"One journey ends and another begins"
 Last Monday as my mother and I were tirelessly getting ready for our huge fundraiser that was set for this past Sunday, our long awaited phone call came.  It was from Teresa, our adoption mentor, our pastor's wife, and close friend...which made it even more special.  Teresa told me that we had a baby boy who had been born on September 11th and that both birth parents had chosen us and had signed their rights away...essentially, that there was no chance of them changing their minds and that we could drive to Florida the next day to meet him.  That moment was so surreal and as I immediately called Ron to tell him that we had a son, I could not grasp the reality of the words coming out of my mouth. 

The next several hours were a blur as we scrambled to pack and get on the road.  We drove a few hours that night and then stayed in a hotel, where needless to say I did not sleep enough to even count.  We headed out early the next morning and arrived at the adoption agency around 1 pm  where we finished a bit of paperwork and found out more details about our son and his birth family.  Several members of his birth family had sent gifts for him; which I am sure he will cherish in the years to come.  We learned of what a hard decision this was for his birth parents and of how, despite some unwise decisions made while his birth mom carried him, they both love him desperately.  It is very humbling and overwhelming to have been hand picked by Gideon's first parents to be his forever parents.  We do not take this lightly and will be eternally grateful for that choice.

Next we headed to the hospital where we met the hospital social worker and the charge NICU nurse.  It was so hard to focus on anything anyone was telling us.  The whole time all I could think was that my son was somewhere in that building at that I was about to meet him.  It seemed as though they talked forever about nothing and I was about to explode with anticipation.  It was still so surreal that the thing I had wanted so much and dreamed about, prayed for, hoped for, worked for, and thought would never happen...it was about to happen.  As we walked into his room, his nurse was changing his diaper, and there he laid...my perfect little boy.  Our entourage was light-hearted and giddy as we approached his incubator.  I was not light-hearted.  I was  overcome.  Overcome with joy, disbelief, grief over years of childlessness, but most of all by the graciousness and faithfulness of my heavenly  Father who had at long last given me the desire of my heart.  I stood there for a moment and sobbed somewhat hysterically  I must admit, and then I got to touch him, then hold him,  feed him,  and then  fall hopelessly in love with him.

Our Gideon Troy Wilde was born on September 11th at 7:57 pm.  He weighed 6 lbs. 9 oz. and was 16.92 inches long.  He was exposed, in utero, to some things he should have never been exposed to and this is why he spent the first 10 and 1/2 days of his life in the NICU.  These were not easy days for him.  He struggled (and struggles still) with some breathing issues and was prone to spiking a fever.  As we watched him improve and overcome his struggles, we became even more confident that we had named him well.  Gideon means "great warrior," and he absolutely is.  He is a tough, stubborn little booger, and began improving quickly from the moment we arrived.  I like to think was because he knew immediately that "we've got him."  He was no longer fighting alone, and he will never have to again.  I always wondered if I would "feel" like a mother right away when adopting or if it would take a while.  I will tell you that it was almost instantaneous.  We are both so wrapped around his itty bitty finger.  I have prayed for our child for so long and that he or she would live an amazing, godly life.  After meeting him, I have no doubt that he will do just that.  He is so special and will absolutely change the world, even if it is only to a small degree.  I, however, have learned not to limit God so it will be interesting to see how his sweet little life unfolds.

As much as we have enjoyed our time alone together as a family of 3, we are ready to get home and introduce our son to our family and friends.  It is so crazy how quickly your life can change completely.  Even though we will soon be home with our son, it is still important for us to continue our fundraising efforts.  We still have t-shirts available, which you can order through the form on the right hand side of this page.  We will also still be having our huge yard sale, bake sale, arts and crafts sale that was previously planned for this past Sunday.  We will share the new date for this as soon as we get it firmed up.  Now there will be a special guest at the fundraiser. ;) There is still the option to do a direct monetary donation through our youcaring.com page. The link to this can be found on the right hand side of this page also.  Our church was able to help us meet our $2500 matching grant goal, however, we have a couple more matching grants we will be hearing back from over the course of the next couple of weeks.  We are hopeful that we will be awarded more of them, so it is still very likely that anything you donate will be doubled.  Thank you all again for your support, prayers, and the sweet well wishes you have all extended to us over the last week. We love and appreciate you all.

"God is good all the time!"


We hope you are all having a good start to your week.  We have been hard at work getting ready for our upcoming yard sale/ bake sale/ arts and crafts sale coming up on Sunday, September 21st 9am -3pm in the parking lot in front of Sage Hair Studio in Dawsonville.  Thank you so much to all of  you who have already donated items for us to sell.  Keep 'em coming! We still have space for lots more! We also still need some volunteers to bake and package yummy treats for the bake sell.  We are planning on having a lemonade stand run by our awesome nieces and nephews.  We'd like to have bottled water to sell as well, so if anyone would like to donate lemonade, bottled water, or cups it would be greatly appreciated.  We would also like to thank each of you who have purchased one of our "minus one" t-shirts.  We are still taking orders for anyone who would still like to have one.  Now for the exciting news we received last Friday...we have been awarded an adoption matching grant!  This is such a blessing because essentially what this means is that any money that any of you have donated as well as all the profits from our t-shirt sale and from our yard sale up to $2500 will be doubled by our grant organization!  This is such answer to our prayers.  It is such a beautiful thing when you can sit back and watch God piece together His plan right before your eyes. We are very encouraged by this grant and pray that it will not be the last one we receive.  God is definitely good.

As far as baby news, we do have a birth mom that our profile book will be presented to later this week.  We'll save details until we see how it all plays out.  Please pray for this birth mom as she makes this huge life altering decision.  Pray that the Lord will direct her towards the parents that He has for her child and that she will have peace in her decision.  Pray for us as we continue to wait for our child, and that we will never forget in this roller coaster of a process that, "God is good all the time!"  Thanks as always for following our story. We love and appreciate each of you!

"Yard sale, t-shirts, Thirty-One, Oh my!"

Hello to all of our faithful followers.  The last week has been a little crazy here at the Wilde house.  We have had several possibilities this week as far as situations that could have resulted in us being matched with a birth mom. However, God is really teaching us to rely on our own discernment as well as on that of our wise councel.  It is so hard when you are in this process to say "no" to a baby that you could potentially bring home,  the reality of it though, is that we are not out to just get "a" baby.  We are instead, trusting God to bring us "our" baby through the right situation and at the right time.  So we continue to wait and try hard to do so with a hopeful, trusting heart and a positive attitude....which is naturally easier sometimes than others.  What can you do, though.  You certainly cannot make it happen any more quickly.  I'll tell you what I do...I throw myself into planning FUNDRAISERS!  Yay!!! :)

So first things first.  Our (hopefully) giganto yard sale/ bake sale/ sale of some of my artwork and crafts is set for Sunday/ September 21st from 9am-3ish pm. This amazing fundraiser will take place in the parking lot of Sage Hair Studio (where I work) located directly across the street from the Burger King in Dawsonville that sits on Hwy 53 very close to its intersection with GA 400.  There WILL be signs the day of so if you can make it to the Outlet Mall we will get you the rest of the way here. ;)  Naturally, we would LOVE to see each of your beautiful faces at this event, but there are others ways that you can get involved if you so choose as well.  First of all, we need stuff to sell!  So there is no better time for your yearly purge than now.  Any items, big or small, that you have and don't want anymore, and you think will sell, bring them on!  Please FB message Ron or myself or email us at adoptwilde@gmail.com to arrange pickup or dropoff.  Also, to any of our North Lanier people wishing to donate items, my awesome sister, Rachel Harper, has offered to get reasonably sized donations from you at church on Sundays or Wednesdays.  You can message her directly or go through Ron or I. We are also going to be having a bake sale at this event so if any of you feel like tapping into your inner Betty Crocker and donating some yumminess for us to sale, it would be MUCH appreciated! Again please contact us through FB or email, adoptwilde@gmail.com, to arrange pick up or drop off of your donations.  Thank you all in advance for helping to make this event a success!

Next topic of discussion....T-shirts!  Who doesn't enjoy a new comfy t-shirt!  Especially one so cool as our "Project Wilde Child...143 million orphans MINUS ONE" t-shirst.  I'm having some difficulty presently uploading pics of the actual shirts, but I hopefully will be able to at least get it up on FB.  In the meantime, just know they are awesome!  They are a gender nuetral charcoal gray with deep red and black writing.  There is an order form that can be accessed on the right side of our blog page.  We are selling the shirts for $15 each for pickup (same offer from Rachel applies to shirts as well, North Lanier peeps ;) .  For those of you needing the shirts to be shipped, they will be $15 per shirt + $5 shipping for the first shirt in your order and an additional $2 per shirt after that.  At this point our ordering setup only allows 3 shirts per order and only adult sizes S-2XL.  If you are wishing to purchase more than 3 at one time or a child's sized shirt, please email us at adoptwilde@gmail.com and we will get you taken care of!

Lastly,  one of my amazing co-workers is a Thirty-One consultant and she has graciously offered to sponsor a fundraiser for us.  I do not have all of the details yet, but they are coming VERY soon...so stay tuned!!!

As always, thank you so much for your interest in our story and for your support whether prayerfully, financially, or through your donations of yumm-o treats or yard saleable items!  Please continue to pray for our patience and that we maintain hopeful and trusting hearts while we wait!  We appreciate and love each of you and are fully aware of how blessed we are to have each of you on this ride with us!

"His sixth great grandchild"


For months now we have anticipate a life changing, middle of the night phone call.  At 2:00 Sunday morning we got a phone call that was just that.  This phone call was not at all the one we were hoping for, but instead one of those dreaded, although somewhat anticipated calls.  My Papa (grandfather on my mother's side) had gone to be with the Lord.


He had been battling cancer for awhile now and had suffered pretty significantly.  For that reason his death was somewhat of a relief.  None of us want our loved ones to suffer, especially when the alternative is eternal life pain and worry free with our Creator and Savior.


As I have tried to process this new reality over the last day or so, my thoughts keep creeping back to the last time I saw him.  It was back in May at my cousins wedding.  It was a beautiful evening, almost magical you might say.  The wedding was gorgeous and the reception was so beautifully done.  It was so much fun having most of the family together.  It had been such a long time since so many of us had been in one place.  I kept watching Papa as each of his kids, grandkids, and great grandkids interacted with him throughout the evening.  He would light up for each of us and proudly posed for numerous photos.  He was so happy just to have all of us so close.  As it came close to time for him to leave, I hugged him and whispered in his ear that he was going to be getting another great grandchild in August and went on to tell him all about our, since failed, private adoption plan.  He hugged me so tightly, and as tears streamed down his face he told me that he loved me so much and that he was so happy that he was going to have another great grandbaby. 


As I mentioned earlier in the post, I have mostly felt grateful that Papa is no longer in pain.  This afternoon, though, as I was reading my aunt's facebook post about his funeral arrangements and his obituary that gratitude briefly flipped to selfish grief.  As I was reading the "survived by" part of his obituary, uncontrollable tears began to stream down my face.  It said after the named list of children, " 9 grandchildren and 5 great grandchildren."  That is all he will have ever known even though number 6 is so close.  My child will never know him.  I will never get to see his face light up as he holds him or her.  I suppose this is even harder for me to process this week as two of our "almost babies" were due to be born this week.  We had thought for so long that this would be the week we would be getting our middle of the night call, just not this one.


To my Papa,  I love you so much too!  I will miss your tight hugs and your sweet, whispery, "I love yous."  I promise to tell your number 6 how much you would've loved him or her.  He/she will not know you, but they will know about you.  You lived a long, full, and at times hard life, but now it is time for you to find peace and rest.


To all of my readers, I thank you as always for your interest in our story.  I ask that you keep us in your prayers especially this week.  This is a hard week for us, but I know that we will get through just as we always do, by the grace of God.  It encourages me to know that each passing day brings us one day closer to holding our long anticipated child tightly in our arms.

"Minus One"

First of all, I just want to say thank you to all of you who have been following our story and praying for us, as well as those of you who have contributed financially.  We love and appreciate each of you, and we are so grateful to have you as part of our story!

Next, I feel the need to share a little more of our back story to let you all see a little deeper into our hearts.  As many of you know, I have wanted to be wife and a mother pretty much since I was able to say those words. ;)  My other desire for my life has been for God to use it, however, wherever...whenever.  I have felt for a long time that adoption would be part of how He would accomplish this.  When I met Ron, he had felt a similar calling, and I believe that our similar hearts for orphans was one of the many things that drew us to each other.  We had agreed before we ever married, that adoption for us was not a question of "if" we would, but of "when" we would.  We thought the "when" would be after we had a biological child or two, but then came that scary, heart wrenching road block...infertility.  How could I possibly not be able to have children?  I, who was born to be a mother.  I, who had had all of my six children named by the time I was 13!  How could this possibly be?  For years I was absolutely paralyzed by this inconceivable reality.  I put on my biggest, most convincing smile as  went to baby shower after baby shower of not only friends my age, but ones much younger.  Eventually, it was children I had babysat who were having babies.  I would smile, and comment on the cuteness of the numerous babies, as I was genuinely happy for all of my friends, family and acquaintances, but when I would get alone... I would cry my heart out and try to understand the why in my circumstances.  I  was so desperate to see what God's purpose could possibly be in this.  After years of wrestling inside of myself with this, I finally got it.  There is a reason for this...or at least one that helps me to find some peace in this situation.  Adoption...it was always more of a plan B for us.   It was something we always planned on doing, but we had a plan about where it would fit into our lives.  We wanted to be obedient, but on our terms.  To God, this was not our plan B, but instead a very important part of His plan A our lives.  Once we finally figured this out, that was the end of our infertility discussions with doctors and the end of putting so much pressure ourselves to make something happen that was never meant to be. 

There are so many children in this world without someone to love and protect them; over 143 million orphans, to be exact.  There are babies born on a daily basis who are exposed to drugs and poverty or are born with disabilities.  They are labeled "unwanted" or "undesirable" before they even have the chance to show their worth.  They have no one to dream for them, or fight for them. They have no voice.  When I think of these children, I think of myself and so many of us who have such ugliness in our hearts and were completely lost and could be considered basically worthless.  We would have remained this way had God not stepped in.  He gave us unconditional love when we were utterly unlovable.  He saw potential in each of us and chose to invest in us so that we could have abundant life and eternal life.  How could we possibly live the love of God any better than opening our hearts and our home to the least of these.  What a humbling responsibility and calling...and this is exactly how we see it, our calling.  For every healthy Caucasian baby placed for adoption, there are 400 waiting couples.  That is definitely not the case for a baby exposed to drugs or even of an ethnicity considered to be a minority.  Those are the ones  that we feel called to bring into our lives, and by doing this we will be able to change that daunting number of world-wide orphans.  It will now be 143 million "minus one." 

Each of you by supporting us whether prayerfully or financially are helping us to make that number "minus one."  This is a phrase that you'll all be seeing a lot of as we head into our fundraising phase of this process.  We want each of you to realize that what you are being a part of is more than just growing a family; you are helping give hope and God's love to a child who otherwise might go through life feeling unloved or unwanted.  What a beautiful part of our child's life you already are. 

We will be kicking off several fundraisers over the next couple of weeks so stay tuned.  Some up coming things to look for include "minus one" t-shirts, handmade "minus one" refrigerator magnets,  and a huge benefit yard sale ( please contact me or Ron if you have items you would like to donate) just to name a few.

Once again, thank you to each of you who have been following our story.  We greatly appreciate each of you.

Also, just to give you a quick update...we have applied to several other agencies this week.  We are excited to see which doors God will swing wide open for us!  Love to you all! Thanks for reading...I know this was a long one. ;)

"Just keep swimming."

It's  interesting how quotes from cartoons keep popping into my head throughout this process.  Today's most relevant one is "just keep swimming," a quote from Disney's much loved "Finding Nemo."  I'll ellaborate on this more in a moment, but for now, excuse me while I  do a little mixing of my metaphors. We are quickly learning that adoption is an unpredictable rollercoaster.  You go from waiting in the long line to being jerked through the many sharp twists and turns. There are super high points where you're excitement builds to the point that you think you could literally jump out of your skin just to be quickly thrust to the lowest point of the ride.  Today we plunged down from one of our highest peaks so far.  It is odd how a situation can be so full of potential at one moment, like you are standing face to face with that beautiful thing that you have dreamt of your whole life, and with one phone call the dream shrinks to a tiny single speck of glitter.  It is still beautiful.  It is still right there, and technically it is still possible for it to be yours...but not very likely.
So this is where, " just keep swimming" comes back into the picture.  In those moments when you feel so tired and like you have come way to far to have just been pushed back to the beginning...in those  moments if you stop swimming...you will sink, and you won't ever make it to your goal.  So, here is what you do...you take a few seconds to have a pity party and feel sorry for yourself that this is happening AGAIN, you cry a tear or two if you must (but you try really hard not to since you came home from work early today with a migraine and crying is the last thing you need to do for that), and then you get the next round of profile books and agency applications ready to send out tomorrow, and you "JUST KEEP SWIMMING"!