Summer Recap

Here's our summer in a nutshell:

In June, we celebrated our 11th anniversary and James' first Father's Day.  

We got to meet Matt Holliday at a charity event.

In July, we went to Arkansas to celebrate my mom's birthday. 

Samuel went swimming for the first time while we were there. He enjoyed himself, but he only wanted to stay in the water for about 15 minutes. He's been swimming twice since then, and he's staying in the water longer now. He just started a little swim class at our YMCA that will meet once a week for a month and a half.

James' parents came to visit for a few days. While they were here, James and I went out for dinner and a show at The Muny. We saw the musical "Dreamgirls."  James, his dad, and I went to two Cardinal's games - and it was hot! I left my seat towards the end of the second game and watched the rest of it on the TV in the air conditioned game shop.  The temperature stayed in the 90's for the duration of both games. About a week shy of turning six months old, Samuel started eating solid foods. He is doing great with them. I've been making some of his food, but I have used some store bought baby food - particularly for things like pears and apples that are more time consuming to prepare yourself.  I've prepared yellow squash, zucchini, bananas, avocado, sweet potatoes, peaches and carrots for him.

In August, we took Samuel to play at our local park for the first time. He is sitting up well enough now to use the little swings. He fell asleep swinging.

My parents come to visit, and we took Samuel to the St. Louis Zoo. Samuel slept for a while at the zoo. 

We had a fabulous lunch that day at Pappy's. One of the waitresses gave Samuel the little blue T-shirt that James is holding in the photo. It says "Who's your Pappy?"  While my parents were here, we also went to Skyview Drive-In just across the river in Illinois. We saw the new Borne film.

It was a fun summer, and we are thankful for the time we had with our families!

Legally our Son!

Today was a day that we had waited a long time for. We began looking into adoption in January 2009.  We had no idea back then that it would be three and a half years before we finally legally became parents.What a ride. Today we went to family court for Samuel's finalization hearing.  James testified first, answering questions like "What date were you married?", "When is Samuel's birthdate?" and "What date was Samuel initially transferred to your custody?" I just had to say that I heard his testimony and agreed with it. He got all the dates right. We swore before the judge that we'd care for, provide for and educate Samuel just as if he were our flesh and blood.

The person holding Samuel is the judge. She is part of a large family - most of her siblings were adopted.

Us with the attorney above and in the picture below is our social worker, Kelly.

James and I had the day off, and our parents are coming to celebrate with us this weekend.  We had a great day. We drove out to Montelle Winery in Augusta, MO. They have a cafe that serves lunch, and the food is delicious. The scenery is beautiful, too. We love this place, but we rarely go because it is packed on the weekends.  I'm glad James was able to get off work today so we could do when it was not so crowded.  We had a free wine tasting before we ordered lunch.

 On our way home, we dropped by our financial adviser's office to see this lady.  Gaye is a sweet Christian woman and she has prayed for us for a long time. She kept up with all the disappointments and heartbreak that we faced trying to adopt from Ethiopia. One day in March, James had something that he needed to take to her office, so he took Samuel with him. Gaye was shocked and delighted to see him coming in with an infant carrier! She thought she'd been praying for a brown skinned little girl, but God had other plans. She always loves getting to see Samuel.

 Thank you to all of you who have prayed for us the past three years. There are so many of you who shared our pain and prayed for us faithfully. It is time to rejoice now!

You turned my wailing into dancing;
    you removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy,
that my heart may sing your praises and not be silent.
    Lord my God, I will praise you forever. Ps. 30:11-12