What's in a name?

We've learned over the last two days that Asher loves to hold onto our fingers while he's sleeping... and we love it too!

For a few days last week I had been mulling over some thoughts for a blog post about how we'd announce our baby boy's name.  I had even typed out a few lines... and then Wednesday happened.  Our boy came 2+ months early and ours lives turned upside down with one phone call.  We had to have our name ready right away, so Asher Ramsay Wittig became known all over facebook and this blog.  Even though we had to scramble to get his name out, we still wanted to explain why we chose it.   

Not-so-happy Asher... the CPAP & tubes make his face swell which is uncomfortable

Asher is a name that we've liked for a while, but the Biblical meaning has taken on more significance for us over the last few months.  Asher was a son of Jacob who was born to a surrogate when Jacob's wife, Leah, couldn't bear him a child.  Leah named her adopted son Asher, because it is close to the Hebrew word for happiness.  When he was born, she said, "Happy am I!  For women have called me happy."  

We are so thankful that God has provided us with a child, because there have been times when it didn't seem like it would ever happen in the last few years.  If it is possible to love your child more just because of your life experiences, then I believe that I do.  Had we had a child a few years ago, we definitely would have loved him/her, but every moment with him has brought us so much more joy because of having to wait.

Also, Asher rhymes with Basher and Slasher... Masher... which I think is cool.  Hopefully he'll get some sweet nicknames out of it. 

Ramsay is Colleen's maiden name.  We are so excited for Asher to be a part of all of our families - Wittig, Ambrose, and Ramsay.  We didn't  like the alliteration of "Asher Ambrose," so that family name will have to wait to go to one of our future children, Lord willing.  We're so excited that Asher will have so many Ramsay cousins and second cousins close to his age, as well as Aunties and Uncles on both sides who are thrilled to welcome him into the family.  Our families have been incredibly giving and supportive through this whole process, and we can't express how much it means to us.

Also, Ramsay apparently means "from Ram's Island" or "wild garlic," so that's fun.  

Just two Wittig men holding hands

Asher was born a Wittig.  Like all Wittigs, little Asher will be cursed with having his name mispronounced and misspelled for the rest of his life.  Whitting?  Wittrig?  Whitig?  Widdic?  Sometimes I'm not sure I know how to pronounce it.  Asher better get used to spelling it out every time, just like the rest of us. 

In 4 years of having "Cason Wittig' announced over the loudspeaker when I played high school basketball, it was never pronounced correctly at a road game.  Not once.  I think the only person to ever actually pronounce Wittig correctly was my crazy German soccer coach who would scream "Vittig!" at 12-year-old me from the sidelines in between muttered German curse words.

Incidentally, Wittig comes from the German word for "wood" or possibly the word for "clever"... although I was told as a kid that it meant "little wooden head."  I couldn't find any evidence of the "little wooden head" meaning on the internet, but I'm going to pass that quirky interpretation on to Asher and the rest of my future children.

We're so happy that our son, Happiness Wild Garlic Little Wooden Head, has entered the world.  We love him so much already and are so thankful that he is in our life.  I can't wait for him to get some of those tubes off him... to hold him... and to have him come home with us someday soon!

Thanks for your prayers and support.

Cason

PS - We've been posting pictures and videos at facebook.com/casonwittig and facebook.com/colleenaiden, so friend us if you want to see more.  Thanks for reading the blog!

He's got Colleen's pinky with both little hands!

A Large Meatball Sub

My hand on my boy

Wow.  What a ridiculously crazy, wonderful day.

Proud momma

After arriving at the hospital yesterday, Colleen was back and forth between Asher and his birth mom all day, which was amazing.  My mom got to the hospital in the early afternoon and Colleen's parents arrived a few hours later.  Unfortunately, the grandparents couldn't go into the NICU to see their grandson, but we were able to show them many pictures and videos.  Colleen and all the parents spent many hours with the birth mom, just keeping her company and supporting her.  Please pray that we can become her family for the next few days, and even following weeks, since we will be in Cincinnati for at least a month while Asher is in the NICU.  She wants to have us around and we've had so much fun talking with her.  She seems very set on continuing her plan of giving Asher up to us, but she still has some time before it becomes official.  She's such a sweet girl and we're praying that we can show her lots of Christ's love in the coming weeks.  

I arrived at the hospital a little after 6pm, after finishing up at work and then frantically searching our house for everything on Colleen's list... apparently I need to do a better job learning where Colleen keeps her clothes and toiletries...  : )  Once at the hospital, I went straight into the NICU to see my son... and it was amazing.  He looked like a toy or a doll on display since he was cuddled up in the plastic incubator.  He has such a sweet little face.  I couldn't believe how small he was/is... his body is the size of a Chipotle burrito with a head and extremities.  I couldn't stop staring at him... it really was breathtaking.

Our little man

We were allowed to open up the little doors on the incubator to touch him, but I didn't want to very much... he was just so fragile, I didn't want to break him!  Also, I have notoriously cold hands, so he didn't seem to appreciate it too much when I touched his soft skin.  I tried to only touch his cute little diapered butt and hat-covered head, which seemed to work better.  Those moments first seeing him are ones that I will never forget.

Other than being born premature, Asher is healthy and doing well.  I feel so bad for him with tubes, monitors, and needles in this nose, mouth, hands, feet and side... but he is a trooper.  His weight was holding steady as of last night and only dropped a few ounces today, which is great.  His lungs are still a concern since he is so small, and apparently the next 48 hours or so are very important to his development, so we'd appreciate your continued prayers. I've been posting a few pictures and videos on facebook, so you can get to them at facebook.com/casonwittig if you're my facebook friend. 

*****

Asher's got some pipes, and he's not afraid to be heard!

Today (Thursday) we got to help change Asher's diaper and see him without his striped hat and CPAP.  His little face is so cute!... though all of the apparatus he's had on made him swollen in spots.  He has quite a bit of hair, but seems to have developed early male pattern baldness since there wasn't much on the front of his head.  Hopefully he'll gain some hair on top as I keep losing mine there!  He's quite a squirmy energetic little guy and DID NOT like having his CPAP put back in his nose.  They had to redo it 5-6 times because he kept knocking it out. That feisty-ness will serve him well on the soccer pitch in the 2032 World Cup...  We also learned his official birth stats were 2lbs 8.9oz and 13.25 inches long.  So essentially an extra large meatball sub.  

Right now, Colleen and I are just sitting by his incubator talking to each other and to him.  He's tried to open his eyes a few times, but seems to be sleeping now.  It is incredible just to watch his little back rise and fall with each breath... it seems like he is breathing quickly to me, but we're told he's in a good range.  Even though they have the CPAP on to help keep his lungs open, they switched him over to "normal" air as far as oxygen levels, which is another positive thing.  We have so much to be thankful for. 

*****

We have been overwhelmed by the support of our family, friends, and church via text, email, facebook, etc.  We are so grateful and blessed!  Many have been asking how they can help and about baby showers.  We dont' have many answers to those questions right now, but we'll put the info out there when we have it.  I thought we had until May/June, so we're definitely not as prepared as we'd like to have been!  Thanks again for keeping up with our lives, for your prayers, and your support.  

Cason (& Colleen)

PS - Been having trouble posting videos to the blog, so those will have to go up on facebook... just check facebook.com/casonwittig if you want to see them.  

One more for the Aunties... Whenever I almost don't post a picture, I just think about how Aunti Adrienne has been begging for more... so up they go. 

Asher Ramsay Wittig

As Colleen said in our last post, we are in the process of adopting.  I recently started a post with an update on the how the process is going and about how excited I am to be a dad.  However... what is it they say about the best laid plans of mice and men?... Ah, yes... they often go awry. 

Our birth mother's due date was supposed to be mid-June, so we thought we had plenty of time to get ready... However, this morning, Colleen received a tearful call from her  saying that she'd gone in last night to the emergency room in pain and had delivered through emergency C-section sometime early this morning. Colleen headed to the hospital in Cincinnati right away.  The social worker was able to go to the hospital and said that our baby boy was doing as well... he was 2 lbs 9 oz. They think the birth mother was about 27ish weeks along (her due date has been moved around 3 times in the last few weeks since they didn't know for sure), so he'll probably be in the NICU for many few weeks.


Both of the moms are heading to Cincinnati to be with Colleen and I will probably head up there later with an overnight bag once we know more. Our boy's name will be Asher Ramsay Wittig whenever we get to name him. Asher is Hebrew for happiness... which we definitely are, though my stronger emotion right now is feeling overwhelmed!  (This can't be happening, right?  Just last night I was working on applying for adoption grants and looking for a changing table on craigslist...)



This is the only picture I've seen of my son as well!

 Please pray for Asher's health. I've been told that now is a critical times for his lungs. Also for our sanity... we're obviously feeling unprepared and in over our heads at this point! The birth mother also needs our prayers, as she has had a stressful time and has many difficult emotional challenges to work through. We've met with her a few times, really appreciate her so much, and want to show Christ's love to her in this difficult time.

Thanks for your prayers! I'll try to write more when I can. Also, please don't call or text Colleen right now... you can text, facebook, or email me if you want. mailto:casonandcolleen@gmail.com or 317 883 7227)

Thanks!

- A very proud and overwhelmed daddy

Growing our Family!

Hi Friends & Family!  Cason is usually the one who writes our blog posts but I am blogging today to share some exciting news… Cason and I are adopting!  We are so thrilled to become parents and feel God has led us to this place in our lives.

We had always thought we would adopt internationally, but after talking with our local adoption agency and praying about it, we really felt that adopting a biracial or African American infant was right for us.  In the United States, there far more African American/biracial infants available than families willing to adopt them.  

After going through the home study process, we created a profile book that was shown to expecting mothers.  After just a few short weeks an incredible young woman from Cincinnati selected us – and she is due May 14^th!  The baby is perfectly healthy as far as we know and we have already had a meeting with the birth mother and social worker.  Over the next few months we will meet with her a few more times and then we will head to the hospital to take our baby home after it is born!  We are in the beginning stages of preparing a nursery and getting our house ready for a baby.  I cannot wait to become a mother!!  Here are our "before" nursery pics!

 

The last couple months living in Danville have been really wonderful for our spiritual growth and our marriage.  We have had so much fun together and feel like we are in a whole new phase of our lives.  Pursuing our desire to adopt has added to the joy God has given to us in the last few months.   We are getting more and more excited about the church we have joined and have been getting to know some great people.  Cason has even signed up to go on a soccer ministry trip to Haiti this fall!

God is really teaching us about His provision.  When Cason got a job in Danville, we had no idea that the town had a wonderful local adoption agency that helps facilitate and encourages adoptions, as well as over 600 adoptive families!  In addition to that, the Lord brought us to a wonderful church that advocates adoption and has multiple adoptive families that attendance.

After some months of wondering what we should be doing and seeking the Lord’s guidance, it is encouraging to see Him orchestrating our lives and bringing us specifically to where we are now!  We are so thankful! 

Please be praying as the process does have some unknowns.  The birth mother is allowed to change her mind up to 72 hours after the baby is born.  Please be praying that she remains strong in her decision to give her baby up and that she is confident in our abilities to parent.  Thank you all so much for your continued support and prayers!

~Colleen

Here's one more nursery prep picture!  

There were over 60 holes in the closet alone! That's a lot of spackling  in that room!! So there was a lot of sanding and we were both covered in spackling dust!