Our Sealing

This has been the day that we have been waiting for. A day that has brought so much joy in our lives. He is such a precious little boy. Some words that describe our day are: 

BEAUTIFUL

PEACEFUL,  JOYOUS

MIRACULOUS,  SERENE

FAMILY

 LOVE

 SPIRITUAL

 FAITH PROMOTING

ETERNAL

There were so many challenges leading up to this day but as John said "All of the challenges and trials came to a halt when we all entered the Salt Lake Temple to have Kekoa sealed to us forever." I couldn't have said it better. From financial struggles the past few months, to kids (mine and my sister Nezhone's), John and I getting sick this past week, to self doubt about whether I was the best mother for him the last two months, I know now that satan was trying all he could to prevent this. I am grateful for my testimony in our Savior. I know that He lives and loves each and every one of us. I know he loves our birth mom and has helped her through the most difficult challenges especially that of placing her precious child with a family she had met ONCE. We love her. We will always love her. Her strength is a testimony to us that our Heavenly Father is a God of miracles and that he hears and answers prayers...and it is not always on our timetable. As our birth mom said, "I often wonder if the Lord would have told you to adopt had I not been messing my life up at the time. That is how passionate I feel that Jason was meant to be in your family."

She just might be right.

Some wonderful people were able to join us for this day. My sisters Nezhone and Maile and her husband Cliff, my brother Kimo and his wife Andrea, John's brother Ian and his wife, both mine and John's mom, and some GREAT friends, Per and Zandra Anderson, and Duane and Carriann Newman. We are so glad they could spend this day with us.

To end this post I wanted to write some of the kids' feelings and thoughts.

Wyatt: "I am glad that Kekoa could be part of our family forever. I felt peace."

Te'alani: "I was so happy that Kekoa could be ours and I cried and it was really hard not to cry and I thought the temple was really cool. I was excited."

Israel: "I felt happy and excited. I thought it would be fun having a little brother forever."

Nyah: "I felt excited when he got sealed to us. I am so happy that Kekoa is in our family."

To John and I this has been one of the most miraculous, challenging, and greatest moments in our lives from beginning to end.

Thank you Jess for the best gift ever, for listening to the spirit, and for being a part of our lives.

So much to be grateful for...

This month has been a month of many ups and downs. I'll start with the downs. I know, doesn't sound like much to inspire thankfulness, but here goes...

*My knees have given out

*My back gave out last weekend (so far it sounds like I'm just getting really old)

*My refridgerator went dead right after I went grocery shopping and spoiled half of what I bought and that was after I made a really good budget. Not only that, it cost A LOT to replace the motherboard that controls the heating/cooling in our fridge

*We realized we have to replace the tires on our van ASAP. They're pretty bald. That once again shoots our budget out of the water for another month.

It seemed to start out as a "poor me/us" month, but as I then weighed the good things against the bad and put things in perspective, things started to look up.

*Little man takes a pacifier. We got him from his thumb to a pacifier. It took a week and a lot of struggles, but he's actually happier with his pacie. Mom is happier that he has a pacie. Dad is too and so are the kids. Yes, this is one way of getting him to suck on the pacifier. he was not happy having socks on his hands. Let me tell ya, those socks were soaking wet with slobber after a few minutes.

*Te'alani had her 11th birthday on the 21st. Wow, one more year and she is in YW's. Crazy. Here she is at Red Robin with her dad. That seems to be the new "birthday lunch" spot.

I made that beautiful cake last year with the fondant, but the kids have kindly and respectfully asked that I NOT make those cakes again. I was a little bummed that I could not showcase my talents once again, but if they are happy with that then the less time I spend on cake the better. Happy Birthday baby!

*On the 22nd Jason Kekoa became ours legally. We took Wyatt out of school (the rest had half day) and all went down to court. They swore us in and in a matter of minutes it was final. Kekoa was smiling like he knew it was something special...and it was. It doesn't feel a lot different but it's one step closer to feeling like he is all ours.

 *I set up our sealing date for the 23rd of December in the Salt Lake Temple. I am ecstatic! The kids will be able to experience something so few get to. It will be WONDERFUL!!!

We were waiting for our lawyer to come so we could head up to the courtroom.

In the courtroom waiting to go into the judges chambers.

Judge Swisher. The courtroom employees and judges say that this is the best part of their day...adoptions. They gave him a little teddy bear afterwards and as you can see he went to chewing on it right away.

A huge thanks to our WONDERFUL lawyer Jeff Kreutz. You are the best!

*Kekoa recognizes me. I mean he already has separation anxiety. If anyone is holding him and I walk out of the room or into the room he starts crying for me. Even John starts laughing because he seems so young to be doing that. It makes me feel so special. Although, when I am trying to cook dinner it's not so special.


*It snowed...still snowing today on Thanksgiving. It reminds me so much of growing up in Colorado with beautiful winters. Tubing down the hill with my brothers, snowmobiling with my dad, and just playing until we froze then coming in and sitting by the fire 'til we warmed up. Those were the good old days. Now I see my kids loving the snow with their friends and coming in and warming up with hot chocolate and sitting by our firplace. So awesome.

A Special Thank you to our birth mom Jessica and for what she has done for our family. We love her and will ALWAYS be forever grateful!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Twinkle Twinkle Little Star...

This is why we call her momma Nyah...

Smiles

Our little man is now getting his smiles on. I was finally able to capture these precious moments on camera while visiting my sisters in Denver because for awhile there they were being a little camera shy. Then we hit the big time.

Now we are winding down...

...and now it's time to get serious and grab me a bottle!

Smiles...One of life's little treasures!

One Month

Our little guy is now one month. It is crazy how time has flown by. He growing like a weed and doesn't even look like he's a newborn anymore. It has been a little difficult getting used to the MANY sleepless nights-okay, I'm still notused to them but I think we're getting a little better. The poor guy has struggled with formula. There doesn't seem to be one that completely agrees with his stomach so unfortunately he is either constipated or gassy (Don't you love that when you're a mom you can talk about these things and it's not crude...hee hee). The kids always get a big giggle when he belches REALLY loud-I've been accused a couple of times because no one thought a baby could belch so loudly-or lets his gas out-thankfully I haven't been accused of that one yet.

Anyway...this was my attempt at photography. He was a pretty good subject to practice on, although he did get a tad bit cranky after half an hour. But darn it isn't he just a cutie?!

Flashin' some signs...

Poor kid got thrush so bad. Gentian violet was a life saver although it turned his mouth a beautiful purple.

The kids can't get enough of him. Even after a month they still beg to hold him, feed him, or whatever they can do. Sometimes those kids are a lifesaver.

Happy one month to us!!

Miracles

I feel really bad that I have not blogged about Father's Day...especially since I am married to the most incredible man and wonderful father. Unfortunately Father's Day landed on the day that I had to go up to start my week at Scout encampment as one of the cooks. So John got a fabulous BBQ'd meal of hamburgers and potato salad. Poor guy, but I did send him golfing with three of his buddies from Shelton to a nice course in Yakima. He was great with it...so I guess I did okay. Next year will be better.

Anywho...So here's the rundown of the past few weeks...

1. I went as a cook to Scout Encampment June 20th-26th-It was HARD but fun. We were on our feet NON-STOP!! The best part of my days was seeing Wyatt and the rest of Pasco 1st ward boys come through the food line everyday with their great smiles and friendly hello's to "mama Wallwork". Didn't get cell reception so I only talked to John once on someone else's phone. That was rough. Was praying that our birth mom Jess wasn't going to go into labor that week...prayers answered!

2. From June 28th-July1st I had Girl's camp. FUN and a little more relaxing. I got to take several naps to recover from my week at scout encampment. Hanging out with Maria and Renee plus all the Stake ladies was a BLAST! We have the best stake EVER!! The cooks were so funny and I was so glad that I was not one of them! John came up for bishop's night and then we took off to go home a day early. Again, prayed Jess wouldn't have her baby quite yet...prayers answered.

3.   So, Friday morning Jess emails and lets us know that she's headed for the hospital and that she'd let us know if they would keep her. We look into buying tickets, and then remember John has a cousin whose wife works for Alaska maybe she can help us out. She did. Thank you Ade, you saved us hundreds of dollars!! Jess texts back a few hours later and tells us that she was getting sent home. So we booked our standby flights for Saturday getting into California at 6pm. However, Jess texts us around 10:30 that night and tells us that they have admitted her. So to make this travelogue short, we decide to get out of here ASAP and so we go to Spokane at 2am to go standby on the 5:30 flight. We made it. The tricky part was getting the flight out of Seattle. We were the last 2 standby tickets to get on. It was a MIRACLE. The entire trip down there was a miracle. I cannot express enough how much we were blessed on this trip.

We got to the hospital around 1pm Saturday and about 4 hours later Jess delivered Jason. I felt so bad for her though because it was not the easiest delivery. He eventually had to be pulled out with the vacuum thing. Needless to say he was a little cone-headed but he was so beautiful. He had to be put in NICU for a couple of hours because he wasn't breathing to well. John, Jess's brother, and her bishop gave him a blessing and 45 minutes later he was returned to her room. It was a whirlwind of people coming and going until Monday. She was released Monday afternoon and we signed papers at the church nearby and left for the hotel to await our trip home...

So those are the details but here is the emotional side...It was beautiful, bittersweet, and surreal. We had the opportunity to meet most of Jess's family. They were WONDERFUL. It could have been the most awkward of situations but wasn't. They were loving and friendly. Her bishop was incredible. I'm not sure I have ever seen a man act with so much love and concern for someone. His wife was great too. Jess's mom was there almost the entire time to help her through. We met her brother whom she is extrememly close to and now understand why she wanted us to use the name Jason. They were great people. John and I talk about how this experience was one of the most amazing one's we have ever had. We have been so blessed. When it came time for Jess to place her son with us, it was the most heartwrenching thing to watch. Her love for him was so great that she placed him in my arms and watched us leave. Her act of selflessness is one I will always remember and I just hope that one day we can express to him just how much he meant to her. She is an incredible person with a big heart. I hope that one day she realizes how much this meant to us. We have waited for so long to adopt and she gave us not only our son, but a beautiful memory that we will NEVER forget.

We were so blessed to only have to say in California until Thursday where once again, we boarded flights as the last standby's.When we got home, the kids ran to give us hugs and kisses but as soon as they saw the baby it was a beeline for him. We had to remind them to give us our hugs. They have been adoring him ever since, showering him with hugs and kisses, always wanting to hold him, and always trying to help in any way they can. If only I had this help when I had all of them.

We are naming him Jason (the healer) Kekoa (the courageous one-to remind him of the courage it took for his mom to place him with us). He is beautiful, perfect, and looks just like my boys when they were that small. We absolutely love and adore him. Thank you Jess for our beautiful son!