Harbor Life Ministries

Chelsy and her new daughter Adelynne Joelle are both doing well after the baby’s arrival at 3:15 pm this afternoon, Friday, February 5.

Adelynne weighed a healthy 6 lb. 14 ounces.

Chelsy checked in at the hospital last evening. The induction meds were administered this morning and 2 pm, Chelsy was fully dilated and ready to push.

Chelsy’s most recent estimated due date was February 2. Possibly little Adelynne wanted to leave the job of predicting winter’s length to Buckeye Chuck and his associates. Whatever the reason, Chelsy didn’t miss her due date by much but she was definitely ready to get past pregnancy and on with parenting.

Chelsy’s mother (and Adelynne’s proud grandmother) Lena said she would get photos ASAP. Even so, it doesn’t require anything but a little imagination to see the smile on both Chelsy and Lena’s faces.

Please keep little Adelynne and Chelsy along with her family in your prayers.

Induction is scheduled at 9pm tonight, Feb. 4, for Chelsy, whose due date was two days ago.

The sex of the baby is undetermined, so even though an induction takes some of the surprise out of the birth, the baby’s name could be Carson Zavier or Adelynn Joelle.

Chelsy will be parenting her child, boy or girl. Her mother Lena will assist her.

Please pray for Chelsy to have a healthy baby, and remember to check back tomorrow. Subscribing to our feed is a good way to keep on top of news from HLM.

            Hannah meets Samuel

Samuel Andrew, at 7 lb. 1 oz. and 21 inches long, arrived yesterday at 3:21 pm. Mom and baby are both doing well.

Her delivery was great. I was so impressed with her. She did such a great job.

Hannah’s mother could not get to Ohio for the delivery but should arrive Saturday, and then they plan to head back home on Monday to start school on Tuesday.

There were a few God things that happened at the hospital which I would love to share if anyone wants to hear.

Thanks again for all your love and prayers.

He’s finally here!

Hannah gave birth at 3:21 pm EDT to a baby boy weighing 7 lb. 1 oz., and 21 inches in length.

“She did great!” was Karla’s comment on the birth.

He has 10 fingers and 10 toes, but no name yet apparently. We’ll keep you posted. Check back or subscribe to our feed.

Colt Justice is the name given by the adoptive parents to a baby boy born Monday, June 1, 2009 at Community Hospital in Coldwater, Ohio.

Colt weighed 7 pounds, 12 ounces, and was 20.5 inches long at birth.

I wanted to share a blessing from todays work.

I had to get up at 5:00 to get the girls up and around and get us to Celina at 9:00 to open the Pregnancy Center. I have to be honest, I really did not want to get out of bed and come. It was a hard trip, we were all very tired. But we did our devotions together, and that was good. But God worked today in ways that were exciting because I could actually see him work.

I had a phone call of young girl, 24, from Celina who needed to come in to EPS and talk about ?things.? When she got here we found out she had an abortion appointment tomorrow. So we talked and discussed options and support and she is not going for that abortion appointment tomorrow.

Another phone call came in and it was a mother of a 17 year old who just recently told her she was pregnant and she is 27 weeks. They went to the abortion clinic last week, but she was too far along, so they needed to go to a different clinic (praise the LORD), but she also called here, even though she had an appointment for today at the other clinic. We spoke and mom cried and cried, but she said she was not taking her daughter for the abortion, she did not really believe in abortion, even though the daughter wanted the abortion. They are coming in to talk on Thursday. Another life saved from abortion.

Watching God work is the reason we are here. You know without us being here today, those babies may not be here tomorrow… God really makes our jobs relevant to what He has called us to.

Lysa, 16 years old and 27 weeks pregnant, gave birth to a baby boy in the bathroom in the early hours this morning. She was alone at the time of delivery and had not realized that she was in labor.

After waking up her roommate and then me, a call was made to 911 and the EMTs rushed the baby and then Lysa to the hospital.

Sadly, the baby did not make it.

“Keith Lewis” (last name withheld) was born at 4:00 AM and expired at 5:38 AM Saturday, April 18, 2009. After over an hour of trying to revive him and get him stable, he went home to be with the Lord. Keith was 2 lbs, 9 oz, and seemed perfect in every way.

Lysa seems to be doing well under the circumstances, both emotionally and physically. She is looking forward to coming home from the hospital tomorrow (Sunday) afternoon.

Pray for Lysa to work through this very traumatic, early birth and the grief of losing her son. Pray for Doug and I as we minister to Lysa, her family and the others in the house. Also, pray for the other residents as well as our children. They were all very scared to wake up to fire sirens with lights flashing, and walkie-talkies chattering outside their bedrooms. One of them said they thought the house was on fire and no one had gotten them out.

Josiah Shawn was born at 11:20 am on Sunday, February 1, 2009.

Labor was relatively short. It took India just two pushes after she and Connie McEldowney, the shepherding mom, arrived at the hospital just 50 minutes before Josiah was born.

Josiah weighed just 6 lb., 1 oz., and was 18.5 inches long.

Connie took India to the hospital the night before because of signs that she might be in labor, but after checking her, the hospital staff sent India back home.

India is parenting Josiah. She has been at with the McEldowney family in Russia, Ohio, since late October, 2008. She arrived at Harbor House last August, initially staying in Norwalk with the Eberles.

[More photos of India and Josiah can viewed on HarborLife's Flickr Photo pages.]

Gabriel James, born at 2:00 PM EST, a healthy 7 pounds, 2 ounces, 19 and three-quarters inches long. Lots of hair.

There was plenty of time. Jamie was only 4 cm dilated at 1:30 this afternoon, yet she had arrived to the hospital at 5:30 in the morning, nearly 8 hours (of labor) earlier. She had been given an epidural around noon and was trying to sleep a little through the contractions. The baby’s father, Tony, had even left the hospital.

Then the call came at 1:50 PM. It was the OB nurse on the phone. Jamie was pushing. Wow, that was fast.

It turned out that the doctor had said the baby would arrive by 2 PM. Gabriel arrived right on time.

Jamie is doing great. The adoptive mother Joelle was there for the birth, as was Tony. John Huffman, the adoption attorney, and his daughter Sarah, 18, arrived shortly after the birth. Sarah got to hold Gabriel. “I’ve never held a baby this small,” she said.

This has been a very busy and exhausting week! Thank you for your prayers.

Charlotte delivered Saturday night, Sept. 27, with her mother making it all the way from from California (yeah!!!). Charlotte spent time in the hospital with the baby and her mother.

When Charlotte was dismissed she came back to the house. We’ve kept her on bed rest–on the couch or in bed, with her feet up and only trips to the bathroom allowed. Her mother Rebekka stayed here too, helping Charlotte out and keeping her company.

The baby’s birthfather, Jordan, who is 18, also flew in from Calif. on Monday, checking in to a nearby motel. He got to visit with the baby and spend time with Charlotte too.

One of the secondary reasons Jordan came to Ohio was so he could have an adoption assessment done for the court. Normally a signature from the birthfather is all that’s required to place a baby. This is the first adoption we have done with the Huron County Court and they seemed overly suspicious of our motives. The court has required much more than any other court ever has.

John Huffman, our long-time friend and ally, a humble but brilliant Christian attorney from Lima with integrity and character as great as anyone I know (really!!!)–I could go on but I won’t–John told me that we needed to do everything the court asked, no matter what. We want to be able to work with Huron County on future adoptions so John wanted to prove to them that we won’t whine, we won’t squeal, we won’t try to sidestep or suggest alternatives, anything the court asked from us, we were willing to do. So that also included making sure Jordan was here so the court could see that the adoption was completely of the birthfather and birthmother’s own unfettered volition.

We had to not only get Jordan assessed, but also get psychological profiles on the adoptive parents. Social worker Peggy Dodds, a godly woman, a believer who we’ve worked with for almost 17 years, did the assessments and profiles. Poor Peggy does not really work full time doing adoptions, but she had to take the day off work so she could come to court, only to be asked three questions!!!

The adoption hearing went well, all the “I”s were dotted and “T”s crossed, and I think the court was impressed with us.

Baby Jayden is now at home tonight sleeping with his new family. Charlotte is on a plane back to California with her mother and boyfriend. It’s time to sleep for a day.

After 48 hours of labor, Charlotte has had a healthy baby boy. Jayden Reid entered the world at 5:34 pm today, weighing 7 lbs, 13 oz, and 21.5 inches long. Both mom and baby are doing well.

Charlotte’s mother Rebekka made it from California in plenty of time and the adoptive parents, Brian and Christine, have been to the hospital to meet their new son.

Charlotte will probably be in the hospital until Monday; court is likely to be on Wednesday. Charlotte and Rebekka will stay at the house until court is over when they’ll return to California, probably next weekend.

If you want to see more pictures of Charlotte, the baby and the four girls in house, head over to www.flickr.com/harborlife.

Thanks for all your prayers… please continue to pray for Charlotte and her mother Rebekka as these next few days are very emotional for everyone.

Charlotte had her regular doctor’s visit Thursday. Although her due date isn’t until October 3rd, her doctor had reasons to get her admitted to the hospital and possibly start inducing labor.

Charlotte has been in good spirits throughout the past few weeks, even though her feet have been swelling, causing discomfort when she walks or stands.

Charlotte’s mother Rebekka, after getting the news via phone call, arrived yesterday on a flight from California. She is staying at the hospital with Charlotte, allowing me to come home, get some sleep, and see everyone here.

I am now heading back to the hospital. Please pray. The word is Charlotte is now 3 cm dilated, they have broken her water, and hope is that things are on their way now… We have called the adoptive parents…

It was a long week following the birth of Sofia on Sunday, although she and birthmother Hanna did well with the delivery and post partum.

Hanna left the hospital Monday afternoon. Baby Sofia had to stay in the hospital until the adoption, which was planned to take place on Friday.

Hanna met Monday evening with licensed social worker Peggy Dodds to do assessment paperwork for the adoption, a process required in Ohio to ensure that the birthmother is aware of all the laws concerning adoption and is making the adoption choice of her own free will.

Hanna spent much of the week packing her school books and all her belongings that she had collected while being in Ohio. It was hard to believe she had collected so much in such a short time. Hanna and her mother Sara spent Tuesday and Wednesday packing and taking things to the post office to ship home to Arizona.

Hanna also was able to visit Sofia daily while Sofia was in the hospital. Thursday Hanna and her mother decided to cook dinner for the family, since Hanna was already on the schedule to cook her chicken enchiladas. We had a great family dinner night, with the girls, Kirsten, Hanna and KC?s rendition of ?Wait for You?. [Note: see earlier blog post re: Hanna's last supper].

Late in the evening Thursday a call came from the attorney regarding a small glitch that had developed with the adoption. The problem stemmed from the fact that Hanna was from Arizona, the adoptive parents were from Indiana and the baby was born in Ohio. Somehow no one had noticed this fact until 4:30 p.m. on Thursday, or least no one had seen that it presented any kind of a problem until then.

Let me point out something here. The counseling that Hanna had for three months leading up this point in time was extensive and complete. She knew by this point what she wanted to do, that it was the right thing for her, for Sofia and for the adoptive family, and she was quite ready to do it and move on past this part of her life. She and her mom Sara were supposed to be on a plane out of Cleveland on Friday evening. Now the legal situation was threatening to postpone everything further. We looked at many options, including?

• Give custody of Sofia to an adoption agency and the agency would try and place her in a few months. That option would require Sofia going into foster care at the adoptive parents’ expense. There was no guarantee that the adoptive parents would get to spend time with Sofia, as that would be up to the foster family. The cost to the adoptive family would be $50 a day for the care of the baby as well as about $900 in agency expenses. This also would not guarantee the baby to go with the family that Hanna had selected, spent time with, gotten to know and desired to raise her baby. Hanna would also have to stay in Ohio until at least Wednesday with this plan.
• Hanna just keeps the baby, put her in a babysitting arrangement until the adoption could go through. This would be with one of the relief staff of Harbor House and at no cost to the family and the family would stay with and care for Sofia.

Neither of these options, the best at the time, did not guarantee that Ohio and Indiana were ever going to approve the adoption. After praying about options and seeking the Lord’s guidance on the best outcome for both Hanna and Sofia, the attorney and Karla spoke Friday morning. There was a new option.

• Option 3: Contact an AZ attorney and do an AZ to IN adoption. We were just unsure how that would work, being that we always use an Ohio attorney. However John Huffman was able to get in touch with an attorney in Arizona that gave great direction and guidance. The end plan accomplished everyone?s goals and in a shorter amount of time, and was the most straight-forward legally.

We met with Hanna, her mother and the adoptive parents and explained what had happened, all the twists and turns that had taken place overnight, and what all the options looked like. There were a lot of questions and after about an hour of discussion, everyone agreed that the third option was the best. Even so, when Sara called her husband to explain it, he was immediately skeptical. You have to know Paul, though; he is a Type A individual, he was in Arizona, his family was in Ohio, and now suddenly the whole plan had changed.

Karla spoke at length with Paul and he finally agreed on the new plan, so the attorneys drew up the paperwork to allow the adoptive parents to temporarily care for the baby. Everyone then headed to the hospital where Sofia was released to Hanna, who put the baby in the car seat in the adoptive parents car, and then Hanna got into her car with her mother and headed for the airport. They were able to catch their flight to AZ at 8:15 as scheduled, arriving home after midnight. Sofia and the adoptive parents headed to Indiana to spend the weekend.

Hanna spent Saturday with her father and her friends, explaining to them these past few months and sharing what had gone on in her life.

There was still one very important piece to the adoption that needed to be put in place in Arizona: the birthfather’s signature/approval was still needed. The AZ attorney was scheduled to meet with Hanna and the birthfather to get both their signatures on the paperwork.

Hanna was a bit reluctant to sign her papers first before the birthfather because of the thought that she might sever her rights, only to have him unexpectedly not sign the paperwork and possibly get custody (although paternity had not been established through DNA testing, making it unlikely that scenario could have played out).

Even with Hanna’s concerns, the birthfather showed up and, after an hour-and-a-half of talking and counseling, he signed the papers.

The adoptive mom Julie along with Julie’s mother and Sofia all arrived in Arizona on Monday night where they would meet with the attorney, meet the birthfather, and spend some time with Hanna before returning to Indiana.

On Thursday, Sofia met her birthfather. It was a great meeting. The birthfather (as well as everyone else who sees her) believes Sofia to be the most beautiful baby in the world.

As of today, Hanna and the birthfather, having signed, are done with their part of the adoption. The adoptive mom Julie awaits notice from Indiana that she can return home, and Sofia is well on her way to having a great life, with such a large extended family.

Yes, she was a little early, but Hanna and baby Sofia are doing fine.

Her labor began last Friday night. After not feeling well all day she went to bed early, but was up and down all night with contraction pains, something that wasn?t discovered by housemother Karla until Saturday morning when Hanna told her about the restless night she?d had.

The contractions continued through the day on Saturday, never progressing any quicker than 5-7 minutes apart. Hanna kept up a normal activity level until the evening when she headed to bed early again, this time hoping for a full night?s sleep.

She was back up before 11 pm and so she took a shower, hoping it would relax her. Around 2:30 am Sunday morning Karla timed the contractions at two minutes, so they headed off to the hospital.

A call was put in to Hanna?s parents in Arizona, and Hanna?s mother Sara booked a 6:15 am flight from Phoenix to Cleveland. Karla wondered if she would miss the birth or not.

The adoptive parents were also called but the weather for them was freezing rain and too dangerous to drive in. They decided to wait on the weather and hope it changed for the better. If it did, they had a three-hour drive to make.

At the hospital a nurse checked Hanna. Although the contractions were still close together, Hanna?s body wasn?t ready. Her labor pains had gotten much worse so an epidural was ordered.

By 8 am it was safe enough for Jason and Julie to head out. Hanna had dropped off to sleep, having gotten relief from the numbing epidural. Sara was still somewhere in the skies over the heartland.

Hanna woke up when Jason and Julie arrived around 11:30. Then the call came from Sara that she had touched down at Hopkins, an hour away from the hospital. She was grabbing her luggage, grabbing her rental car and would be on the road by noon. Jason and Julie went to get some lunch while Hanna and Karla waited in the room.

At 1 pm the doctor stopped back to check Hanna. She was complete and ready to push so the doctor broke her water while Karla started making phone calls. Jason and Julie had not returned from lunch yet and the cell phone they had wouldn?t work in the hospital. Sara was reached but she had gotten lost and was still at least 30 minutes away.

The nurses prepped Hanna and got the room ready. Jason and Julie were still not back. Another call was put in to Sara. She was still lost and 20 minutes away.

It was 1:30 and Hanna was trying hard not to push, praying her mother would make it.

At 1:50 pm on Sunday, February 17, 2008, everyone converged. Sara and Julie walked into the hospital room just in time to witness the final arrival, Sofia Nevaeh, who popped out at 2:02 pm. She was healthy and round, weighing in at 8 lb. 4.5 oz. but measuring just 19 inches long.

Hanna got to meet Sofia shortly after the birth. They knew each other, that was apparent. Hanna called her mother Sara over to see her, and then invited Jason, Julie and their son Jax over. Jax, 6, tentatively held his hand out and touched her lightly, then recoiled. A sister was going to take a little getting used to.

Both Hanna and her family believe that Jason and Julie were chosen by God ahead of time to be Sofia?s parents. There have been so many confirmations that to retell them all is a story in and of itself.

Hanna is from Arizona. She was 14 when she came to stay at Harbor House but is now 15. Her baby is due to arrive at the end of February 2008. Hanna will be having a baby girl and is making an adoption plan for her. She has selected a family and will get to meet them very soon. They are a very nice couple who adopted their son from a resident of HH in 2002, so Hanna’s baby girl will have an older brother.