Sunday, June 20, 2010

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!!!!!

It was a great Father's Day for Brent!  His first as a DAD.  He's been waiting for this day for such a long time.  I must say he fills the role very well, and is a GREAT dad to Brody.  We get comments from observers watching Brent with Brody all of the time about how they love watching them together.  Last week in church, I had sharing time to present, so Brent was in charge of Brody.  A number of people told me how impressed they were that he was so good with Brody, and so involved.  One person said, you can tell how much he LOVES that little boy just by watching him.  It's true, he loves that little boy with all he has.  It will be fun to watch them together through the years.  He already has a horse picked out for Brody with big plans to take his little cowboy along with him to work.  I'm so thankful for Brent, and I love him for the dad and husband that he is.  Also, thank you to my Dad, and to Brent's dad for the examples they set.  We love you!!  Happy Father's Day!
Here's Daddy and Brody with Brody's horse, "Cowboy."

How You've Grown!!

On the 18th of June, Brody was 3 months old.  Time goes so fast, and he's growing so big.  My sister-in-law, Jessie, had this idea of the car seat comparison on her blog to see the difference in size at 1 day, and 3 months (thanks Jessie).  It's crazy how much he's filled out the car seat in just 3 months!  You're growing up so fast!
Brody at one day old, and 3 months.

Monday, June 14, 2010

3 BIG DAYS: Adoption finalization, Sealing, and Brody's Blessing

         On Monday, May 17, 2010 we had our court hearing, and our adoption became FINAL!!!
We took a photo op with the judge, our caseworker, and our attorney, to document the joyous event!
Our family came to the hearing to support us.  My parents, Brent's mom, and sister, our nephew, and my sister, and brother-in-law were there.  We have such an awesome, supportive family.  Thanks for being there for the occasion.
Saturday, May 29, 2010 was the most special day of all.  We were able to take Brody to the Twin Falls temple to have him SEALED to us.  We are now a forever family.  The day was amazing.  Our hearts were so full of love, and it was a very emotional day.  It was a day we had been dreaming of for a very long time.  We felt pure joy, and happiness as we had our baby sealed to us for eternity, with our close
friends, and family there.
Thank you to our loving supportive family, once again.  We're so happy you were there to experience this day with us.
Our eternal family.

The day was extremely cold, and windy so we really weren't able to get many pictures.  I was disappointed, but I was glad we were at least able to get a few.

Brody was blessed Sunday, May 30, 2010, the day after the sealing.  It was a special weekend, and a BIG one (also Memorial Day weekend, so the family was able to visit the cemetery while they were here to decorate the graves of Brent's mom, and his 2 brothers). 
The white blanket we wrapped around Brody in the temple for his sealing, and also for the blessing was one my Grandma Stephens made.  It was neat to have a part of her there with us.  She made one for each grandchild, and wanted to make sure we all had one before she died. She was a very talented, special person, and we MISS her deeply.  
Brent was super nervous to give Brody his blessing in sacrament meeting.  He worried about it for weeks, and was so nauseated the day of.  Despite all of that, he did GREAT.  He gave the perfect blessing, and everyone wondered what he was so nervous for.  He's an amazing dad.  I love watching him with Brody.  It makes me love him that much more. 
"Whoo hoo!! We did it!"  We feel the same, Brody!

Thursday, June 10, 2010

ADOPTION: It's About LOVE

This topic has such a special place in our hearts. I’ve been wanting to post an entry regarding ADOPTION, along with a tribute to Brody’s birth parents for a long time, but I hesitated because this topic is so near, and dear to us, I didn’t quite know how to give it justice, while at the same time preserving our birth parent’s privacy. However, I now have the perfect opportunity to post about it. . .

Several weeks ago we had a photographer friend (who we met through FSA (families supporting adoption) classes and has adopted 2 children of her own) take some pictures of us, and Brody’s birth parents. We wanted to capture the “adoption placement,” and the LOVE that was felt by all, for this baby boy (sadly, we didn’t get any pictures at the hospital on the actual day of placement, as unfortunately it felt sort of rushed, but we wanted to preserve the moment in some way). I’ll remember that day as very “bitter- sweet.”  I know that sounds cliché. . . It was the happiest day of our lives, but we also felt the pain, and agony our birth parents (and their families) were going through at the same time.

It is very important to us that Brody always knows, and understands that his adoption was done out of PURE love for him. Through these pictures, we hope he’ll be able to SEE this. The world has many misconceptions about adoption, and often portrays the negative, or sad views of adoption. We don’t ever want Brody to be confused by this, or feel that he was “given up.” They didn’t give Brody up, they gave him more. Brody’s birth parents had an extremely agonizing decision to make, and we are eternally grateful that they had the COURAGE to do what they knew was right, and what was very best for him. They made a purely UNSELFISH decision, and followed their hearts, and lovingly placed him in our arms. Now that, is a example of pure LOVE. For us, we received the ultimate gift.-- a child! Next to the atonement, I can’t think of a greater gift than that. Can you!? They knew that Brody was sent here on earth to be in our family. I sometimes wonder if an agreement was made between the four of us long ago, in heaven. There were so many miracles, and things that took place to make this adoption happen- - I have no doubt that our Heavenly Father guided our birth parents, and guided our little boy to us. And I also believe Brody directed our birth parents to choosing us. The Lord definitely places people in our lives at the right times, in the right situations.

We are FOREVER grateful to Brody’s birth parents, and have an enormous amount of love for them. They will always have a special place in our hearts. Brody is such a lucky boy to be soooo loved by so many. Thank you for giving us the gift we could not give each other.
We know Brody is our son. That he was meant to be in our FOREVER family-- he just had to get to us a different way.

Brody’s adoption story (in a nutshell):

There’s so MUCH more to the story than this, but I’m keeping it short, and sweet for the time being.
Brody’s birth parents were getting ready to start their senior year of high school when the found out they were pregnant. They began to consider adoption as an option. Brody’s birth mom, Kourtney, began looking at adoptive couples profile’s on "ItsAboutLove.org" (LDS Family Service's adoption website). Our profile stood out to her. The opening picture on our adoption profile was the one of Brent, and I on our horses smooching (the one that’s on the top right corner of this blog). When she saw it, she had a “warm feeling,” and she decided to read our profile. Kourtney began communicating with us by email in September 2009. We talked this way for a couple of months, and then in early November, she made her decision. She had chosen us to be the parents of her baby!! We met in person with Kourtney and Jordan, (Brody’s birth father), in December, and we immediately hit it off! We felt like we had known them before, and things progressed from our first meeting. We met a few other times, and Kourtney was thoughtful enough to give us an album of Brody’s ultrasounds. I can’t describe how much that meant. We got to know one another through the months that followed, and developed a sweet friendship. We have an open adoption, and we are grateful for this. Brody will never have to wonder, or have the mystery of all the “why’s,” and “who’s” haunting him throughout his life.

Well, I haven’t even tipped the iceberg with our adoption story. . . I’ll save the rest for some other time.
 
Here some of the pictures that we had taken. I hope you can somewhat feel the love that was felt by all of us for this little boy, when he was placed in our arms on that magical March day.

Brody's birth mom, and I have matching necklaces which have"two hearts" on them.  They represent our hearts, two mother's love for this sweet baby boy.  We gave the necklace to her on the day of placement which seemed like such a small, insignificant gift compared to the gift we were being given.   But, I love what it represents.  Since then, we have added Brody's birth stone which hangs between the two hearts.
Our "angel" who delivered Brody to us.



"If our prayers had been answered the way that we wanted them to, you wouldn't be in our arms."  
I love this quote.  During the past ten years we have been through so many struggles to start our family, as we have traveled down the painful road of infertility, and throughout the adoption process.  The fall before Brody's adoption, we had experienced our second failed IVF (in-vitro fertilization).  We were devastated, and heart broken to say the very least.  We were shocked, and weary, from the unending grief we were experiencing. (Click here to see an article on what couples experiencing infertility go through.)  We wanted so badly for it to work, and we couldn't understand WHY.  We had also endured an adoption scam, and several failed adoptions.  Why did we have to endure this trial, and why did Heavenly Father think we were strong enough for it?  Why wasn't anything working out for us?  After all, it was a righteous desire, and we were doing everything in our power to have children.  Why weren't we being blessed?  We were literally to the point where we didn't have anything more to give of ourselves, and felt like giving up.  All we could do is trust in our Heavenly Father.  And we did.  He had a plan for us, and he blessed us according to His plan, and His timing.  There was a special baby boy who was waiting to join our family, and we had to wait for him.  If things had worked out for us with IVF, or the other adoptions, we wouldn't have him in our lives.  We can't imagine life without him. 

"The Lord compensates the faithful for every loss. That which is taken away from those who love the Lord will be added unto them in His own way. While it may not come at the time we desire, the faithful will know that every tear today will eventually be returned a hundredfold with tears of rejoicing and gratitude."
-Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin "Come What May, and Love It." 
(Click here to view full article)
We shed MANY, MANY tears throughout this process, and it is true, every tear WAS returned a hundredfold with tears of rejoicing and gratitude.
 Just look at that sweet face. 
Ten tiny toes.
 I love this one.  Bless you!!  The photographer had perfect timing to catch Brody's sneeze!
WE LOVE ADOPTION.  We especially love the baby boy it has brought into our lives.