Growing Like a Weed

Baby Girl and The Boy are growing like the weeds in my garden - very quickly!  Thankfully the veggies are also growing nicely and we have been enjoying yummy green fresh foods.  The baby has also been getting her share of vegetables now that she is eating solids.  We invested in a food processor so we can make our own baby food in sufficient quantities, and I think it has already paid for itself.  It's so much easier to thaw a cube of frozen baby food than to drive to the store and pay for expensive, who-knows-what's-in-it baby food.

 Big Brother has fun feeding the baby.

 Baby Girl with a good appetite

 She likes green beans and LOVES sweet potatoes...

but she does NOT like carrots.

The Boy has been having a great summer.  He is taking swimming lessons and doing wonderfully with them - no fear of the water at all!  He is also taking a few days of golf lessons just for fun - something to learn some coordination and a good excuse to get out in the sun.  Baby Girl and I have been having fun spreading out a blanket and watching him hit balls.

 Cursed by genetics - needed glasses!  He is enjoying being able to see clearly.  It's not a terribly strong prescription, but makes a big difference for him.

 All the new curriculum for the school year ahead has been ordered.  He went through my box right away and put sticky notes on all the things that looked interesting.

Outside fun!  She was smiling up until the time I took the picture and then put on this wicked frown.  She really does enjoy the baby swing, and we are loving that summer is here at long last.

 This baby is becoming highly mobile.  She can crawl but much prefers commando scooting and can quickly cover a lot of ground.  She loves standing up and trying to take steps, and has also started pulling herself up to standing.  Nothing is safe, but books and Legos are especially attractive targets to her, so we have been continuing the safety modifications to our house.

Future chef?  Cookbooks are the favorite books to read (eat).  

Other new developments - babbling.  "Hi-hi-da-da-da-da-da" is the favorite phrase, and most often directed at Hubby.  She doesn't usually say it to me, so Hubby is pretty tickled.  And lest you think she is solely a Daddy's Girl, she usually freaks out when I leave the room - a very equitable baby.

Finalization

Our beautiful daughter's adoption was finalized in court last week!  Praise and thanks be to God!  Although the finalization was important legally and concludes the process started over two years ago, for us it felt like little more than a formality - our baby girl has already been home and is as much a part of our family as any of the rest of us.  Still, it was with light and grateful hearts we arrived at the courthouse.

The hearing was very short.  Hubby and I both were sworn in as witnesses (yikes!) and answered a few simple questions about our intention to adopt and ability to meet our daughter's needs.  Then her adoption was declared final by the judge (!!!!!!!) and we all posed for photos.  We were honored to have my father-in-law, our daughter's godparents, "godfriends", and social worker in attendance.  Each has been prayer warrior, venting recipient, and faithful companion along the way, and what a joy to share the finalization with each of them.

Even though our precious girl has a closet full of dresses, I felt compelled to buy a special dress to mark the occasion, and found myself with a handful of dresses as options.  I kept coming back to a pretty little bubble dress, but it wasn't until I brought it home I realized it was covered with roses.  Yes, roses - they keep showing up along the way, and I'm so dense I don't see them until knocked over the head.  She looked absolutely beautiful (as always, but especially darling) and was in the best of moods for the hearing.  We went to the Dairy Queen to celebrate afterward.  Baby Girl just about attacked my ice cream when it arrived, and yes, she had quite a few bites to celebrate.

 She was so solemn for all the photos.  Not sure what was going on, but it sure seemed serious!

 Grandpa loves his Granddaughter

 A judge, a lawyer, and we are now a forever family

 Big Brother still adores Little Sister

Thanks for being there, everyone!

Bring on the ice cream!

It's a beautiful thing to put the "Baby Hopes" tag to rest.  So many years spent hoping, praying, wondering.  Now at this end of things I don't begrudge the process, although that's easier to say when not in the thick of it all - and this blog has seen it's share of in-the-thick-of-things-begrudging.  Even when it felt like God was far-distant, He was there caring for every detail.

Any discussion, though, of the last few years, though, would be too simplistic.  We weren't perfected through suffering.  We didn't always draw nearer to God when the opportunity was given. We aren't "better people" for having struggled through infertility.  (Indeed, I feel as if there were some sort of callus on my heart; I wonder if it will wear off with time, or if it sticks around.)  And we certainly didn't "deserve" our daughter as some sort of cosmic reward for persevering (ha - if one can call the last few years persevering.  Maybe persevering in whining and begging!).  And though adoption finalization has a yes, final sort of tone to it, our family will live adoption for years to come.  I do wonder what sorts of questions she will ask and how we will answer, what she will think of us and what tears and fears she will have.  There are a lot of things I am unprepared to put into words for myself, much less communicate to a five, ten, fifteen, twenty year old daughter.

So keep praying for us, and join us in rejoicing and thanking God for His great goodness to all of us.  Congratulations, beautiful Baby Girl!  May God's face always shine upon you!