AUBURN, Wash. - Like most new dads, Clark Stevens is hard at work, putting together a bassinet for the first night his baby girl will spend with him.

Baby Mariah is at home with dad.

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But Clark is not a typical dad. He just found out he was a father a few days ago, and soon after he got the news, he hopped on a plane from National Guard training in Wisconsin.

"It's definitely a miracle after everything she's been through, that she's healthy," he said.

The baby, named Mariah Verle by her father, was left outside a Federal Way church last Saturday by her mother shortly after she was born.

Police say a videotape shows Mariah's mother placing her at the front door of the church. It would be five hours before a church member discovered her.

After receiving a three-week pass from the military, Clark is now home with his daughter and his mother, Wendy, who has been granted temporary custody.

"I really believe that God has a special plan for this baby, in spite of how she was put in the world, just like baby Moses was put in the basket and floated down the Nile River," she said.

Clark says he had no idea his ex girlfriend was pregnant, and still does not know why she abandoned the baby. But he says that is all in the past. He and his family are now focused on celebrating this newest addition of the family.

"She won't remember any of this, thank goodness, so we're just going to do everything we can that she has a good life and that she has a good life and be loved by everyone," he said.

Mariah's mother turned herself into police soon after the surveillance video aired on KING 5 News. 

Authorities are now recommending that she be charged with second degree child abandonment.

At the end of the month, Clark will head to Iraq for a 10-month deployment. Mariah will be cared for by his family.