"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!