Adopted!

You guys… it’s official!!! Kyeler’s adoption has been finalized!!!! I don’t think I’ve even shared his real name on here yet, wow. It happened about two weeks before Christmas—the absolute perfect gift. Kyeler has always felt like part of our family but it’s so wonderful knowing that he’s really, truly never leaving. I could cry all over again just thinking about it!

Kyeler has such a unique story, and I love that we get to be part of it. There is so much brokenness but also so much beauty and redemption. Our lives intersected with his on March 5, 2020 (I shared a little bit about that day here) and from that point on, we were forever intertwined. While I feel a special love for every child we foster, this was the first time that adoption was potentially in the cards, and for that reason it felt very different from previous placements. It also felt different because Kyeler was 2 pounds and in the hospital! He was such a trooper during his 109-day NICU stay and I am beyond grateful we were able to be there for him during that time. If I even let my mind wander to the possibility of him being alone in there, undergoing daily tests and procedures and needle pricks, my heart just breaks into a million pieces. Our sweet Kyeler boy… it’s amazing how he is now so full of LIFE after such a harrowing beginning!

Kyeler came home from the NICU with us on June 15, 2020, and our love for him only continued to grow. Kyeler is curious, playful, loving, mischevious, and just plain fun. The other day I jokingly told Josh that I think his spirit animal is Simba from The Lion King! Over the past ~2 years we have made so many wonderful memories together—bringing Kyeler home from the hospital in his graduation cap, daily morning walks in the summer when it was just me and him (and his oxygen tank—can’t forget that!), clinging to him on the couch when I started experiencing contractions with CJ, seeing my sweet boys bond and become inseparable (whoever wakes up first from their nap typically goes to the other’s door to knock and yell, “Bubba! Bubba!”), beach trips, holidays, and just the simplicity of daily life together.

I am so thankful that we get to begin 2022 as an official family of four. I’m also really excited about Kyeler’s adoption ceremony, which will be in February! I can’t think about adoption without being reminded of how God adopted us as his children. We are in the family forever, embraced with unconditional love. Now that I have been through the adoption process in an earthly sense with Kyeler, I can grasp just a tiny bit more how significant it is. To be welcomed into a family as a true, beloved son or daughter, when before you were an orphan. To be so loved and so wanted, fought for and prayed over. What a miracle it is that we get to experience a taste of that heaven here on earth.