Meeting Noah

Over Thanksgiving we got to visit my brother's family, which includes my three-month-old nephew Noah. He is a perfect, adorable, delightful baby. He smiled at everyone and never complained about the awkward attentions of his eager cousins.

Watching the boys meet Noah was a treat. They had no idea what to expect - I heard some plans about teaching Noah how to play baseball or catch a football. They were all instantly charmed by Noah's smiles and everybody wanted to hold him.

Yesterday, Owen caught me off guard with this conversation: 

"Mom, how do you spell I love you?"
Me: "I L O V E Y O U."
Owen: "How do you spell Noah?"

Pause for melting heart. "N O A H. Would you like to send that note to Noah?"

"How do you send that note?"

"We could put it in an envelope and mail it to him."

"And we have to give it to the mailman?"

"Yes. Do you want to do that, or would you rather keep the note?"

"I want to do that."

 Noah, watch your mailbox.

Birthmom Love

All the boys with their birthmoms.

Here's another of my all-time favorite photos about how our family came to be. This was taken in 2007 at a birthday party when Sam turned 3, Jude turned 1, and Owen was about three weeks.

Could I possibly write anything that sums up the love, sacrifice, optimism, courage, generosity, and faith this picture describes? I love these women. I am so thankful for their faith in Ben and me. I am thankful that they are part of our family. Their love and friendship is a blessing.

Found: A Memoir

This month I'm going to be reading the book Found: A Memoir by Jennifer Lauck. I'm participating in an online book tour of this adoption memoir. Lots of people will read the book and come up with some questions to discuss. Then we'll take turns posting answers to a few of the questions on our blogs.

I'm sure it will be in interesting discussion of people's experiences in the adoption triad (birthparents, adoptive parents, and kids who were adopted). Would love for you to join the conversation.

National Adoption Month

Owen's adoption day

November is National Adoption Month, so I'm looking back at some photos that remind me of the special way our family came together.

This photo is from the day we finalized Owen's adoption. In the legal process of adoption, responsibility for the baby shifts three times. When the baby is born, his birthmom is responsible for him. Sam and Owen lived with us during that time but their birthmoms had all the parental authority under the law.

Then - about 6 weeks later in each of our adoptions - birthparents terminate parental rights and the adoption agency is responsible for the baby. That went on for about 6 months and we had visits from our social worker and had to turn in paperwork about doctor visits and the baby's progress.

Finally, after all that supervision, we got to go to court and finalize the adoption. That means we get a birth certificate identifying us as our kids' parents and they take our last name and we are Mom and Dad. GOOD STUFF.

Judge Deets finalized each of our adoptions. I've never been in a courtroom except for adoption proceedings but people tell me there's not usually lots of fun stuff going on there. Finalizing an adoption is fun. Everybody in the room is happy. By the time we were there with Owen, Judge Deets recognized us.

In November I sometimes send Judge Deets a note with a photograph of our boys and thank him for helping us become a family. Last year he wrote me back. I loved that. Adoption has opened up so many unexpected relationships and blessings in our lives. Who knew infertility would lead to all this? Thanks, God.