Faith anything is possible.