Adelé's First Christmas

I will say that I am incredibly thankful I have a job that allows me to take so much time off around the holidays.  I finished up the majority of my work on Monday afternoon and so only went in for a few hours Christmas Eve morning.  The rest of the day I spent running last minute errands before we left town. 

We were able to have Shawnie and Leimomi over for Christmas Eve dinner.  We love having them so close!  Oley cooked up a delicious ham and we all ate way too much!  That night we sat down with Adelé and our nativity scene and explained all the characters and what they did in the story.  Once she was out for the night we finished packing. 

We were hoping to be on the road to Grandma and Grandpa's by at least noon the next day but didn't want to rush our Christmas morning either so we had everything packed the night before. 

Christmas morning Adelé woke up and ate some breakfast and then we did presents.  I think we were more excited for her presents than she was!

 

She loves the Christmas tree and all the sparkly ornaments!

 This baby's love for books is unbelievable!

Once we were finally all done opening up all her gifts she had no idea what to play with first. 

We didn't want to buy her too much stuff so we kept her gifts to a minimum knowing that seeing both sets of grandparents was going to be overboard!  What we didn't realize was that her aunt's were also going to spoil this little girl rotten before we even got to Idaho!  We have been truly blessed by everyone this holiday season. 

While I went out for a quick run Oley and Adelé played with her new toys! 

Once I got back we were set to start our vacation!  Our first stop was to Mill Creek to spend the rest of the Christmas afternoon with my grandparents.  

They are way too good to us!  We love going to spend time with them.  We had dinner at Dave and Michele's and then Adelé and I called it an early night.  Grandma wasn't feeling to well and so Oley and Grandpa stayed up to watch a movie while the rest of us went to bed.  I am so grateful for all the blessings we have received all year long.  Experiencing Christmas with Adelé has given me an even greater respect for Mary and how incredible she was.  I can't wait for next year when Adelé will be able to understand even more! 

Tis the Season

It's been a crazy busy month so far so excuse the picture explosion.  The first weekend of the month we were going to go tree shopping!  While we waited for Oley we played dress up for a bit and ate some snacks!

Once Oley was finally ready we set out to find a tree.  It was freezing cold outside so thankfully we found one quickly.

Oley got it brought into the house right away.  Which I am so glad!

We unfortunately didn't have enough time to get it decorated before we needed to head out and meet Shawnie for dinner.

The past two weeks have  been full of getting ready for Christmas!

 

Adelé loved the Christmas tree! 

 She also has gotten much better at sitting up on her own.  We still have to watch her very closely because she is a little top heavy sometimes!

 

The week before we left for Idaho Falls Allison came to visit us!  We loved having her here.  Unfortunately it turned out to be the busiest week at work that I have had since taking this job.  I felt horrible that I was unable to spend more time with her.  But Adelé and Oley definitely enjoyed her company.  Next time I am definitely taking the time off to be with her. 

 She did get to go to mutual with us. Caroling with the  youth. 

The morning we had to take Allison back to the airport I was feeling horrible that I was unable to spend much time with her, as I walked past the window to my office I noticed the sun rising over Mt. Rainier.  It was exactly what I needed that day! The week had been extremely busy and I was getting overwhelmed with everything I thought I had failed to do for others, I was having a hard time just sustaining what was important my relationship with my Heavenly Father and my family.  I love the little reminders God continues to place in my life! 

Adelé was so good at helping in the kitchen while we did our Christmas cooking.  She especially loved taste testing all the goodies.  

 It's been an extremely busy couple of weeks as we prepare to visit Idaho for 2 weeks.  We are excited for Adelé's first Christmas and getting the opportunity to be sealed, bless her, and be with our family.

 

During family home evening we spent the night in Luke reading the Christmas story.  Rather than stopping after Christ was born we continued on and read the chapter through it's entirety.  As we did this we realized that the next big event mentioned in Luke about Christ's life was that he sat in the temple and taught the doctors and lawyers about the Gospel.  I don't think that this was a coincidence to put in with the Christmas story.  Sharing the Love of Christ with all those we meet is the greatest gift that we can give back.  As I think how I can be a better disciple in this Christmas season and all year long it is my resolve to do better at sharing his message within the coming year. 

Day of Adoption Finalization

The day had finally come!! We got to Finalize our Adoption today!! Were we anxious? Yes a little!  Were we scared? Yes a little!  But were we excited? Most Definitely!  I have no idea why there was anything to be anxious or scared about, but we were continually told about all these horror stories of people's adoptions not going through so that may be a reason for it.  Although the peace we have continually felt throughout this whole process was reason for us to not to have any doubt at all that this was all in God's plan. 

I did have a few meetings at work that morning so I picked up Adelé and Oley on my way through and we headed to Kent where we were scheduled to finalize.  Oley's Aunt Shawnie came to be there with us and I am so glad that she was able to be there for us!   As we waited to go into the court room the attorney explained to us what would happen.  It was kind of intimidating!

 Once we got into the courtroom it all happened so quickly.  We took an oath and answered all the attorney's questions and then it was over!  It all seems so surreal that we are now legally parents!

After the hearing we were able to get a picture with the judge. 

After the hearing the attorney went to get the decree of adoption stamped so we waited for him in the courthouse atrium. 

 

When he got back we thanked him and were off to celebrate our new family - and my birthday! 

This was the greatest birthday I could have ever asked for!  We absolutely love our little baby Adelé!  Although none of this would have been possible without our remarkable birth mom whom we absolutely adore! We love Allison and are so grateful for her and her strength through all of this.  We can't thank her enough for what she has done for us and our family.  We hope we can give her all that love back tenfold, she truly is our angel here on earth.

To celebrate we drove up to get some food in Tukwila, I thought I wanted to eat at the Rainforest Cafe so we went into the mall and as we were walking past a picture studio they asked if we would like to get a picture taken free of charge.  Most definitely we did!  Unfortunately we haven't bought the disk of pictures but it will hang nicely on our wall as the first professional picture we have had taken as a family!  

After we sat down and looked at the menu we decided we really didn't want to eat there and so went across the parking lot to the Cheesecake Factory (this place can now be deemed as our "special place", it is where we took Allison to eat when we picked her up from the airport and now as our first official family dinner spot).  

Oley, the best husband ever, made me a birthday cake and ice cream to enjoy once we got home!  This has turned out to be the best Birthday Ever! 

 

As we went to bed last night I realized much like when we got married yes we are now legally a family, but honestly it just still doesn't feel complete - we need to get to the temple to make this for real.  Don't get me wrong I am ecstatic that we are now legally a family, but I want more than that I want to know that this is our eternal family.  Which I am excited to let you know we will be getting sealed on December 28 in Idaho Falls!  We can't wait to get our bug sealed to us! We love Allison and are so grateful for her and her strength through this process.