Personal Adoption Stories

I’ve been blessed to share my adoption journey with all of you for the last 21 months. You walked me through all the paperwork; helped me find productive things to do during the excruciating wait; went on a virtual trip with me to meet the kids; celebrated with me when the adoption was finalized; and helped me through the post-adoptive transition. You listened as I catalogued my day to day issues with PTSD the whole Pee Saga, behavioral and emotional issues. When my oldest was diagnosed with epilepsy, you supported me. When my mom passed away, you wrote me notes and posted your condolences. This last year, with my son’s new diagnosis (though he is doing well now!)… [more]

I’ve stated here many times that our adoption story was utterly a “God thing.” It’s so clear how God was working in our lives: from the fact that the social worker, five states away, assigned to our kids’ case, went to college with my first cousin; to being able to find a 4-bedroom home in one of the most densely compacted areas of the country; to seeing pictures of the kids for the first time, and seeing how uncanny the resemblance was to my biological son, as well as my husband and I; to meeting total strangers on our airplane trip to meet them for the first time, who knew not only the foster parents, but the kids, too! So many other little “quirks” to let… [more]

And not only this, but also we ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body (Romans 8:23). In today’s mail, I received a lovely surprise – our daughter’s amended birth certificate! After opening the envelope and seeing the contents, I called my daughter in the room to see it as well. We were both so excited to see my name as her mommy and my husband’s name as her father. She just kept hugging me and kept pointing to the names on the document. We’re still waiting for her brother’s amended birth certificate and our copy of the finalized decree (the initial decree signed last July was an interlocutory

It's been exactly one year (right around this time of day (except a different time zone!)) since we met the children who are now ours! Last May 22nd, I posted Road Trip: Day Two – Meeting the Kids. It's been an amazing year full of pinnacles and valleys unimaginable at the time I wrote that last year! But, here we are a year later, fully bonded, attached, and settled into a routine. My children love each other with amazing depth for children who have only formally known each other for twelve months. My oldest will often choose to be with them over something that previously he would have loved to take part n. Now, he'll merely say he'd rather play with his brother and sister. I'm… [more]

Six months ago today – right around right now, in fact! – we were sitting in a courtroom five states away, joy barely contained! As we sat in chambers with the judge who signed our interlocutory decree of adoption, she talked to us about the enormity of the undertaking we were seeking her to grant. After talking to us, and to the children, she signed the interlocutory decree. An interlocutory decree is: A decree of adoption granted by the Court, which becomes a final decree after a period of time specified by the Court [1] Well, today marks the end of that “period of time specified,” and a final order of adoption will be automatically issued us today! We’ve started the day with a… [more]

At roughly 9:45 CDT this morning, a judge signed the adoption decree, officially making what was a family of three a family of five! On hand, in addition to those necessary for the matter to be heard, were my mother’s sister and brother, and their spouses. Afterward, we celebrated with our attorney, social worker and the kids’ foster mother. We went straight from that celebration to another given in our honor by the Christian adoption agency that handled the adoption. Though the spellings are a little wonky, I had to share this picture of the cake. It’s yet another one of those God-ordained things that has marked this whole adoption process – this decoration appears on our thank… [more]

As I have often stated, Satan is really getting a run for his money! He’s trying to do every little thing he can to disrupt this adoption and claim a victory. So, tonight, after a wonderful, wonderful day filled with family that have traveled to be here with us for our adoption proceedings tomorrow morning, we came home to a thunderstorm! My daughter had a full-blown meltdown. Just everything you have heard about in children who rage – the oppositional behavior, throwing things, whining, insistent, disrespectful (of property and people), and saying all the “button-pushing phrases.” I heard what a bad mom I am; that she’s going to tell the judge she hates me and doesn’t want to live with me; a full-on “everything but the kitchen sink” sort of… [more]

As discussed previously, the church family here had “doin’s” for us after services yesterday. Most of the congregations stayed, and I cannot count the number of people who came up to us to say how much they will truly miss the children. It was heartwarming to know how much love they have been lavished with these past two years! During services yesterday, before the “doin’s,” my soon-to-be youngest son turned to my oldest son and said, “You’re my best friend” and it melted my heart! After services and the potluck, we went to the kids’ former home to pick up the last of their things. Then we swung by the flower shop the family owns to say goodbye to some of the staff there. Though the kids… [more]

Our children’s foster parents asked that they have Saturday (our arrival day) as a day of private family celebration time with the kids. Thus, after landing, when our social worker called, I knew something big was up. The kids’ foster parents run two of the biggest businesses in this small Southern town of about 2,500 – a flower shop and a funeral home. They were called upon to do a large funeral, so the family had their celebration on Friday, and wanted to know if we could swing through and get the kids a whole day early! Woo hoo! After Satan had to get in the picture by having us get lost for half an hour, we finally got there! The kids literally… [more]

My last blog chronicled our tasks in preparation to leave. Though our flights were uneventful, the time spent at one very large and very famous airport, was not. Maybe not everyone is crazy like me and travels in the middle of the night, however, they were woefully understaffed, and there was no clear signage. So everyone went around asking everyone else, “Is this the line for…?” “Is this where I…?” “Where is…?” Thankfully, because I had checked in online and printed our boarding passes, we were able to speed right through, once people began getting clearer directions as to what was expected of them. The first flight marked the first time I had ever been on a Boeing 777. These suckers are huge! The leg room is barely enough… [more]