The Final Post...

This is my last post on "journey towards parenting" blog, not because the journey is over but this chapter has closed. The boys finalized (finally) on Friday and parenting is my life, therefore I've decided to continue my parenting stories on my "Tea and Sweatpants" blog.

Reflections from Friday:

Grammie Lynn (Nick's mom), Nick, and the boys and I crowded into the car early Friday morning to begin our commute to Eugene, OR. A little over two hours later we pulled up into the Lane County court house parking lot. We had enough time to get out, stretch our legs, have a snack and bask in the sunshine that the Lord brought our way. We buttoned ironed shirts, fidgeted with ties (zip and clip style), and tied on our fancy shoes. About that time Grammie and Grampie (my parents) pulled up and the boys took a running dash into their arms. We proudly walked into the court house and had some giggles and awe as we made it through security. We made our way up the large staircase to the seating area to wait for our names to be called. Right about this time our friend Rhonda Birchard showed up to support us making the trip from Portland as well. Rhonda has been mentoring me through this parenting journey in that she herself is a foster-adopt mother.

We made it with the perfect amount of time that had the court been on schedule we would have walked right in and sat down for our hearing at 11:30. A clerk approached me and let me know the judge was running very far behind and that we would have to wait for about an hour. My stomach turned but I said with confidence that we would wait, nothing was going to send me back to Portland now. Grammie Lynn to the rescue, she found with some snooping, a kids play room! The boys did great despite the wait. Dom lost the zipper tie within the first 5 minutes (no big deal, I don't blame the kid) and Eli reached his limit when his stomach started throwing a tantrum on him out of hunger. Grammie (ziebart) to the rescue on this one, she found a vending machine with peanuts. Thank the Lord my children like and are not allergic to peanuts becasue the only other choice was MnMs! Now, the boys were really getting wiggly and the grown ups were too. Finally at 1:00pm the clerk let us know the judge was almost ready and we could get into the court room. Elation probably best describes my emotion at that moment. We went in there and started snapping picutres which, as you can immagine, the boys were thrilled to do while feeling tired, hungary, board and ansy.

The jude came in and we tried to sit all formal like and really tried to pay attention to every word she was saying. She asked us a few questions, she wanted to know our story, and she really truly found so much joy in doing this ceremony. She sees and deals with so much crap daily and this is one thing that really gives her life and joy in what she is doing. She thanked us for choosing adoption, she proudly signed the paperwork, and I choked back my tears of joy. I knew if I let even one tear fall my pregnant self would be sobbing for the next 45 min.:)

I do feel different. In our eyes the boys have been ours since the day they moved in. No name change or legal work would change that. However, I felt as if a burden, a hesitation, was lifted. I don't have to explain to drs. or preschool teachers, or anyone else why they have different names than us. Now and forever our names are on their birth certificates. Now and forever they are Muccis, their children will be called Mucci's as well. Our family tree is their family tree. Now the state, the US, the world recognizes these two as ours. It's a bit freeing to me and I don't think I can exactly articulate why.

Lord, thank you for my sons, thank you for a beautiful day in Eugene to mark the joining of our lives forever.

Number 3...

In September our first born will be 4 1/2, our second born will be 3 1/2 and our unborn will be born.

Our sons will adopt a baby brother or sister into their lives and this baby will adopt us 4 as his/her forever family. I am pregnant but I use the word adopt because it is language that is understood in our family that means forever. When we explained to the boys that a baby was coming it made the most sense to say to them that they and we would adopt this baby that is growing in my belly. Just as we say they adopted us as their parents and we adopted them as our sons and Nick and I adopted each other as husband and wife, we are all one big adopted family:) I love using this language because it implies there is a choice. I choose to love you forever. I choose to be your family for all time. I choose you.

Speaking of love it seems as we make this announcement of our pregnancy some people assume (all of these people are NOT adoptive parents) the we will finally know what it's like to love our own child. This thought either implied or stated by others hurts my heart. I felt in my heart of Friday when I saw baby the same feeling I had when we were looking at children available for adoption. My heart just grew. I believe with my whole heart that I can and do love my adoptive children as much as my biological. My husband is one example of how I know this. I love him more that any other. I have not known him in the womb (I wasn't alive yet), I didn't know him at birth, and yet I love him more than any other. Christ teaches us about adoption and love, He reassures me that my love for these two is as strong as any other child of mine.

We've also become the poster family for "you know, after you adopt you'll get pregnant." Yes, I'll admit there truly are MANY families who adopt and then get pregnant but I would argue there are just as many who adopt and don't get pregnant. For the record, all of the adopting families that I know that struggled with infertility did not adopt in hopes that it would get them pregnant. Maybe some of you remind us of this out of shock that it happened to us, or to say "I knew it" or simply to imply this is what we hoped would happen if we adopted. Whatever the reason know that I don't really care!

All of this to say, we're excited about our growing family. In this year alone our family will grow from two Muccis to 5! God is amazing and we're blessed to be on this journey in his love.

March 11th...

March 11th, 2011 a day that will be important to me for the rest of my life. This day is our official adoption day for the boys. We will venture down to the court house with some close friends to watch the judge officially sign the paperwork. The boys will each get new birth certificates with their new names on it along with our names.

I can't even say how excited I am to have them legally ours forever.