Christmas Time.....

So here is a picture from the courthouse when we finalized the girl's adoptions! It was such a great day! One of the other things we had REALLY wanted to do & haven't been able to is pierce the girls' ears! I had mine done as a baby & I think the younger the better. So as soon as we left the courthouse we headed to get their ears pierced! Both of the girls did really well. Everly was surprised by the first one, but she REALLY wanted it so she held still & let them do the second one. Delilah cried, but only because she was MAD! Also I had custom  shirts made for all 3 kids, they came out really adorable & we got TONS of compliments on them, I ordered them from The Lion & The Unicorn.

 

We barely had time to let the adoption sink in & Christmas was here! The kids were so excited & it was a really special day. We got up early & opened presents. We had a great lunch & then we took a 3 hour nap! It was amazing! You can't tell from the picture below, but the kids were excited.... Just not excited to take a picture!!

In the pictures below Lyla was devastated I took her new baby from her so Daddy could cut it out of the plastic. Then the world was right again because Daddy gave it back!

Everly really "got" Christmas this year! She was so excited to open gifts, she even climbed on top of them! She was a beast!

Tuck obviously gets Christmas! We got him a Kindle Fire & he really loved it! I know a lot of people think its crazy for a 6 year old to own a tablet but it costs the same as a Nintendo DS & the games are cheaper! He can also have books & kids magazines to read all the time!

Overall it was a really great day. I'm not sure it has all sunk in really, its just been such a long road! We're just really enjoying these days!

Meet our daughters!!

We are over the moon to have finalized the adoption of our daughters today. They have been the biggest blessing we could imagine in our lives. I am not sure there are words that could describe what it feels like to finally be "done" and a forever family! Even though I've done this all before I am still amazed at the work God can do in our lives. Just one year ago our lives and our daughter's lives were so far apart. We were preparing for Christmas and finishing up our license. It was a bittersweet holiday season. (You can see it in my blog posts from that time). Our girls were in yet another home that made a promise to them they couldn't keep. Our ladies would soon know yet another loss in their short lives. We were set on doing legal risk & straight adopt placements only and we were NOT willing to do emergency, or foster to adopt placements. We wanted one little girl, but decided to consider siblings. I have NO idea what made me say yes when our agency called except I knew deep down God had a plan for us, if we were only willing to listen and trust in him. When they selected another family for the girls that Friday I was so disappointed. I had thought for sure then that they were "ours". I usually take this stuff in stride and don't really get attached to any of the kids we submitted for, this time was just, different. I felt such a loss. I spent the weekend pouting & sulking over it. So when they called back Monday & said that the other family changed their minds after taking the girls home & realizing they weren't able to care for their needs, I just knew we had to bring them home. I don't know if terrified even starts to describe how we felt that first few weeks and months. They had already been through so much, and were hurting so badly.  Here we were, not knowing if we would even get to keep them! I wasn't sure if we were strong enough to make it through the wait, or to provide them with everything they needed to get "better". We knew full well the huge risk we were taking, and that it could possibly end in the greatest heartbreak we had ever known. I can't tell you how many tears I cried worried, terrified and just sick that we may have to say goodbye to our daughters. Not only was I afraid for me & my husband, but also our son and our family that were forced into this with us. They didn't sign up for this or agree to take the risk. They welcomed the girls with open arms and took the chance in loving them also. The saddest points were usually in the car to & from work when I was alone & had time to really think about our situation. But 11 months later, all of our prayers have been answered and our patience and faith rewarded. It wasn't all rainbows & unicorns. It took work, therapy, tears, dozens of workers, at least 5 attorneys, many sleepless nights & thousands of prayers to get us here. This was a giant corn maze & we walked into it blind. We stumbled our way through it and we just crossed the finish line. I hope everyday this is our legacy as people, parents and as a couple. We love them with our whole heart, and I am so proud of what me & my husband were able to weather side by side & hand in hand. He is the best partner I could ever imagine and we wouldn't be here without him. So please meet our daughters. 

        Our oldest who I've been referring to as Sissy is 2, she will be 3 in January, meet Everly Tabor or Ever for short. We picked her first name because its original yet sweet, her middle was to honor someone that was so important in my husbands life. She was a person he could trust, who always saw the good in him, showed him what unconditional love REALLY means, and helped him become the man he is today. She always saw him for who he really was, and not who she wanted him to be. I will forever be grateful for her being in his life. I don't know where he would be without her, though she's gone I see the results of her selfless love in my husband every single day. It was a no-brainer to name our little spitfire in that woman's honor. She is sassy and spunky & full of life. I see so much of myself in her. She has a huge heart but the strongest will I've ever seen in a child.  Everly is as smart as they come, but she has a serious side. She is a fighter and she can overcome anything! I am in humbled by her every single day, for her strength, and love, her fight, what shes been through and overcome, and the person she is becoming. I see her giving us a run for our money! She is the first to snuggle up on the couch, or put her big brother in his place with one hand on her hip!

Our little princess turned 1 in July, and is now 17 months old. Previously known as Dee, is our little Delilah Carson or Lyla. We selected her first name after a little girl that changed my view on adoption. A child who's spirit was so unbreakable and who helped me to realize that our kids aren't lucky to have us. We're the lucky ones to get to walk beside them in their lives and on their journey. Adoption is about them, not us. When people tell us how lucky our kids are to have us, I think of that little girl. It was the name I have had picked for my daughter for years. Daddy picked her middle name because that's what he does and he fell in love with the name! She is the little nugget or peanut as we call her! She left the hospital without a name at all, and had a rough start! She was born 4 weeks early & was under the 10th percentile in size. She has overcome THAT title to become quite the meaty lady! She has met every one of her milestones and is advanced for her age. She is happy, healthy and has the brightest of futures ahead of her. She takes a little bit to warm up to you but, once she does, watch out! She is silly and such a ham. She loves to make people laugh especially her big brother and sister. She will use her charm at any chance to get what she wants. Lyla doesn't have a serious bone in her body, and if you try to be serious with her, she's going to make you laugh! If you scold her she will try to kiss you, and if that doesn't work, she will give you the stink eye just out of spite! She can keep up with the big kids just fine and usually bosses them around too!

 For now we're just enjoying the moment, which will undoubtedly be the happiest in our lives! There were many times we couldn't understand the plan that was laid out for us, but for everything God takes, he replaces it with something BETTER, our daughters couldn't have made that any more clear! This has been such a lesson for us, if you spend your whole life staring at the door that God closed, you will NEVER see the new one he opened. So, we're just looking towards those new doors, and not wasting a second looking back at closed doors or our past. The present has never felt so happy, and the future has never looked better! Enjoy the video below (sorry about the quality, its the best blogger would let me upload. To watch in full resolution visit http://youtu.be/7Y2zPkpIqjY ).

2 Days & Tattoos!

So we are just 2 days away from finalizing! We are really excited to be finishing up our adoption of the girls. To celebrate we have been thinking about getting tattoos & that's just what we did! We went last night & me & my husband both got new tattoos. I got a yarn style bow on my left wrist. Our kids have been the biggest gift in my life. No gift is complete until there is a bow on top, and so that why I got the little bow.  Its just a symbol of the perfect package we have.

 

My husband had been wanting to get a band around is forearm of our kids' names. I can't show all of it because it has the girls' new names. This is how it looks on the arm from far away.

This is a close up of our son Tucker's name. It came out really beautiful and looks so much better in person.

We were supposed to go do our new family pictures today, but when we woke up it was pouring down rain, so that will have to wait! We have one more visit tomorrow night by our worker from our agency. Then we will finalize Tuesday. This will be my last post before we finalize. I will publish a post as soon as we get out of court on Tuesday where I will introduce our beautiful daughters! We just can't really believe we are so close & coming up on the end.

Twelve Days....

  We are now 12 days from finalizing and counting. No, seriously, I count it down every single day! Things are really quiet around here. We haven't really had any visits, we haven't even heard from the girls' worker since the week we did the adoptive placement paperwork. We got in the final draft of the adoption paperwork. These documents included the information for the girls' new birth certificates etc. We did decide to change both girls full names. We have two reasons for this. One of the times we went to court one of the attorneys said our last name out loud in front of their biological father, she said it in the context "Mrs. XxXx" I think without realizing it. The girls original names would have been pretty easily identified. With today's social media etc. we decided it was safer due to the girls' families having some violent pasts. Another reason we wanted to change their names is, names are a very personal thing. Each of the girls new names were picked for a very special reasons and they have a lot of meaning to us. I know this subject can be very controversial to many people. I know if you don't really have knowledge of name changing you may imagine them just waking up one day & we call them a different name, but it doesn't work like that. We faded in their new names with the old names. Sometimes chaining them together, other times calling them just the old ones, or just the new ones. Now we are at the point where we use their new names alone about 75% of the time. Its just like people calling their kids nicknames, or referring to an older brother as "bubba" once they have a new little sibling. Your child learns to respond to that name & it becomes a new part of their identity. This past weekend it was a GORGEOUS 78 degrees so we decided to pack up the family and head to the beach. We had an amazing water front lunch, Dee loves crab. The girls had never seen the ocean so I was happy we could take them. The water was pretty chilly, I mean it is December. Sissy loved it, but didn't like the way the water came up to the shore & chased her. She ran away from it every time crying. by the time we left she was letting the water touch her feet a little. Dee HATED the water, it was probably the temperature. She also wasn't a huge fan of the sand & the way it stuck to all her little fat parts. Of course Tuck loved it & jumped right in, freezing water and all. Its days like that we feel so blessed. It was just so beautiful and perfect. God has definitely blessed us with 3 beautiful healthy children. I know some people pray for God to change situations in their lives, or to change PEOPLE in their lives, our prayers are consumed by our lovely children and their futures. What else could you ask for?

Christmas Traditions ***Guest Post***

       Hello, for those who do not know me my name is Chris. Crystal and I have been married for 10 years in February. Since our first Christmas we have always put up our Christmas tree the weekend after Thanksgiving. It has always been a live tree. The one above is alive, even if it does not look it. We all go to the tree lot and all look for the perfect tree. Last year it was Tuck that found the tree, and he still talks about how he was the one to find the perfect one. And this year it was Crystal, she fell in love with this flocked Charlie Brown tree. Christmas has always been our favorite holiday and even more so now that we have our 3 wonderful kids. We love this time of year and cant wait to get everything up and decorated. But by the time Christmas is over I am also the first on the block to haul our tree to the curb after Christmas morning is over. When I was growing up we moved a lot and there was never any consistency with the holidays. We never knew where we would be. If we would be in a new house or different town. (And no it was not a military family we just moved a lot.) So I always knew when I had a family there would be consistency with the holidays. I want them to carry them on with when they grow up. With 3 kids that spent the first parts of their lives growing up with out consistency I find traditions very important. I always want them to know what to expect and to look forward to every Christmas.  With this being the girls' first Christmas with our family we started a new one this year. This year we introduced the kids to the Elf on the shelf. And they love it. Every morning Tuck and Sissy get up and try to find Archie (this is what the kids named our elf) and see what he has gotten into over night. Dee is a little young for it this year but I want her to know she was a part of this tradition from its start. (The photo above is me reading them the story after we put up our tree & the first night Archie came to visit this year, Below are some photos from where Archie has turned up this year).

-Chris