Saturday, August 11, 2012

An Eternal Family

I have a weird obsession with dates and numbers.  So I generally take that into account when I plan things.  We scheduled Joey's sealing for August 10, 2012.  Joey was born on the 4th, but his birth mom and her husband signed their relinquishment papers on December 10th.  As happy as I was to become Joey's mom, it still broke my heart to know that Kirsten loved him so deeply that she would break her own heart for him.

Kirsten giving Joey a kiss as she gets ready to place him in my arms.

2 months later on February 10th, we were sitting in the chapel at Kirsten's (birth mom) funeral.  I don't know if there will ever be a day that goes by that I don't think about her and wish she were still here.  I know she is in a better place and is free from pain, but it still hurts me to think she won't be here to watch Joey grow.

This is from their wedding.  I was able to be there and photograph it.  She was also buried in this dress. I have very few pictures of her, and this is my favorite one of her smiling.  This was the happiest day of her life so I'm so grateful I have this picture.

On April 10th, Joey's adoption was finalized.  Robby and I officially became his parents and it was a magnificent day.

Our first photo as an official family.  Glad the judge was so happy for us too.

So after 2 very difficult 10th of the month, we have now had 2 amazing 10th's.  We were sealed in the San Diego Temple for time and all eternity to our amazing little boy on August 10th.  We got dressed in our temple clothes, walked through the BEAUTIFUL celestial room and waited for about 10 minutes.  It was nice to just sit in the quiet with Robby and remember when I went through the temple for the first time 7 years ago.  Once we were in the sealing room, they brought our two children in all dressed in white.  Grace kept talking through the whole ceremony (she was very excited about her socks), and Joey was all giggles.  I was smiling through tears and know that Kirsten was there and this was exactly why she placed Joey in our family.  It brings me so much peace to know that our family will be together for eternity no matter what happens.

I love seeing my baby dressed in white.  The blanket was a gift from Grace's birth grandma that she blessed her babies in.  We were glad to have them there in spirit as well.

I am truly blessed to have such a wonderful family.  And I'm grateful for our extended families, those who could be there and those that couldn't.

2 comments:

jules said...

Congratulations, Angee! I'm so happy for you and your family. Joey and Grace are some very blessed children to have you for their mother.

Debbi said...

Beautiful day! What a blessing for your family!