Forever and Ever, Amen

I love that Randy Travis song... I had it going through my head a lot the last few days. It's not exactly pertinent to our situation, but all I've been able to think about is how very moving it is to finally know that Sam is ours forever.

We finalized his adoption on May 26th, just two days after he turned two. It felt so perfect to have his first birthday at home with us coincide with his finalization. In our hearts, he's been ours for a very long time, but it's hard to describe how emotional it was to hear a judge declare it so.

It's weird. The proceedings in court were formal and quick. I'd expected more for some reason. I was excited to have all of Sam's cousins there with us because I'd always heard they all get to go up on the judge's bench and spend more time "exploring" the court. In reality, it was a sort of wham-bam few minutes, but the end result was the same. Sam's officially Sam Becker "with all of the rights and obligations that are afforded a child by birth." Beautiful words. I actually had tears in my eyes while answering all of the boring questions about how financially capable we are of caring for him.

As an aside, Sam was in the emergency room this week. They had to xray his chest and didn't want me in the room for fear I could be pregnant and not know it. Uh...no. I actually got the giggles at how insistent the nurse was. Anyway...

Here's a pic of the big day. It still gives me chills to look at it.