Update: March 7, 2007: Caleb Thomas Platt
We have a son. I repeat... We have a son! It is official... Caleb Thomas Platt is now a bona fide member of our family. How can we even begin to describe the last twelve hours?

We awoke this morning for quiet time alone and then study time together. We went through all the questions that we might be asked at court. The bulk of this responsibility was on me because the men do most of the speaking. Heather had one line she definitely needed to remember, so during our study time she took a pen and wrote the answer on her hand. "Just in case," she said.

We arrived at court and were escorted in. Due to the nature of the proceedings, we won’t give all the details. But there were a couple of highlights. After I finished answering all the questions asked of me, Heather was told to stand. She answered a couple of short questions, and then the judge asked her if she had anything to add. The proper response at this time was supposed to be, "No, your honor." But Heather got nervous and panicked, wondering what she was supposed to add... so she quickly looked down at her hand and read her line. Unfortunately, this was not the correct time for her to refer to the hand, but thankfully the judge simply moved on.

Then it came time for my speech. Thank you all for praying... the miraculous happened... I spoke for less than sixty seconds. I wasn't able to fit "disciple-making" into the speech, but I did say that Caleb was going to impact the world with his one life!

The most emotional part of the proceedings occurred when those in the room were discussing Caleb’s birth and biological family. Our hearts were heavy when they explained how Caleb had been relinquished by his biological mother with no father in the picture. They described how no one had expressed interest in caring for him; therefore, he was eligible for adoption. We wanted to jump out of our chairs. "We will care for him! We will love him and provide for him and sacrifice our lives for him!" But we sat quietly and listened.

The judge considered all of the information, and then gave his ruling. "We grant this couple’s application for adoption and we award them the right to become his parents immediately.” Our hearts leapt! We were escorted out of the room with tears in our eyes. We had come into that room as Heather and David Platt. We came out of that room as Caleb's mom and dad. Once we were alone in the waiting room, we looked at each other and cried, overwhelmed by grace and the gift of a son. Praise the Lord...

The next few hours were a whirlwind. We had to go shopping for groceries, get Caleb a snowsuit for the sub-freezing temperatures outside, pick up our official documents (Caleb’s new birth certificate and our approved application for adoption), and get ready for one last trip to the baby house. We arrived at our normal afternoon visit time. Before Caleb was brought in, we had the opportunity to thank the director of the baby house and give her a gift expressing our appreciation. This gift included a monetary contribution from a small group at Brook Hills, for which the director was extremely grateful. What an expression of our faith family to the countless children who go in and out of this orphanage! At that time, Caleb was brought in with two of his caregivers. There were tears all around as Heather thanked them for the love they have shown to our son. They have told us many times how kind, loving, and calm Caleb is, and they reiterated this once again as they wished us happiness as a family.

Now it was time to leave. We dressed Caleb in his new snowsuit, which was an event in and of itself. The poor kid couldn't move, let alone find his hands or his feet (if you saw "The Christmas Story," it was that picture multiplied times ten!). Once we were bundled up, we exited the baby house for the last time. We climbed in the car and we were off. Caleb did great--he was calm and relaxed, simply taking it all in. Once we were back to the apartment, I dropped Heather and Caleb off and went to get this evening’s dinner at a local cafe... buckwheat and meatloaf. Mmmmm...

The last few hours since arriving home have been simply amazing. The floodgates of Caleb’s personality have sprung open. He has spoken more, laughed more, crawled more, and smiled more than every hour we’ve spent in the baby house combined. And we’ve just taken turns playing with him, looking at him, sitting with him, and loving on him. Oh yeah... he's also cried more than every hour we've spent in the baby house combined. It only lasted about 5 minutes, but let’s just say--Caleb’s not a big fan of the bathtub right now...

So here we sit quietly in our apartment, typing this update with our son in the next room. We laid him down in his crib, and then we took turns just standing by the door listening to him breathe. We keep looking at each other and saying, "Did you hear something?" "No, did you?" We've gone in and checked a few times--I guess just to make sure he’s still there? Or maybe it’s just an excuse to get another glimpse of the precious child that we now call our own.

And now... we're exhausted. We've realized today that what we thought was the end of this journey is actually only the beginning, and we're really tired. We haven't had dinner... feeding him was so complicated that it's just not worth fixing anything else for ourselves. So we're headed off to an early night's sleep... that is, supposing that we can get over the soft sound of a baby sleeping next to us... who just happens to be our son.

We love you and miss you!
--David and Heather

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