Rewind - Tuesday, September 6, 2011

Tuesday, September 6, 2011 - 

We pretty much spent that day relaxing a bit and getting oriented to being in Arkansas.....and recuperating from the trip out there.  Here is what I posted on Facebook that day:

At 10:42 a.m.:  Enjoying relaxing today in Arkansas & hanging out w/Lacey. Hoping to meet w/our birthparents sometime today. :)

At 12:58 p.m.:  I am in LOVE w/some of the houses out here in Arkansas. GORGEOUS....not cookie cutter...w/big, spacious yards!

Years ago, when I was still living in South Carolina before I moved out to Utah, I met Rich Fordham shortly after he moved up from Florida for a few months and we ended up becoming the best of friends.  He supported me and encouraged me in my decision to move to Utah, and I supported him and encouraged him in his decision to make some good life changes and go on a mission.  After he moved back down to Florida to get ready to go on his mission we continued to keep in touch by phone every week and he called me as soon as he got his mission call to the South Salt Lake Mission in Utah.  I was able to go down to Florida for a few days to be there for his farewell before he left on his mission.  About a month before he went into the MTC, I moved out to Salt Lake City myself and I was able to go to the MTC and be there when he entered.  Throughout the course of the 2 years that he was on his mission, I wrote him every week and we continued to remain close friends.  During all of this time, I had gotten to know his family and fell in love with them as well.  The Fordham's are an AMAZING family and I've always felt very blessed to know them and call them my friends. 

When I made the decision to go through the Temple for the first time and receive my own endowments, I decided to drive back to South Carolina and share the experience with my family and close friends at the time in the Atlanta Temple.  Two of my very best friends, Christy (Miles) Castillo and Nichole Martin, made the drive with me so that they could be there and see their families as well since they are both from South Carolina as well and had also moved out to Utah.  In the course of that drive back to South Carolina, we stopped in Tennessee for a short stop so that I could visit with the Fordham's and see them again since they had moved there from Florida after Rich had left for his mission. 

Lacey (Fordham) Schofield, Rich's only sister, was going to BYU down in Provo during the time that Rich was on his mission, so there were a couple of times that I was able to see her as well.

Shortly after Rich came home from his mission, I was able to fly out to Tennessee and be there for his homecoming and spend another few days with him and his family.  Rich then made the decision to move back out to Utah and we were able to spend some more time together during that time.  Then he met Summer, his wife of 10.5 years now, and they were married a short time later in the Mount Timpanogos Temple.....and, again, I was there for the wedding dinner, the sealing in the Temple, and the reception afterwards. 

Then life happened and Rich and I lost touch for a few years.....but never really forgot each other....until the first year that Matt and I were married and we were watching the 10:00 News one night before going to bed.  Suddenly, I saw Rich's face on the TV and realized that he had been in a terrible accident that had almost killed him while working for the Utah Highway Patrol.  I called the hospital the next day and talked to his Mom, who had flown back out to be there with him.  Matt and I were able to go up to the hospital later that night and see Rich for a very short time, which he doesn't remember now because he was in so much pain and so drugged up at the time. 

Again, we lost touch until Summer and I found each other on Facebook and started to get to know each other and become friends for awhile.  Then, a year ago this past May, Matt and I took care of their 3 gorgeous kiddos for a week while Rich and Summer went on vacation to Europe with Rich's family.  Since that time, we have kept in touch on a very regular basis and our families like to spend as much time together as we can.  Rich is still one of my very best friends in the whole world after all these years, and I've been so happy to have the chance to finally get to know Summer and the kids and become so close to them as well.  We love their family so much!

Anyway, the reason that I'm taking the time to mention all of this is for a purpose.  It is to preface and lead up to this:

It just so happens that shortly after Matt and I found out that Matai was going to be born in Springdale, Arkansas......Lacey, Rich's sister, contacted me on Facebook and let me know that that was only about 30 minutes away from where she lives in Centerton, Arkansas.  Let me just say here that I don't know ANYONE in Arkansas and I can honestly say that I've never had any desire whatsoever to go to Arkansas for a visit either before now.  So I really don't think that the location of where Matai's birthparents lives and where he was going to be born.....and the location of where Lacey just happened to live in Arkansas.....was a coincidence.  

Lacey and Marshal will never truly know just how much it meant to Matt and I to allow us to crash at their house and invade their space and their sweet little family for so long while we were in Arkansas.  They were FANTASTIC!!  It was fun to play with their 3 little girls and baby Carter, who is only a month older than Matai.  Their family saved us so much money and were truly an answer to many prayers.  They allowed us to feel as much 'at home' as one can feel when they are totally out of their comfort zone and staying in totally unfamiliar waters.  Thanks so much to the Schofield family for helping us out when we needed it most!!  You are THE BEST and we love you!  :)

Also, during this time, Rich and Summer and their 3 kids were watching our dogs during most of the time that we were gone after DeAnna took them down to them in Spanish Fork when she could no longer take care of them....and because we were gone SO LONG!  Thanks so much to BOTH DeAnna and to the Fordhams for helping with the dogs as well!  I was such a relief knowing that they were loved and well taken care of while we were gone.  :)

Anyway, to continue on.....

Matt and I made a call again that afternoon to Maki, who is Paul's (the Attorney) go-between person, of sorts.  I don't really know what else to call her.  Maki is AWESOME!!  She's Marshallese as well and she's known Paul since he was a missionary serving in the Marshall Islands 15 years ago.  At some point in the following years, Paul helped Maki place her first baby for adoption and she has since spent her life finding other Marsallese women who are in need of placing their babies for adoption, who she then refers to Paul and he then finds the families (all through referrals) to place the babies with for adoption.  Together, they make all of the 'magic' happen.  Matt and I are now really great friends with Maki as well and we keep in touch with her still periodically, too.  We consider her to also be a part of our extended family as well.

Since there was a little bit of a language barrier with the birthparents, we relied on Maki at first to help us communicate with them and set up a meeting time.  We agreed to meet for the first time that night for dinner at the Golden Corral, since that's a place that the birthparents like to eat at.  (They like buffet-style types of restaurants.)

Here's what I posted on Facebook at 2:58 p.m.:  We are meeting our birth parents for dinner in 2 hours!!

And another post at 3:04 p.m.:  NOW I'm suddenly TERRIFIED!!

Then again at 3:33 p.m.:  Headed to dinner now.....

We left Marshal & Lacey's house a bit early, just to allow for traffic and to give us plenty enough time to find where we were going, etc.  We really wanted to be on time.  As it turned out, we were WAY early so we went over to a mall just down the street and wandered around for a bit to kill time before we headed over to the restaurant.

And here's what I posted @ 4:49 p.m. as we were sitting in the parking lot at Golden Corral, waiting for the birthparents and Maki to arrive:  Think I'm gonna be sick to my stomach.....

I was SO SCARED at this point....

I'm going to have to sign off again for now and continue tomorrow.  :)