365 Days

365 days ago Lucas was born. He came to us three days later. This day is commonly known in the adoption world as "gotcha day". He has grown from a 7 lb little peanut of a guy (top picture) to 18 lbs of rompin' stompin' boy (bottom picture). He's almost walking and he has four teeth with two more on their way. We've been fortunate enough to be with him for all his firsts. We look forward to many more firsts. While his adoption is not complete yet, we expect that we'll be through the entire process by next summer, barring any unforeseen circumstances. After some our past experiences, we're not holding our breath, just taking things a day at a time.

After years of being on the infertility roller coaster, these boys are a huge blessing. I see now, what I could not see then - that this is how we would build our family. That the children no one wanted would be desperately loved by us. How they would change our perspective and our lives in an instant. How much they would add to our lives.

People often ask how many more children we will take. I'm not making that decision today, or even tomorrow. As far as we know, number 3 for us is on the way in a fairly short period of time. We thought it would be after the first of the year, now we are told that it will probably be sooner than that. We don't know the sex of the new baby or what circumstances this child will be born into. We'll figure all of that out later. Maybe, for some reason, this child will not be given to us - maybe he/she is not meant to be part of our family. I don't question these things any more. I try to take things one day at a time and sometimes one minute at a time, knowing that what is meant to be is meant to be. After number three, we'll go from there. Many families are large and they manage to survive - I'm not sure HOW large we can get (we are limited in our home as to bed space!), but I'll take what I feel I can honestly handle.

We are truly blessed. Sometimes, we question all the trials we go through - I'm beginning to realize that the trials truly are temporary and though they seem like they will never end that they do and things get better. And that time heals, even though we're not sure at first.

Happy Birthday Lucas!