Happy Adoption Day!

What an exciting day! Two of my friends are making a difference in the lives of adopted daughters. How awesome is that?

This morning, the kids and I traveled to the birth town of Tall and Chica's baby, Chicklette, to witness the finalization of her adoption process. (Did you know you have to wait six months before adoptions are all official? Gah!) Unfortunately, I underestimated the time it would take to get there from Wester, so we ran in at the last minute. They had kind of held up the proceedings for us. Sorry Chica and Tall!

The ceremony at the agency was very sweet. There was a scripture reading about how we were all made to be parents, which was lovely. Then the case worker presented them with a Little Golden Book about a kangaroo that had an empty pouch that was filled when a baby bluebird fell out of its nest. There may or may not have been tears involved for Chica and me as she read it. Everyone involved with the adoption signed it. Sob! (But with happy tears!) Then the grandparents shared some stories about Chicklette and how she has changed her parent's lives. I was especially touched by the stories from Tall's parents. Tall and his sister were adopted, too, so it was just that much more poignant. The ceremony was closed with a beautiful prayer for Tall, Chica and Chicklette as well as the birth mother.

My, ahem, superwellbehaved children saved it all from being too very serious. We were sitting in a circle with Chicklette in the middle. Z made a mad dash for her as soon as we got into the room. Q hung back a little, hoping for cookies from Chicklette's Grammy. Once that mission was accomplished, he made a beeline for Chicklette and practically mauled her with love. She is barely crawling and still a little wobbly at the whole sitting thing. When Q gave her a giant two-year-old bear hug, she kind of dissolved onto the floor and Q went with her. They rolled around on the floor together until I declared them to be engaged. Oh, did I mention that all of this was during the closing prayer? Yeah.

Then he decided that he and his new fiance should go for a walk and proceeded to try to pick her up and set her on her feet. Yikes! So I was all trying to make him stop without destroying the prayer experience for everyone else. I ended up on the floor with all three kids, trying to look pious while delivering a silent cut-it-out hairy eyeball at the same time. Luckily, everyone had a sense of humor about the whole thing. The only disappointment was that we didn't get any pictures. We couldn't figure out how to take pictures during a prayer without being disrespectful. Rats!

Afterward, we all went to lunch. I was able to visit with Chica as well as Tall's sister and niece who are from Wester. I got the skinny on schools, dance lessons, dog grooming and a whole bunch of other local stuff. The whole event was filled with love and I was so honored to be included.

Today is also adoption day for the Lovely S. She and her husband are traveling as I write to Ethiopia to pick up their brand new daughter. They are so excited and I am excited for them. I can't wait to head back to Small Town to meet her!

What a great day!