Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to all! May the spirit of the season and the true meaning of Christmas bless you and your families this year! 

This year we have been blessed beyond reason and still the birth of Christ has great meaning to our family this year in the birth of our own son. The blessing of Christ birth means a great deal to all of us at this time with the hope of eternal life through God's great sacrifice.

Luke 2: 10-14

¹⁰ And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.

¹¹ For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.

¹² And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.

¹³ And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying,

¹⁴ Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.

Would we do it again?

People ask me all the time, "Knowing what you know now, that Liam would have been sick for a month, that it would cost as much as it did financially would you go down this road again?" My answer is a resounding "Yes!" For awhile I wasn't sure if I would, but then you have to look at it through my eyes, if we hadn't chosen adoption when we did, if Building Blocks wouldn't have been our answered prayer, if our wonderful social worker wouldn't have made the sometimes difficult questioning so easy, if Liam's birth mother would not have chosen us...you get the picture...I would not know this beautiful little boy and get the incredible and miraculous honor to be his Mother. Often times life does not make any sense, sometimes it drives us crazy and at other times things just fall into place. We took many steps to get to where we are now, but it was too perfect of timing, of things lining up and of circumstances presenting itself for this to just be some random occurrence. Every step of the way we prayed, sometimes more than others and some how everything worked out. Adoption was a full time job for me, I worked on our profiles, our books, our blog, I read every "situation" Building Blocks emailed to me every day. In fact it was the one "situation" we spent the most time agonizing over, was the exact one we were chosen for. If that does not cement my faith in God I don't know what else could.

I attribute every grace we have had on this journey to God completely. However, the journey God sent us on certainly lined us up with the right people for the task at hand.  Our journey began long before Building Blocks Adoption Service ever came into the picture, but once they arrived we never looked back. We always knew even when we were all the way down in Florida that we were not alone on this journey. From the moment I called in and spoke to the staff at Building Blocks I felt like I had a connection with these people. Building Blocks essentially facilitated the building of our family. If you are looking for an adoption agency I would totally recommend Building Blocks Adoption Service (www.bbas.org), but I would also advise looking into many agencies and finding the one that works for you.

Adoption has been our miracle and though we loved the journey we are so glad it is finalized and Liam is our Son legally as he has been in our hearts since day one.

Finalization

Yesterday, December 16th, 2012, my alarm went off at 6:45 AM EST. I hit the snooze button, but I stayed awake. This was the day we had been anticipating for a long time.  As we got ourselves and Liam ready for the day Keith and I were pretty quite with nervous anticipation taking over our thoughts. By 8:55 AM we were outside our bank carrying Liam toward the front doors. We spoke to the lady at the desk, clearly the manager we had spoke with the week before had not made us the appointment we asked for, but things were quickly settled and we were seated in an office where Keith called the Judge's office in Florida. We were put on hold as we waited our turn. Finally the adoption Lawyer came on the line and we were sworn in, just as we put our hand down the Notary from the bank walked into the office silently and he sat down with a smile. The lawyer proceeded to ask us to affirm certain critical information and then the Judge came on the line. He asked us many questions, but the one that stuck out to me was, "Do you have enough love to give to this child?" Keith and I both smiled at each other and tears filled my eyes, we both answered "Yes."

Throughout this entire process it has never been anything for either of us but the desire to love a child. When we could not conceive and the doctor told us it was unlikely we were not very interested in going through the not so certain arena of fertility treatments, it was never about being "pregnant" for me or Keith. To be honest we wanted a child very deeply, but the concept of being pregnant was not one I was to thrilled about. Sure you get a new wardrobe and you get to feel the child growing within you and every joy of being pregnant itself. But it was never about that, it was about becoming parents and when we decided for sure we were going to pursue adoption that was all I could think about. I could not really sit around and wonder will my child have my eyes or would the poor dear have my ears, or his/her Daddy's smile; but I did wonder what they would look like. I wondered what possibilities there would be for our child not having to worry about so many family comparisons and the freedom that would give him/her.



Never did I imagine a child as beautiful, as sweet, as demanding and loving as Liam. From the moment the nurse wheeled that little plastic bassinet towards us with our swollen sleepy little baby boy wrapped beneath layers of receiving blankets I was in awe of his strength and curiosity with the world. His dark brown eyes seemed to look right through us and even when he was sick for that first month or so he was absolutely a dream come true. Oh there have been hard times, impossibly loud moments, amazingly precious seconds and still this little boy means the world to his Daddy and I.

We want to thank you all for following our Journey down the road of adoption and know that though this journey is legally finished this is just the beginning of our story. Liam was definitely worth the wait! We are forever thankful for the blessings that have carried us thus far and the amazing journey this has been.

Colds + Babies =Mommy Worries

When I was younger I would get little colds all the time and think nothing of it. If anything getting sick enough to not go to school was a bonus. My Mom made my sick days very enjoyable. I would go back to bed till around 9:30 or so and then Mom would come up and ask if I felt up to eating, she would then bring me breakfast in bed and sit with me while I ate. Next we would venture downstairs and watch tv or a movie, usually a gripping drama on Lifetime. When I got older I took advantage of this and would pretend to be sick, rather well I might add. I learned what symptoms Mom would allow me to stay home under. I wasn't a bad kid. I just didn't like school very much till probably my sophomore year of High School when my attendance record began to improve.

This week sickness has effected my child and to see your little baby coughing the way he is makes me feel rather bad about pretending to be this sick all those times. Liam is in good spirits, if anything a little more fussy than normal, and he seems to be leveling off which is good. Yesterday morning Liam slept till after nine o'clock and when he woke he had a really deep cough. My Mommy sirens went off in my head and I called the doctor. The nurse set me up with an appointment after deciding it would be best to see the doctor. 

Naturally this would come the week the battery died on my car to which Keith planned to fix this weekend since his busy work schedule keeps him late most days. So what did I do I turned to my Parents. I really do not know what we would do with out them. Mom's always there to knock down walls for me. Mom was able to leave a little early from work on her lunch break to take us to the doctor. I was so worried she wouldn't be able to and then Keith would have to leave work early, which he was willing to do but I didn't want to ask that of him. So off we went to the doctor.

We got there just at his appointment time and the little guy had fallen asleep in his car seat on the way. We got into the see the doctor and Liam was all smiles. The doctor said its just a cold and to keep an eye on him, but that otherwise he was doing fine lungs were clear. I was really relieved  I was worried the cold was working down into his chest, but the doctor said it was just the congestion in his nose and back of his throat.

Now all we can do is continue to aspirate his nose, which he thinks is torture (lucky me), and keep him upright as much as possible. I am really looking forward to when he is older and simple colds are not as scary. Though I doubt he will want to watch Lifetime, but you never know.