The answers to all your questions... ok maybe not all but hopefully most!

Ok here are all the answers to questions that you as our friends might have that I can think of on my first night of sleepless sleep.

Dylan Matthew Odmark
Currently 8lbs 10 ozs
20.5 Inches Long
Beautiful Bi racial baby boy with light bronze complexion and currently a lot of softest STRAIGHT black hair that is just now looking like it might curl a bit. who knows?
We are in Atlanta until the 25th of June. We have to stay in the state of Georgia until something called our "ICPC paper work" clears. It is basically some very simple paperwork that ensures we have sufficient rights to carry Dylan across state lines into Tennessee.

We have been so blessed to be able to stay in the home of some new friends of ours. Kristin, Jeff and Genevieve Turney-Jones. They are also an amazing and beautiful adoptive family and God continues to use them in powerful ways to shape the story of our family. What a gift to have such a warm home to cozy up in. We literally could not be in a better situation. Also Grandma Dane Dane or Kristen's Mom is here off and on which came in super handy early this morning when kristen and I wanted to grab some sleep and she has also been the maestro behind the video camera.

Currently our adoption ceremony is scheduled for June 25th at 1 pm. This will be a small ceremony at the Hope for Children Adoption Agency offices here in Atlanta where we will sign some paperwork and have a small reception with some friends and family to celebrate Dylan becoming a part of our family. Provided our ICPC paperwork is finished by the 25th we will head home after the reception.
Kristen is doing great! one thing that you can pray for her is that she quickly gets accustomed to all of Dylan's adorable little gurgles and noises so that she can fall asleep! Also she would like you to pray for his circumcision, which has not happened yet due to some miscommunication at the hospital. Pray that we figure out the best time and place to do that and that little D is not too bent out of shape by the procedure.

You can pray for me that I have safe travels and am not too homesick as I run out of town on some short business Thursday afternoon and come back Sunday morning.

Then we will come home on the 25th and life at the Odmark home will begin. My vacation time was scheduled for the 26th-6th of July anyway so I will have the next several weeks to bond and drink in my baby boy.

Most of all if you have been praying with us now is the time to praise and thank God because he has been so abundantly merciful... I could type for hours about the ways that he is loving on us but I don't want to miss anymore prime snuggling time. Love to you all!
-matt

THE GREATEST OF NEWS!

Well if you are close to us you know that we have been on a roller coaster these past few weeks. If you are reading our previous posts you should know that the child that we were chosen to parent in Indianapolis fell through. It is a long story but one now that we have been privileged to see God's protection in, although we did not see it that way at first. We were initially so discouraged, and just could not understand why God would let us down like this again. We could not believe that he could have any "good" reason for more disappointments like this.

Well Friday evening of last week we got called with news of our baby boy. Meet Dylan Matthew Odmark. He was born on June 1st and weighed in at 8lbs 2 ozs and 20 and a half inches long. We literally got the call at 8pm on Friday and by one o'clock on saturday we were on our way to Atlanta to meet him. He is truly more beautiful and perfect than we deserve. And God has been so kind to us by using all the things that seemed so hard and sad to us along the way as a part of the story of bringing Dylan home.

Everything from using answers to questions that another birth mother had sent as part of the reason why Dylan's birth mom chose us, to having us ready to go at the drop of a hat because of the little girl in Indianapolis that we thought was ours. She was due on the 15th of June and we got the call about Dylan on the 15th. Can you believe God?

Well anyway the story is too good and we certainly don't deserve to be getting to do what we are doing right now. Thanks for all that have offered prayers and encouraging words... I imagine we will have much to report in the near future so check back!

love-
matt and kristen and dylan

New News and things you can pray for.

Hey all thanks for checking in with us again. We have been in a fury of activity since we got the news. Kristen has been shopping voraciously pulling all the necessities together. She even got kidnapped the other night by a bunch of girls in our neighborhood who took her on a 2 hour target shopping blitzkrieg. Our home looks like a babies r us truck exploded in the living room, We are drowning in rubber nipples, burp clothes, and medicated wipes. All in all it is very exciting.

In other news we heard from our case-worker yesterday and we are looking forward to our first phone meeting with our birth mother. Kristen and I are both excited and terrified as we have begun to talk and pray through the questions that we want to bring to this meeting. We would appreciate your prayers for Tuesday. Our phone call is at 2pm and we are really just need God to pour out his grace onto that conversation. Pray that we would both be blessed by this meeting and that it would only further confirm God's hand in all of our lives.

We also would ask for prayer for our birthmother during these last weeks of her pregnancy as these will be difficult and exhausting days for her. Pray that she would have strength and sense God near.

We are so thankful for you all during this season. What a blessed and amazingly supportive community you are.

much love
-matt



(Not our actual baby :) but just so you can start to get the idea!)

We got the Call!

Well, Family and Friends! It's been an exciting 24 hrs as yesterday we got the call from Bethany that we have been chosen to be the parents of an African American baby girl.. She has not yet come into the world but her arrival date is just around the corner, June 15th! We are ecstatic and couldn't be more thrilled about this story that God is writing with us. She is in Indianapolis, IN and our birthmom is healthy and looking forward to talking with us soon! What an amazing privilege it is to be chosen!

I know there are a ton of more questions to answer and details to figure out but we wanted to at least get the initial good news out there so you could be praying for us. Just so you know, we will make a bigger announcement in a few days to our greater community so keep this in your hearts for a few more days. We have a lot to discuss and to prepare for and we will need everyone of your prayers. We were told by our case worker that every adoption is a risky one even when the stars are all aligned. So, will you please pray for our hearts to be protected as we get ready and prepare? Also, we have a phone call with our birthmom coming in the next week so we will need a lot of wisdom and clarity as we speak with her.

I am trying to set up some sort of blog or website where we can communicate with you guys in the coming weeks. We probably won't be able to pick up the phone as often as we would like but want you to be in this with us! So thanks ahead of time for your patience, we'll do our best to keep you posted.

The pictures below are from Mitch's studio, where Leslie and I raced to tell Matt the incredible news!
Much Love to You- M&K