[adoptingourfirst]

So, I have been keeping a secret since December 6th...I just couldn't bring myself to tell you all until it was finalized and it finally is!!!!!!!!! Here's the story of our son...Bo Daniel

He is absolutely amazing! We can't even begin to tell you all how much we love this little guy already! He had us from hello! Seriously, we can't believe what a perfect fit he is for our family!

Let me tell you a little bit about how he came to us!

Bo was born on May 5th, 2008 and has lived in the same foster home since he was 2 or 3 weeks old. The people that cared for him are absolutely amazing and they took such great care of him! They have fostered an unbelievable number of children, but they had him for almost 7 months, so they became pretty attached - which I think is awesome! It shows how much they really did love him!

Everything happened really fast on December 5th, 2008when the agency was finally able to get into court to have the father's rights terminated. We really didn't know which way the judge was going to rule, and quite honestly we had all but given up that it was going to work in our favor, but we asked for a lot of prayers and we said a bunch as well. We just told the Lord that we wanted whatever was best for Bo to happen. If it meant that going home with his biological father was for the best, then we could accept that. Friday afternoon around 4:30 - our phone rang and it was one of the social workers from the agency and she said "Missy - when do you want to meet your son?!?". I honestly couldn't believe it! I asked her if she was serious and she said "Honey, I wouldn't say it if it wasn't!".

So around 7:15 p.m. Friday night we walked into the foster parents house with our AWESOME social worker and there sitting on the floor was our son! We knew it as soon as we saw him! He was just sitting up playing with his toys and he gave us the BIGGEST smile and from that moment on we were in love! He looks so much like Tad it is almost shocking! He has the biggest blue eyes and his smile goes from cheek to cheek. He giggles whenever you touch him because he is so tickleish (so is Tad) and he honest to goodness never cries!

We stayed and visited with the foster mom and grandma for about an hour and then we had to say good-bye for the night. The foster mom thought that it would be best for him if we took it a little bit slow over the weekend and have a bit of a transition time, so we took her advice and it worked out really well.

We left their home and went straight to Target to pick up pretty much the entire baby department! He is so big that we had to go straight to a Big Boy Car Seat and he wears size 5 diapers! We had so much to get! We met up with some friends and had dinner and then headed home, determined to figure out the car seat and get everything at the house straightened up before we went to bed.

About a mile from home - the Tahoe up and quits! It just stops running!!!! We check our cell phones and they will work, so we start calling around trying to find someone up who can come and help us - it's like 10:30 p.m. Granted we were only a mile from home and we totally could have walked it, but it was 27 degrees out and neither one of us had our coats or a flashlight! Yep - we were totally prepared! So finally we get a hold of another friend and he comes out to help. Tad decides to just leave the Tahoe and go out in the morning to work on it and so we have to transfer everything to our friends truck and bring it all home. We then spend the next 40 minutes trying to figure out how to remove the infant headrest from the carseat! I can't explain to you how frustrated the three of us were! Of course it ended up being one of those "duh" moments once we figured it out!

So, Tad got up extra early the next morning and went to figure out what was wrong with the Tahoe and it was one of those extra weird, never happens to anyone but us kind of things. I swear it was just God's way of bringing us back to reality and showing us that he is 100% in control! It took Tad all of about 5 minutes to fix what came apart and we were good to go...or so we thought.

Next came installing the car seat! OMG...They are a total pain in the butt to install when they have to be faced the wrong direction! I swear we will never take it out of my car. We spent about 30 more minutes just getting it put in correctly. But Bo is extremely safe and secure in it so it was worth it!

We went and picked Bo up at 9:00 a.m. and brought him home for the day! We had a bunch of visitors and took about 200 pictures. He was held by aunts and uncles, grandpa, cousins, namesakes, great aunts and great uncles, friends and of course us! It was so much fun! He put on a pretty good show for everyone laughing and grinning the entire day!

Then we had to take him back. I can't tell you how hard it was for the two of us to walk out of that house without him. But we did it for him and we knew it was the right thing to do. We left and both of us had tears in our eyes. Luckily, a couple of friends had asked us to hang out that night, so we had a distraction. I don't think either one of us slept that night at all.

The next morning we got up and did a quick cleaning of the house, fixed up his bed, went to Babies R Us and picked him up a cool baby exersaucer, jumpy thing! He loves it! Tad went crazy over a little santa suit so we picked that up too and a bunch of other stuff! It is shocking how much you need and how much you want!

We went and had some lunch and tried to be patient as we weren't supposed to pick him up until 1:15 p.m. Finally we went over and pulled up right when they were getting home from church. We spent a few minutes visiting and taking pictures of them with him and then we loaded him up and came home...but not before we made a very important stop at Very Great Grandpa's house! We spent some time there and then made our way home.

We had a house full of people on night and it was so amazing to have so many people want to meet him and show him so much love! I can't believe he wasn't freaking out because there was so much going on, but he held up really well and took it like a little trooper!

We put him down early around 6 p.m., but he got up again around 7:15 and then went down again around 9:00 when everyone was gone. But, I couldn't just let him lay there...I had to hold him so we cuddled on the couch for a while and then we moved him into our room and he slept in the pack and play...don't worry, he's not doing that again, we just wanted him near for the first night.

He slept all night! He didn't fuss or anything! He woke up around 6 a.m. and we put him in bed with us and he just talked and played with the dogs for about 30 minutes. Then we had breakfast and a bath and then another nap.

We went back to the agency on Monday the 8th of December to file our Petition For Adoption and ran more errands.

The next few weeks just flew by. We had the most amazing Christmas ever. It was truly a blessed holiday. Bo was spoiled beyond all measure. Our friends and family have overwhelmed us with gifts and showers and kind words.

So here it is February and we still had not finalized Bo's adoption and I have to say, we have been more than disappointed in the way our adoption agency has handled the court process of terminating the father's rights. It has been one delay after another and while we want everything to be done correctly, it has been extremely frustrating to be told time after time that we have to wait another 30 days.

Needless to say, On Bo's 9 month birthday, we went to the courthouse and the judge granted his adoption!!!!!!! He is ours and we are his 100% and we couldn't be happier! It was truly a joyful day and one that we will remember for the rest of our lives.

For those of you waiting, I know that while you are happy to read that someone's wish for a child has come true, it is painful to know that it isn't you. I have read so many of these and had such mixed emotions and I know it can be hard to hear that when it is the right child for you everything will work out, but I am here to tell you to maintain the faith and when it is right, it will all work out. We knew about Bo the day he was born. In fact, I was at the hospital because my brother-in-law had been in an accident, and I received the call that a baby had been born and the birthmom had chosen us. The only problem was the birthfather didn't know he existed. They wanted me to come and meet him right then and there. Let me tell you, it took everything in me, not to jump in the elevator and head straight to maternity, but I knew I couldn't. I knew that if the birthfather didn't know about him, there was a chance he would want him and I knew that our hearts couldn't bear to fall in love with him and lose him. So we waited. When the birthfather did choose to fight for him, we waited some more. We were given the option to meet Bo several different times, but we knew that when the time was right, everything would just feel right and that at that moment it just didn't. So we waited some more. In the meantime, we were matched with another birthmom and we started that process. When she was 3 weeks from delivery she changed her mind. We were crushed. This roller-coaster had to stop. Then we got a call from the attorney saying that the court hearing had gotten post-poned again. Then another call several weeks later saying that the birthfather was going to do mediation which led them to believe that he would sign voluntarily. He didn't show. We had pretty much given up by then that this was going to work and we were so emotionally drained that we didn't know if we were willing to keep up the madness. That's when the phone rang on December 6th and our lives have never been the same. He is so worth everything we had to go through to get him. He makes us smile each and every day and we love him with all of our hearts. I never thought I would be a mommy and now I am and it fills my heart with so much joy! I guess what I am trying to say to all of you waiting, is that even though none of the pain makes any sense right now, it will someday.
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[MamaS]

God Bless your family!

[binkybear]

Congratulations!!! Your son is beautiful

[Steph-Jason]

Oh my gosh... what a cutie! That's such a beautiful story!! Congrats!!

[Stormster]

He's a beautiful Child! Daniel is our boy's middle name as well!

I enjoyed reading your story. I could relate to what you said about it all being worth it. All of it!

And btw when he's 2 you'll have to turn that car seat around but dn't worry it's much easier to install forward facing, piece of cake.

Great story!

[HappyHopefulMommy]

WOW - that is so exciting and he is so darn cute. Congratulations.

[sbaglio]

Congrats! He's really cute

[maviskat]

Amazing story! Congratulations to you all!!!!!!!!

[Linny]

He certainly IS a cute little guy!!!!
Congratulations on your new baby boy!!!!! What a wonderful story you'll have to share with him!!!

Sincerely,

Linny

[A.lil.one]

What a story to tell! Thanks for sharing your awesome testimony!!! He's a cutie pie! Congratulations, again.

[committedsoul]

He is absolutely beautiful!!! Congrats!!!!!!

[mondk]

Neat story and very cute little tyke! They grow up so fast; make sure you have a camera by your side at all times...my best advice!

Congrats and many blessings, Michelle

[Daisy1339]

Look at his little toes!!! So cute!!
Congratulations!!!!

[Fran27]

He's adorable! Congrats!!!

[nikkianni]

What a doll! And what a fantastic story. Congrats!