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?
