The group right after Nolan's adoption was made final in court
(Left to Right: Ed (Coll's Dad), Katie (our amazing case-worker), Grandpa Tom, Linda (Coll's mom), Collin, Me, Nolan, His Honor)
Here's a little Smith Family Timeline:
2010:
July-adoption orientation
August-fill out loads of adoption paperwork
September-become certified for adoption
2011:
February-receive first e-mail from Kenz (she's the miracle in all of this)
March-meet Kenz and bring her home with us
April-Kenz goes back to Idaho
May-go to Idaho, Nolan is born
June-make our way back to Arizona
July-adoption is finalized and Nolan is sealed to us
Our entire journey that lead us from hopelessness to Nolan took a year. That's not entirely true, because I feel like our journey took years, but from our decision to adopt a baby, until Nolan's adoption was finalized took a year.
I'm honestly not saying that to brag, and I know that a year is unheard of, and it never happens that fast, but I'm saying this for 2 reasons:
#1. God is in charge. End of story.
#2. You have to listen to your instincts/gut/conscience/The Holy Spirit
We were told in July of 2010 to not even get certified because we were going to move in July of 2011 and nobody ever gets a baby in a year. But something told me we HAD to get certified, and so we did, and I'm so grateful we did. Then we were told we'd have to wait until probably December before the court could get the adoption finalized, but the Friday before we left town (less than a week before we picked up our moving truck) I got a phone call.
"Ashlee, this is Gwen from the county attorney's office, and I see here in your paperwork that you're moving next week. We think it's in your best interest, and in the best interest of your baby if his adoption is finalized before you move out of the state. If you can come in RIGHT NOW and sign some paperwork, I'll have you a court date next Thursday."
So that's exactly what we did.
Then, 5 days later, on a Thursday, this is what we did:
5:00 wake up, shower, get extra ready
6:00 give Bubba a bath and get him extra ready
7:00 realize I should have ironed Collin's shirt the night before
7:45 leave for court
8:30 go before the judge and hear the words "You are now officially Nolan's Mom and Dad"
9:00 drive to pick up our moving truck
9:30 find out our moving truck has bucket seat, and therefore no place for Nol's car seat
10:30 switch moving truck companies
11:00 get a new truck
12:00 go to lunch with Coll's mom
1:00 Coll's mom babysits while Coll and I load the moving truck
4:00 drive away from home in our moving truck
It was a whirlwind of a day, but one of the most magical days of our lives. Thank you so much to all of those who made it happen.
And friends, really, if your heart is telling you to do something that everybody else is saying not to do, really, do some thinking/praying/pondering, and consider following your heart. It will rarely lead you astray.
I thought the above photo would look smashing next to Nolan's birth announcement :)
This all happened on a Thursday. Friday was just as busy of a day, and even more magical if you can believe it. We took Nolan to the Snowflake Temple, and had him sealed to us. But that's another post for another day. Pictures to come.
Happy Tuesday!
