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| Pieces fall in place perfectly, couple adopts first child |
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 | | Free Press/Lorie Palmer | | Nicholle Bacon (middle) won the hearts of her parents, Jeff and Rebecca, even before she was born; now, she is the center of the couple’s lives. |
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By Lorie Palmer
Reporter's note: The following story is a little difficult to write because I and a fellow coworker were involved in the issue. It's always hard to write about yourself without making yourself sound too grand; or even go the opposite way and not allow yourself to be as much a part of the story as you were.
So, bear with me as I try to explain the incidents that led up to Jeff and Rebecca Bacon becoming first-time parents.
Just more than a year ago I heard Navy syndicated cartoonist Jeff Bacon was living part-time in Grangeville. I e-mailed him from his cartoon site, Broadside, and heard back fairly quickly. He would be glad to do an interview and within two weeks we met. I found Jeff to be a wonderful career Navy man who was not simply a cartoonist but a compassionate soul who, now retired from the Navy, spent time visiting his fellow servicemen and women who were wounded in war and now recuperating at a variety of military hospitals throughout the U.S.
In the course of conversation, but not part of the story I was writing, Jeff mentioned he and Rebecca had been foster parents and would like to do this again, and maybe eventually adopt, as they were now settled in Idaho and living between homes in Garden City and Grangeville.
A few weeks later I was typing at my desk -- the story of Navy cartoonist Jeff Bacon had already run in the Free Press -- when my coworker Nona Donaldson got off the phone with her own grandson's biological grandmother, Rene Woods of Boise.
"Lorie," she asked. "Do you know anyone who wants to adopt a baby who isn't born yet but due in February 2008?"
I thought for a few seconds and said, "you know ....."
The rest, as they say, is history. And so begins the story of Jeff and Rebecca Bacon becoming parents for the first time.
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GRANGEVILLE -- "When I got an e-mail message from this Nona, I immediately called her and then called Rebecca," said Jeff Bacon, shaking his head. "It was surreal -- I had never met Nona but here she was asking if Rebecca and I were interested in adopting a baby."
The Bacons, now married for 24 years, had moved almost a dozen times during their marriage as Jeff served in the Navy. They were not able to have children.
"I think, at first, you think, 'Oh, it will happen eventually,'" Rebecca said. "Then later you think 'maybe we'll adopt.' But then with the moving around so much what we ended up doing was some fostering, which we loved, but we just never had our own."
Jeff said he and his wife were very philosophical about it, and their Christian faith allowed them to believe "when it's meant to be, it will happen."
Rebecca smiled, shaking her head.
"It was just when I had finally said 'OK, it's not meant to be,' that we got the call," she smiled.
Donaldson -- who has two grandchildren who are adopted and the cause is near and dear to her heart -- was able to put the Bacons in touch with the birth family who lived in the Boise area.
"We steeled ourselves for things not working out, we did not let ourselves get too excited," Jeff said. "We knew it was a long road and you just never know what's going to happen."
The Bacons met with the family and said there was an "immediate connection."
"The birth mother was so kind, considerate, smart and funny," Rebecca said. "It could have been very awkward but it was actually quite comfortable."
Before the families parted, Jeff told the birth family to "check around, meet some other people."
"We wanted this to not just be our chance to adopt a baby, but also to do what was absolutely best for the baby," he said.
When they left their meeting area, the birth mother ran across the parking lot telling them to wait.
"'We made our decision, it's you,' she said," Rebecca recalled. "It was very emotional."
During the next several months the Bacons had a mix of emotions ranging from elation to thoughts of the adoption not going through.
However, the birth mother involved them in doctor appointments and ultrasounds ("That was awesome," Jeff said. "I'd never seen an ultrasound,") and never let go of her resolve to give the gift of life to the Bacons.
On Feb. 4, Nicholle Ava Marie Bacon was born at 2:58 p.m. at St. Alphonsus Family Maternity Center in Boise. She weighed seven pounds and two ounces and was 20 inches long. There for her birth were Rebecca, who witnessed the miracle, and Jeff, who waited to the side and then was allowed to cut the umbilical cord.
"I cannot say enough how gracious Nicole was," Rebecca said. "She thought of us every step of the way."
The Bacons honored birth mother Nicole by naming their baby daughter Nicholle (also as an honor to Rebecca's maiden name, Nicholls) and took their baby home two days later.
"She is the center, the absolute joy of our lives," Rebecca beamed, looking into the big blue eyes of her now 4-1/2 month-old-daughter.
"When I think back to all the pieces that had to fall intricately together -- the fact we decided to purchase a home in Grangeville, that I was contacted by the Free Press, that I mentioned we fostered and would one day like to adopt, that Nona asked about a family who might like to adopt -- the chain of events is amazing," Jeff shook his head.
"It's a miracle, we really consider it a miracle," Rebecca added.
Donaldson has become a surrogate grandma to baby Nicholle and the Bacons say the Free Press is a part of their family and always will be.
Nicholle officially became a Bacon in April and is thriving on the attention and love shown her by a couple who don't take parentage for granted.
"We enjoy every precious moment, each new thing," Jeff said. "We love her."
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