We have had several updates over the last week. Brooke spoke to her Mother early last week and told her that she still intends to go through with the adoption and that she is not doing any hard drugs. She also told her that the baby has been very active lately, kicking and moving a lot. Brooke also made contact with her sister late Sunday night. She told her sister that she is going to enjoy her last few days of freedom because she knows that she is going to be placed in police custody as soon as she goes to the hospital to have the baby. On one hand, we are a little worried about what her last days of "fun" are going to be like, but on the other hand we are overjoyed that she is planning to go to the hospital to have the baby. It gives us a little peace of mind because we were worried that she would not go to the hospital for fear of being placed in custody.

We would like to thank you all for your prayers on our behalf over the last 3/4 weeks. We have certainly been edified knowing that all of you are out there praying for us. Keep them coming and hopefully, we will have a little one here soon.

In Christian Love,
Rich & Lorie

Hi everyone,
Last night we received some bad news about our pending adoption. As most of you know, our birth mom Brooke, ran away from home about 3 1/2 weeks ago. Last night we talked to Joe and he told us that they have heard rumors that Brooke is using drugs like Oxycontin. As you can imagine, we are very upset by this news. Please pray that she will be smart and make good decisions until the end of her pregnancy. Our biggest fear at the point is that she will go and have the baby somewhere and leave or have the baby and dump her somewhere while she is on drugs. We don't know what to expect/think about her state of mind or how she will handle going into labor.

Rich and I are headed to Florence this weekend to see if we can help find her. We are going to try to meet with some of her friends and maybe pass out flyers or something to see if we can get word back to her that we still want to help her and want to adopt the baby no matter what.

We are trying to stay positive and continuing to pray that everything will work out. Please include us, Brooke and the baby in your prayers.

In Christian Love,
Rich & Lorie

We got a little good news today, Brooke is trying to make contact with her Dad. For some reason, he changed his phone number and she called her oldest sister to get her Dad's new number.

We are very excited about this and hope that it means that she is ready to come home and get ready to have the baby.

Please continue to keep her and the baby in your prayers. We'd appreciate if you keep us in them as well.

In Him,
Lorie & Rich

Hi everyone,
First let me say thanks to all of you for your prayers....we have certainly needed them. Our birth mother had a fight with her father and ran away from home about 3 1/2 weeks ago. She has had no contact with him or with Joe & Kathy since she ran away. Her father has a warrant out for her arrest since she is a habitual runaway, but she is playing it smart and laying low. The fact that she is 9 months pregnant and probably doesn't feel like being out running around has not helped any.

Rich and I have prayed and prayed about this and still have hope that she will contact Joe & Kathy when she goes in labor. She does not want the baby, has never wanted the baby, so we are hoping and praying that she will call.

The hospital has been notified of the situation and has all of our information if she comes in and says that she wants to give the baby up. Our biggest fear is that she will go to another hospital and have the baby and walk out, surrendering the baby to the state and the foster care system. If that happens, we will not have any rights to the baby because she disappeared before we could legally file the paperwork for the adoption. We had to wait until 30 days before the baby was due, and she disappeared early in that week, so she never signed the papers.

I didn't want to worry all of our pleo friends, we have been on this emotional roller coaster for a while, but it is hard for others to ride it with us. Again, we are praying for her to call when she goes into labor. Joe & Kathy are pretty confident that she will call them, Kathy is the only person that she asked to be in the delivery room with her.

We are ready to go at a moments notice, bags are packed and we have all of the baby stuff ready, the car seat is in the car and we are on constant baby alert. Her due date is April 16th.

Please keep us in your prayers. We are praying that God's will be done and if it is His will for us to have this child, we are ready for her. Also, please pray that Brooke will make good decisions and stay away from alcohol and drugs for the last 3 weeks of her pregnancy.

In Christian Love,
Lorie & Rich

1. What was your favorite subject in school?
English was always my favorite. I have always been an avid reader and loved to learn about the process, what it takes to write a book and how it all works. The only part that I did not like was diagramming sentences!

2. Of all the sermons you have ever heard, which one had the most profound influence on you and your life as a Christian? Who was the preacher and what was the subject?
When we went back to FC for our 10 yr reunion, I sat in on a lecture by Roger Shouse. His topic was living with adversity. Now, I had been living with adversity for a while, but I was doing it the wrong way, I had turned my back on God and was living a life that I knew was wrong. His words that day really helped me to see that I was wrong and helped me to understand that I needed to make things right with God and get back on track. He came and preached a meeting for us last year and it was really nice to get to know him and let him know that he had an impact on my life.

3. What was your favorite toy as a child?
I loved my big wheel. I was a teror on that thing! I used to get going really fast and then pull up the brake and spin out. I probably went through about 3 of them before I got too big for them because I kept wearing the tires out. I also loved action figures. I used to beg my Mom to get me Star Wars action figures, but instead she got me dolls. I think that she was a little worried about her little girl being such a tom-boy!

4. If you could own a second home, i.e. vacation home, where would it be?
I'd have to say that I'd go back to my roots in Tennessee. I've always wanted to have a cabin on a little secluded lake. There would be a big deck on the back where I could sit in the morning and watch the sun rise and drink my morning coffee. The water would be crystal clear and the kids would be able to run and jump off the pier and swim all day. Sounds like a good daydream doesn't it????

5. What aspect of raising a daughter do you look forward to the most?
I'm really looking forward to watching Rich with our little girl. It has been his dream for a while to have a little girl, that whole Daddy's little girl thing has always appealed to him. I can't wait to see them together and see how she wraps him around her little finger!


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