Laila Day December 8, 2010

 

The big day finally arrived.  This was a day that never in my wildest dreams would I have thought one year before would be happening.  This change in our lives has definitely showed that God does have a plan, we are not in control, He will set up the circumstances to give you the tools you need, we have a choice in our attitudes toward His plan, we need patience, and above all, He wants to bless us in ways we could never imagine.

Wednesday, December 8th forever changed our lives.  Yes, she had lived with us for five months before that but there is something completely different when you see her real name on paper and when you know that no one can take her away and when you know that you are always and forever her mother.   When you’re still fostering, even if it’s to adopt, you continue to guard yourself ever so much because you just never know what the crazy system will have up their sleeve.  You’re constantly being checked up on and feeling like you’re not free to just be because you’re honestly not in a normal situation.  I think the biggest problem, if’ I’m gonna be honest, was my own thoughts.  Boy did Satan have a hay day in my head the couple of months before this day.  Honestly life with Laila is hard.  There are so many things to keep track of and there’s always some medical problem popping up and I allowed Satan to sneak in there and whisper “you know you can still back out…… is this really the life you want………. God is a bully for choosing this for you…….”  I honestly don’t know where I’d be without the strong Christian support system I have.  There are a few of you that have no idea how you saved me over those months.  One of the amazing circumstances that God placed just for me was that my amazing friend Chanda is in the middle of adopting her foster children as well.  I will sum it up in a card I gave to her one day, it said “you may think you going crazy but you’re not” then you open it up and it says “now it’s your turn to tell me that, isn’t that what friends are for??”  I love it!  We’ve reminded each other over and over that we can do this and God is in control and we have to get Satan out of our heads!!!  Anyway, Wednesday December 8th was our day of victory over all of that.

I am so thankful for this amazing little girl.  She is beautiful in so many ways.  She has shocked most everyone with her wit and determination.  She loves life and smiles through most anything (except discipline of course, she’s two!!).  She absolutely adores her brother and sister like they’ve been there her whole life.  She’s a momma’s girl most of the time but of course whenever she hears the door open to the garage she whips around and says “daaaeeee” because she’s so excited to see her daddy.  I’m so thankful to God that she accepted us so quickly.  I love that she hugs and kisses.  I love that she can communicate with us.  I love that even though I struggle so much with caring for her, my love for her and incredible desire to see her be all she can be win every time.  I love that I love her the same as the other two even though God gave them to us in very different ways.  I really wondered if that would be possible.  I love watching my incredible husband care for her.  I love that he and I have gained this huge bond by going through this journey together because there is not another person in the world who knows how we feel.  I love how much she loves her new grandparents, aunt, uncles & cousins.  And I especially love to watch them love her.  So, even though it’s hard, a lot, I choose to remember how much I love this child, how much she loves us, and most importantly, how much God has done for us.

Enough with the sappy, on to the fun pictures!!

We had asked anyone who wanted to bring Laila a balloon because she loves them so much.  She was pretty excited as people started filing up the stairs to see us.

Waiting our turn to go in to the courtroom.

  

Our crowd was so big that I couldn’t get them all in the picture.  Our lawyer solely does adoptions and he said he’d never had that many people.  We’re so thankful for all of them and the different roles they played in helping us get to this day and that they wanted to be there with us.

This judge was so great!  He gave out little prizes to all of the kids that were there (and there were A LOT!!).  He called Emma & Jackson to the witness stand and was very sweet asking them what they thought about the adoption.  He even asked if they would like him to change their sister’s name to Barbie and Jackson took one look at him and with a very serious face said “um. her name is Laila.”  It was hilarious.

Everyone mingling around waiting to congratulate us.

We were very happy to share this with our friends David & Heidi who brought our baby back to life.

My sweet father had stopped by the hospital earlier in the week and bought “It’s a Girl” candy cigars for Jack to had out.

Getting the official papers from our attorney :)

So I know it took me a couple weeks to post this but one fun thing that just happen this week is that her name has officially been changed with Medicaid now so we are officially done with her old name!!  Woohoo!