Over the weekend we did a lot of cleaning and getting ready for the baby. Camryn's room was pretty much my craft room...or as Jay likes to call it.... my crap room. There was a lot of stuff in her closet that had to find another home. Six years ago when we bought this house I couldn't imagine filling up all this space - now I've got a bunch of craft supplies hidden behind my bed because I don't know where else to store it! Somehow by Sunday night our house was clean and we were almost ready to leave for St Louis.
But of course, because things tend to be out of control for us most of the time, we had to drive to Joplin first thing Monday morning so Jay could go to an ENT. He's had an ear infection for over a month. He made his 3rd trip to the doctor last Friday and he arranged to have an ENT work Jay in Monday because he thought he needed a tube. Turns out he had some infection stuck on his ear drum so it had to be flushed out. I'll spare you the picture here but if you want to see it just ask Jay. I think he's as proud of that picture as he is Camryn. He hadn't been able to hear for several weeks and he instantly felt about 80% better. Now he doesn't have an excuse to ignore me :) So when we started out on Monday we were really in Joplin. It seemed like it took forever to get to St Louis.
That evening we were able to meet some other adoption friends- Rachel and Steve and their two precious girls. It was a really fun evening and it was good for us. Instead of staring at our hotel walls we got to talk to other adoptive parents. Cade even got taken down by a 2 1/2 year old in a wrestling match! It was a lot of fun.
Finally Tuesday morning got here. I think it was about 2am Jay and I both woke up and thought for sure it was time to get up. You can imagine how disappointed we were! Court was at 9 but we left our hotel at 8. After all these years we weren't about to be late! I think it was about 9:30 before we got started and it was a very serious affair. We were present to hear the case terminating Camryn's birthparents rights. That was probably the most emotional part for me - just to hear that their rights were terminated made me sad. Such a hard and painful decision for them to make. Then they presented the case to grant us custody of Camryn. Jay went first so he had to answer most of the hard questions like when was he married and Camryn's birthdate! I just had to say that I agreed with his answers. Then all of a sudden it was done and we were free to leave and go get our baby girl. I couldn't believe we were finally done after all these years. Depending on how you look at it, here is our official wait time....
6 years since we decided we were ready for another baby
4 years 6 months since we first contacted Bethany and
3 years 8 months and 1 day since we became an official waiting family
But she is the sweetest thing and totally worth the wait!
This is Debbie, Camryn's 2nd Interim Care mom. She was wonderful. She emailed me everyday and gave us a CD with pictures she had taken of Camryn so we wouldn't miss out on those days.
Jay and Cade are getting familiar with her again
Finally our official Family of 4 picture
Heading home with 2 kids in the backseat
We met Megan and Terry in Rolla so they could meet Camryn
Finally Camryn in home! This is her first picture in our house...then we headed out to one of Cade's baseball games.
Too many trips to St Louis in one week can make a boy cranky. Then when his mom wants pictures taken it gets worse.....
Then when you tell him he needs to get ready for a ballgame it gets even worse....
But then Dad knew what to say to get him to smile again.
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