Adoption Update

about a week and a half ago we got our 400 adoption papers emailed to us!  If you don't recall we have to have Norah live with us for 1 year before we can file for her adoption.  So we can't sign anything until February 10th, 2012 (the day after it has been 1 year).  It is just sitting here, all read through to make sure every binding word is perfect. 

So after February 10th (if both parties have signed all paperwork) our attorney will file for an adoption with the Clear Creek County Court outside of Denver.  After that, he predicts that it will take about 30-45 days for a hearing to finalize her adoption.  Whew!  Can you believe it has almost been a year since Norah moved to Colorado?

This process has been nothing like I ever expected.  It has been a whirlwind and has hardly left me any time to even realize my sister is gone or what has happened in our life.  One of the hardest things for me has been to find someone to talk with, someone to relate to. 

For most people adoption has been something they planned, something that has been years in the making, they have read books, rearranged their lives, gone to adoption groups, talked with psychologists and even picked where their child was coming from.  I always admire those people, the ones who chose to bring in someone they don't even know, to give them a home, to bring them into their family and love them.  Although our story is not much different than that, it feels very different in so many ways.  Adoption was obviously not something we were planning (anytime in the near future), or something that was years in the making, we are blessed to be able to have children of our own, and we certainly hadn't even met with an adoption group, ever.   I would just love to sit down with someone who feels just a little bit like I do and have a heart to heart conversation.  Are you out there?

People always say to us, "what you guys are doing is so wonderful!"  And in my head all I can think is, "wouldn't you do the same?"  I mean there wasn't even a second thought about Norah being part of our family.  And I know about 10 other people who would have taken Norah in if they had to, so really if this happened to your family,  wouldn't you do the same?  That is what family is, that is what family does.  Norah is our family.  Norah is our daughter now and we wouldn't have it any other way.

Some days are hard, really hard.......

but

I can't even come close to picturing our life without 3 girls, 3 daughters, 3 gifts.