Lucia Eliana Howd becamse Esmé and Max's little sister today (Monday here) when we finalized our adoption shortly after 11:00am Majuro time (5:00pm Sunday, Mother's Day at home).
Everything was uneventful as we each testified in court to become her family. Even in the best case scenario I don’t think we could have predicted how awesome Esmé would take to her new role. She is amazing with her, so gentle, kind and excited to have her here. She is in LOVE!
Everything was uneventful as we each testified in court to become her family. Even in the best case scenario I don’t think we could have predicted how awesome Esmé would take to her new role. She is amazing with her, so gentle, kind and excited to have her here. She is in LOVE!
The best part about adoptions in R M I is that it is about
the joining of families, not the “giving” of a child to another family. So today not only do we celebrate Lucia
coming into our family but her birthmom, Selena, is now part of our family
too. And they both fit in
perfectly! We adore Selena and can
already tell we will have the same amazing relationship with her that we do
with Esmé’s birthmom, Brenda, and the rest of her family.
After court we took Selena to lunch then came back to the
bungalow to have a little time before we need to get the birth certificate
updated and a passport for Lucia.
We gave Lucia a bath and Esmé rocked her to sleep.
In about a ½ hour we will go to our celebration dinner that
will include the 2 other adopting families and all of our birth families. Also
part of our dinner will be our attorney, our adoption facilitator and the women
from the adoption authority. The
best part this time is all of these people have been our friends since our last
trip.
Tomorrow is our embassy appointment where we will complete
Lucia’s paperwork to get her Visa to travel home. Once we finish our appointment and mail everything off we
will be playing on the island for the next few weeks as we wait for it to be shipped,
processed and returned to us here.
It will probably be about 4 weeks until then.
Today while we were in court finalizing the adoption of our
youngest (and last!) baby, our first was crossing the stage at SCSU to get his
bachelors degree. Matt and I
are sick about not being there with Max, but we had Grandpa David as our
stand-in and we will celebrate big once we are home.
Thanks for your emails and comments. We love hearing from everyone!
9 comments:
We are so excited to hear your news and welcome Lucia into the family. We thought of you many times yesterday. Driving home from St Cloud, we thought you would all be together officially and now read that it was so.
Max was a handsome sight with cap and gown. Otherwise he was also well dressed in colors that were so well suited to him- just an added fun touch. We found Antie Missy and Mike to sit with. We heard someone else cheer when Max's name was read. It lasted only an hour and a half. Cheryl and teen son headed back to the cities after goodbyes. Holly joined us so we were six at Granite City for supper. The weather was cool and breezy, 54, but bight sunshine, so nice.
We love you all and are grateful for this modern technology. We are glad to see the wonderful pictures. You all look so happy and Esme looks so grown up and calm. We miss you all and that means you, too, Esme!
A big huge congrats from Bemidji, MN to you!
Debbie
Awwww ... Sooooo happy for you guys!! Sounds like an amazing day that was shared with your extended RMI family and friends. Big hugs to all!
stop.it! I'm bawling at my desk--simply beautiful and perfect in every way. I can't look at Esme without crying--the years ahead of laughter, sharing clothes and lots and lots of sister secrets--a gift all the way around. mwauhhhh... (btw, Matt looks like a hotty, too ;) ) Laurie
Congratulations to you all! I'm so glad you are getting along well with Selena - she is beautiful :) Enjoy your first days as a family!
Yay! Congratulations!
Congratulations! How awesome that Esme is in love with Lucia and that you're enjoying your time with Selena. Seeing pictures makes me look forward to going back to Majuro :).
Congratulations!! I'm so thrilled for you all and absolutely adore seeing the photos of your two beautiful girls together - sisters!! Can't wait to see them in person!!
Angel
Conratulations! We are caught up now and have loved seeing all of the pictures. Wow, how it brings you back! Gordon, Daily, and Wilbur are in town and we had a gathering at our house last night, which was nice. You were missed!
So glad to hear all is going well and Esme is loving being a big sister!
Best to you!
Post a Comment