Official Gotcha Day!

7 years ago today, it was official, Ella was ours. We were lucky to have Ella from birth on, but on this day, her name changed, her birth certificate changed so that the "mother" line had my name on it, the "father" line with Todd's. It was a relief  knowing that there was no going back, we could rest easy now that she belonged to us for good. We had to go to Seattle for the proceeding, and it was such a fun trip. We ate out, roamed around Seattle, showed her off in all her cute, teeny outfits, Ella slept between us in the hotel bed, we visited her birth mother and siblings. We oohed and ahhed over her all weekend, our sWeEt little miracle. She fell asleep in Todd's arms while we sat for over an hour waiting for our proceeding to start, she was such a good girl. The judge was a sweetie and even wanted us to take his picture with Ella. He thought she was such a doll {he was right}, and he said the courtroom is rarely a happy place, so adoption finalizations were his favorite. Our lawyer gave Todd a pink bubblegum cigar, and gave me an "It's a Girl!" sucker, how cute is that?

Adoption is such a beautiful way to build a family, it really changes you in such intense ways. Bioligical children don't come with strings attached, you aren't really forced to be selfless, compassionate and trusting in quite the same ways. I always say that pregnancy may stretch your muscles and skin, but adoption stretches your heart in ways that sometimes hurt. Now that I've been through both experiences, I know how pregnancy is really all about Mom - the pregnancy symptoms, the growing baby bump, the delivery, post-baby meals from friends, offers from Dad to let you nap... Adoption is so the opposite of that! It is about worrying about everyone and everything else but Mom! We went through an adoption agency that allows the birth parents to choose the adoptive parents, which I loved. It gave me a lot of comfort knowing that her birthfamily would know about us and choose us. We had to make a photo album of us and our families, and Todd and I each had to write a letter just sharing our hearts about becoming parents through adoption. So after the  l  o  n  g   process of paper work and medical exams and reference letters and income verification and home study after home study, we were finally on the list! 8 weeks later to the day, Veronica chose us and we were asked to go to Tacoma as soon as we could to meet her in person. We got time off of work a few days later and met her for the first time. It was in September, and then we were able to be at the ultrasound in October that confirmed our premonition that we were about to have a baby girl. For the next few months, we prayed and worried, mostly over her health and fear that her birth mother would change her mind. At one point her birthfather did and I was a mess. I agonized and shed so many tears over the fact that this baby that was going to be mine, and really in my heart already was, wasn't with me, that I couldn't take care of her, or feel her kicks, or know if she was safe and protected. She was due on Christmas day, the gift of a lifetime. And Ella wound up being beyond what we ever hoped for or dreamed of. God bent and softened our hearts toward adoption and led us on a journey that ended with a baby girl wrapped in my arms, covered in my tears. What a precious gift she is, and really, what a precious gift it is to have been changed by the road that led us to her.