Monday 9/29: A Day of Blessings!

Monday morning at 9:00 am, Mary Elizabeth "officially" became our daughter. The technical term for this is finalization and trust me when I say, this was the EASIEST part of our adoption journey. We met our case worker from Bethany, Carolyn, and our attorney, Ned Williams, at the courthouse at 8:30am. We were fourth on the docket and I'm not really sure if I knew what to expect. What I definitely didn't expect was for Mary Elizabeth to sleep during the entire process. And I don't mean a cap nat...sister slept so hard I'm surprised she didn't snore right there in court. Even when the judge came down to hold her for pics, she never woke up!

We left the courtroom and waited while Ned and Carolyn went and got the official paperwork. We were so blessed to be joined by both my parents, Papa Eddie and JuJu, and Jonathan's parents, Papa Sam and Grandmother (also known as Gram which is what my kids have been recently calling her!). It was seriously that simple.

As we left the courthouse, Gram snapped this pictures of us leaving. Not the best, but you will notice that Mary Elizabeth sprung to life right as we walked out the doors with a smile on her face as if to say, "hey, I thought we were going in there!"

Jonathan and I took Mary Elizabeth to lunch at Mimi's Cafe at the Streets of Indian Lake, which was great. M.E. ate like a horse. I'm not sure if I have mentioned the fact that she no longer eats baby food. She just doesn't like it. For lunch she had their yummy carrot/raisin bread, roast, potatoes, carrots, and broccoli.

Daddy went back to work and M.E. immediately passed out in the car for her afternoon nap. It was at this point that I thought it was only appropriate that I call my friend Alison to tell her it was official. If you have followed my blog longer than a millisecond, you have heard me mention Ali B. Her daughter, Norah, and Mary Elizabeth are the best of friends and Alison has literally walked this adoption journey with us!

When she answered the phone, I could just tell that something was up. Alison is so laid back and I could sense excitement in her voice. What do you know? She had just found out that Norah's birthmom was pregnant and due any day with Norah's little brother/sister (they don't know the sex). She had just found out she was about to be a mommy again to Norah's biological sibling! I can't imagine getting a phone call like that, but the spirit of Christ completely was with us in that call. What an amazing testimony of their relationship with Norah's birthmom!

The last 72 hours I count myself blessed to have watched this family prepare to minister to Norah's birthmom. In all the excitement of preparing for another baby, they have never stopped to think about what is best for them. To GOD be the GLORY for this miracle...and they need our help!

In the next 48 hours, they need to come up with $12K to pay for this adoption. Now, I know economic times are not the best and many people are laying awake at night wondering where their money is going, but I can promise you that a donation to this family's adoption fund is something that you can feel good about. This is a family that is committed to raising their children to know the Lord as their savior, they are committed to Norah and this baby's birthmother in ministering to her in whatever way that looks like. Even if it means that she decides to parent. Did you catch that?

EVEN IF SHE DECIDES TO PARENT THIS BABY, they are willing to care for this baby for whatever time she needs to make a decision. So I challenge you to take a few minutes and check out her post here and put them a check in the mail, or even better, zap them a payment through paypal. Even if you had planned on giving to us, we are still a ways off from starting our process, and I would rather you give to them.

We love you Alison and Brad and can't wait to meet this new little guy (of course, my vote is boy!)