Settling In

We've been a forever family for a week. I wish I could sit here and tell you, "oh it's just a document, we've been a family since the girls came home" but I'd be lying. It wasn't love at first sight, and we weren't a family right away. It really did take time. There were moments when I didn't know if I could handle having the girls stay. They definitely both went through some major limit setting. But, somehow it's different now.

I know, for sure, I've fallen in love with these kids just as if they grew inside me. I think a lot of what kept me from bonding immediately was the fear I had. I had fear they'd go back to their birth family, fear that they would be affected by their prior life, fear they weren't normal kids, fear that they wouldn't be accepted by my family and friends. But as time went on, and they showed their true good hearted selves day in and day out, met and won over every family member and friend they met, they sat next to me on the couch every night and wiggled their way into my heart.

It's not hearts and flowers raising kids. Especially when they don't know you very well. It's difficult, and quite frankly, some days you get up and wonder what the frick you've signed up for. But, I do know that most days I wake up with so much joy in my heart it feels like it could burst.

Now we're heading into halloween next week, our first with kiddos! And Christmas soon. I cannot wait for the holidays this year.

But for now, I am just sitting here, grin on my face at 7:33am on a Saturday with a kid on each side and I'm writing this: I would do it all again if I knew it would end up this way. All of it. Without a second thought.

Done!

We finalized on Friday. It ended up being us, the girls, my mom, aunt, uncle, my husbands dad, brother, his son and girlfriend. It was a great day. The judge was amazing, she let us take lots of pictures and said as we walked in, "this isn't a court hearing, it's a celebration."

The social workers loved their coffee mugs. I was so grateful that they both made it to our special day.

No refunds, no returns, no exchanges....we are forever a family of four.

I love this life. Twists, turns, ups, downs, losses, gains, it all works out. Now for the next chapter.....the social worker from our agency said she'd see us in February for round two.

Hmm....

Word Finding

As promised, I'm writing to tell you that I am stumped.

How do I write a thank you card for the social workers?

I have honestly thought of not writing one at all. They do this all the time, and the mugs speak for themselves. Normally, I'm all about sentiment, but this one is too big for me. These women have found many children their forever families, and I'm sure (or I hope) every family has done something special. The truth is though, I'm so happy and content with my life that I (for once) don't feel like I need to "out do" anyone else.

My husband says I'm over analyzing it. Shocker. That a simple Thank You card is enough. I thought about just writing "for everything" and leaving it at that.

I honestly don't know what to do, and I'm running out of time.

Our adoption court hearing takes place at 1:30pm on Friday.

Then a friend of mine is throwing us a fall dessert open house on Saturday afternoon.

It's <finally> here.

Two Weeks Until FOREVER

Two weeks from today we'll be a forever family.

I cannot believe the day is almost here. In hindsight it has come very quickly, it was about this time a year ago that our journey changed from planning on a newborn through our birth mom match to fos-adoption. I wouldn't change the fork in the road that lead us here.

It took a long time for me to decide how to thank our social workers. How do you thank your "stork?" These two women found us our children, and found our children us. If that sounds really confusing...let me explain: my husband and I have a social worker through our agency. She took us through the homestudy process, wrote our homestudy, and put our names out there. Our daughters also have a social worker, she has been working with them since "A" first came into care at 3 months old. She's seen the girls through many challenges, and finally, she found them us. It's a pretty amazing thing these two women have done, I will never be able to explain to them how they've filled my heart with joy and love.

A gift card seemed impersonal for what they've given us. I will write them a looooong thank you card (probably another post), but along with that I wanted to give them something special, something to remember our little family. So, a (brave) friend of mine and I took the girls to a "paint your own pottery" place and we let the girls make them mugs. They painted their favorite colors all over the cup, and when we were finished the staff helped us write a message...

I hope they enjoy them!

Two weeks!!!