Adoption Day 2

The very day after Charity's finalization 5 hours from our home, our family was due in court at a local courthouse for Mercy's finalization. There is no possible way typed words can get across the timing and miracle of it all. As deeply as I desired for Mercy's finalization, I prayed that hers would not be before Charity's. Charity had just waited so long. It needed to be her time. And she did not need to watch her family make another member permanent while she still teetered on that balance beam of "do I belong, too?" Can you imagine trying to celebrate Mercy's adoption with all the flare it deserves while another child STILL waits? We knew about Mercy's finalization weeks BEFORE Charity's. And my heart broke for her.

And then, with the snap of a finger (more like a breath from heaven), both dates were set, with Charity's FIRST. Wow. God just blows me away sometimes. Even with all the answering He's done over the years, I'm amazed again at His power, His faithfulness, and His willingness to give a desire, not a necessity, to me. to us. to Charity. Oh, how I love Him. And don't forget that this was just in time for Christmas. How much better does it get?

My husband and I diligently searched.. er, ahem, actually it was a little more like arguing and disagreeing.... for this little one a name. With our other born of the heart babies, we purposely kept at least part (almost all in Blessing's case) of their birth name. For Mercy, I suppose largely because we've had her since the day she came home from the hospital, I wanted the privilege of choosing her entire name. That shift in opinions about birth names also occurred after having a conversation with a very dear friend, now grown with children of her own, who was adopted. So, my hubby and I decided to part with her birth name and give her a complete new name. But then came the challenge of the name. Remember we already have 5 girls with names that start with "k". Most names I liked didn't start with "k", and my husband wasn't really going for it. I REALLY, REALLY, REALLY liked Eden, to which he gave a big fat "no", tho I begged and whined over and over again. We finally agreed on Kole, but with such a masculine/non-traditional name I felt the other name should be very traditional, classy, and feminine. He threw out Olivia. Hannah. Elizabeth. Sarah. and Lydia. Arg. If the first name can't be one of those, Kole is out, too.

Then, the afore mentioned friend who sheds light on adoption for me from her point of view, came to visit with her kids. She made a suggestion. Hmmm.... sure enough, it fit. It fit well. It was one of those moments when my hubby and I looked at each other.... and ACTUALLY agreed. ;) And there was a dash to the computer to find out the meaning/origin. Some sites attribute it's origin to tropical or Hawaiian. But of course when I tell the story I choose to go with the sites who attribute it's origin to African. That pulls her heritage in, it's a "k" name, and it's beautiful. AND it actually means "from a beautiful place". Well, you can't get any more perfect than that. A gift right from God's own heart is certainly a beautiful place.


Here we are on the 2nd day, with Mercy's judge and adoption specialist:



And then we went bowling with friends and family and had great, greasy bowling alley food (it was GOOD), and a celebration cake, and laughed at crazy kids, adults trying to bowl, and my wonderfully hilarious grandmother (73 - who spent last week snow skiing i might add) who just could not accept a low score. A GREAT day.