Newcomb Journey

Saturday May 16th the birth mom texted me as 6 am and and said contractions were 10 minutes apart! Austin and I got up and started packing the van (thankfully we had a feeling the baby was coming soon so we had already packed most of our bags). We got the kids up and ready and left the house by 7:30. I was texting the mom a lot as we drove but then didn't hear from her for a bit but at 9:30 she said Zane Isaiah was here! We were really sad to miss his actual birth but it made the rest of the ride a lot less stressful. It was a 13 hour drive to Virginia but it went pretty fast. We drove straight to the hospital and I got to spend 24 hours with the Zane and the birth mom. Due to covid once I was in the hospital I wasn't allowed to leave until Zane was released and and no other visitors could come in. The 24 hours I had with the birth mom and Zane were priceless. We had some great conversations and were also able to get to know each other. After the birth mom left Zane and I were ...

Tuesday (3/31) we were able to FaceTime with the birth mom right after her ultrasound and we found out the baby is a boy! We've never found out the gender before the birth so knowing has been fun. Of course I want to shop but we're trying to avoid public so I can't, boo! One really cool thing, I have had a boys name picked out for almost 2 years and we were texting with the birth mom this week about names and she sent me that exact name, of all the names in the world we both separately thought of the same name! And even cooler the name means "God's gracious gift". The name is a secret until he's born but I love that God worked out that small part!  We would love prayers over all the details. There are so many details that I would love to plan but because of the virus and the shutdowns I can't. God is good and He will work them out as they are supposed to be but here's a few specific prayer requests.  *With the quickly changing hospital rules...

So- Tuesday morning (2/18/20) I got a call from the adoption agency while I was at Bible Study. I saw who the call was from and ran to the hall so I could answer the phone. The agency said a birth mom has picked us and would like to start getting to know us. She's from Virginia and she's due May 14th, other then that they told me her name and a few other details and we hung up. After I called Austin I went back into group where they were excitedly waiting for me. I loved that I got the call during Bible Study because my group was immediately able to pray for me, the birth mom, the baby and all the details. After we talked on Tuesday and Wednesday it was clear that this was a fit and we started to move forward. The next step was to hire a lawyer to talk with the mom and find out medical history, financial needs, and her desires for the adoption. Austin reached out to 3 people and they all recommended the same lawyer so thankfully we have peace of mind with that. We started ment...

It's been a long time since I've written an update so I (Ashley) thought I should but at the same time, I have nothing to update. =) We had a nice summer and it was pretty low key. We didn't plan any vacations because we thought we'd have a baby. Spoiler alert, no baby this summer! ;-) Caiden went to his 1st overnight camp with church and had a blast. Kylar and Austin went to a daddy daughter camp and had fun learning about Jesus and growing closer together. The rest of the summer we were either at Austin's parents lake house, at the pool or just enjoying being home. When school started in August everyone went to school! Caiden started middle school, Tinley started kindergarten and Elijah 2nd grade and Kylar 4th. I was alone- for the 1st time in 11 years I had 6 hours to myself! Everyone asked me if I was excited and what I was going to do with my time but I usually cried when someone asked! Again, we thought we'd have a baby so I wasn't prepared for the t...

A few weeks ago we got a call from the agency that there was a couple interested in us! We have been praying for 4 specific requests and this couple met them all. 1, they were in a state close by where we could drive 2, they didn't need much financial help (we really don't want money to be the reason the baby is being adopted) 3, they wanted an open adoption and 4, they are pregnant with twins! We talked a lot over the next week but in the end they decided to keep the babies and raise them. There are so many mixed emotions. We are SO glad they have decided to keep their daughters and we are thankful to be part of the journey with them as they asked many questions that led them to decide to parent, we are truly happy for them. On the other side, we're a bit sad for ourselves. This seemed like the "perfect" adoption, exactly what we've been praying for and dreaming of. Why would God dangle that right in front of us then take it away? I don't know. I'd be...

I (Ashley) have had a lot of worry about adoption over the past month. We are still talking to the same birth mom but our communication has drastically slowed down which has made me think that she's changing her mind. I have no proof of this but it's how I'm feeling. I've been spending a lot of time worrying instead of praying and that is never a good solution. This past week Austin's sister and I went on a girls trip to California. Our main goal was to go whale watching; we found a company in Monterey and went on Sunday morning. The fog was bad! They said the ideal visibility for finding whales is about a mile but we could only see 1/4 of a mile. We drove around for an hour and a half with nothing but then all of a sudden there were whales everywhere! Over the next hour we saw whales diving, feeding and swimming around. It was an amazing experience. After about an hour the whales swam in a different direction and it was time for us to go back to shore. As we were...