Welcome Shelby!

Welcome Shelby to the family! Shelby is now officially the new daughter of our niece, Melissa and her husband Jeremy. It took a lot of tense moments, joys and sorrows to get to this point but the end result is a brand new baby girl to join the extended Owens family tree.

To recap: Melissa(daughter to Tom's sister, Kathi) and Jeremy have been happily married for about 10 years, give or take a few. They travelled all over the US working and living in their camper/trailer and having wonderful experiences. They settled in Wisconsin, bought a house and were living a fun life with their dog,Clay. It looked like they were not going to be able to have children, and they were ok with that. Out of the blue, they were approached by a coworker to inquire if they might be interested in adopting a baby. The coworker was friends with the mother of a teenager that had gotten pregnant. The teenage wanted to give the baby up for adoption. Well, as things progressed...all looked like it was going well and a baby was soon to be Melissa's and Jeremy's.
The baby was born on Christmas Eve. After an emotional farewell with the birth mom, the new adoptive parents took Shelby home.
Well.......the teenage mom called at day 16 and said she wanted the baby back!!! No one can read that statement and not shudder!!
Needless to say, it was devastating for Melissa & Jeremy. The extended family was devastated for them, too. It looked like all was lost....Melissa wrote the most wonderful note to the extended family explaining what had transpired and everyone was so proud of how they handled this horrible turn of events. She basically said it was always a possiblity the birth mom could change her mind until the papers were final. She wrote that she and Jeremy had a wonderful life before the baby, and as hard as it may be without Shelby, they would have a wonderful life regardless.
Prayers were definately answered when after only one night, the birth mom again changed her mind and decided to go throught with the adoption.
For all parties involved, it seemed like a good idea to place the baby in foster care until the final papers could be signed. Two weeks later, after a few setbacks and tense moments, the court date arrived. Both the birth mom and father signed away all parental rights giving the baby to Melissa and Jeremy! There still is some state paperwork that needs to be taken care of but it is only a formality with the state....the birthmom cannot change her mind again.

So we all are excited to see the baby and welcome her to the family! Congratulations to Melissa and Jeremy! Welcome Shelby!