Adoption Day

November 1, 2012 at 9am was our adoption day. 

I had a feeling that something was not right and sure enough when my lawyer arrived she asked to speak with me alone.  She said that Indiana refused to FedEx a letter that was needed so we did not have all of the correct paperwork for completion that day.  Thankfully, the judge chose to take our case under advisement instead of canceling. Now we are just waiting for that letter to arrive so the judge can sign the correct documents and we can be official.

Reese was a doll as we waited but as soon as we went in, she couldn't stop talking.  She said she didn't want to be a Powers and that she needed a snack.  The judge was soft spoken so I did not hear a word he said.  I dreamed of this magical moment when the heavens opened and the angels sang and I would know that Reese and I were a family, but instead it was real life. 

I had someone say that this was bittersweet but no it was not.  This was all sweet.  This all stopped being about my sister a year ago and finally started being about Reese and what she needed.  For all of Reese's life, I have kept my life on pause.  I have always needed to be ready to fly back to Indiana to care for the girls at a moments notice.  Everything has been waiting to react to the decisions of an addict because the girls deserved it.  It has been a roller coaster, at times infuriating and the times with the girls filled with laughter.  Now we can move forward and take my life off of pause.  My life is completely different from when I paused things.  I have a solid career now that I am so proud of and now I am a mother to the most amazing little girl.  We are so different but made perfectly for each other.  I am ready to move forward now, knowing  that life will never take me where I thought it would and that the universe is out there making the most perfect decisions for my life.

Amy told me recently that while Reese was in utero I said under my breath at work "I'm going to have to raise that baby."  She of course at the time did not know me like she does today and judged me but I feel like somewhere in my bones, I knew that Reese was my baby.  I remember being at the ultrasound and seeing this squirming little person and thinking to myself  as I cried "Okay, it is me and you kid.  I will do anything for you."  I will stand by that until my last breath.  She is my world.

Doesn't the judge look like a wax statute back there :) 

Adoption court or Madame Tussauds?

Here I was telling Reese in the parking lot that we were now a family forever and always.

We celebrated with pumpkin pancakes at Ihop!

Then took some pictures at home.

And danced in the backyard.

I love her more than words can express and am so proud that I get to be her mommy!

Lindsey and Reese Powers, a little family at last.