Today is Callie's birthday! Look how much she has grown! It is hard to believe that around this time last year I was in a hospital room with her bio mom anxiously waiting her arrival! Adoption is sort of a surreal experience. It is something you can not explain to anyone unless you have been through it yourself. And everyone's experience is unique, but distinctly special!
Yesterday I had some time to spend just with Callie and I just looked at her and marveled in how love and Heavenly Father's guidance brought her to where she is today. Her bio mom loved her so much that she placed her with us. I admire her sacrifice and although I saw her pain I never felt it and could not imagine what it felt like to say goodbye. I also marvel at the trust she had in us to raise the baby she carried. I honor her for her love and the decision she made for Callie. I know Callie was meant to be ours. Her adoption was one of those life experiences where you could see the hand of the Lord in every aspect of it. I did not just "happen" to be at the right place at the right time, I was meant to be there!
So here is some pictures of my baby girl! I do not call Jovie my baby girl, because she would be offended, she thinks she is 5 years old like brother. Callie is my baby! And she likes it that way!
Today is a celebration of not only Callie's birthday, but of the love all her family has for her, bio & adopted!
2.27.2008
Callie... a year in Review!
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10 comments:
This post is so cute!! She's adorable!
So, do you still have contact with her biological mom?
Yes! It is a pretty cool set-up. I talk to her every Sunday and we see her whenever we go to Williamsburg. So I will see her sometime this year. Either Spring Break or Summer vacation. In adopting Callie I in essence make Carrie like a close cousin. So, it just made our "family" bigger! Some people really can not believe I keep in such close contact with her. Most adoptive parents aren't there through the process of the bio mom saying goodbye. I was there, I saw it, and I saw her pain. She gave Callie and our family such a priceless gift, the lease I could do was keep in touch with her. So, really it is a beautiful friendship that we have and I wish more adoptions were like that just so more mothers would feel comfortable with carrying their babies and putting them up for adoption instead of opting for the other "option". But at the same time, I won't lie... it is HARD! It would be so much easier to say "my baby now!", but that would do no good for her and so far it is not hurting Callie. If it ever becomes an issue and it bring up confusion with Callie, we will discuss it and move on from there, but so far so good!
Audra~ I think what you did was great! I find it very interesting that you keep contact with the bio mom! My adoption is closed and I know nothing except height, weight, hair color, stuff like that. I have debated wether to go looking for my bio mom or not but I always come to the conclustion that I don't want to. I know that I was placed with my family for a reason. I respect my bio mom for making the sacrifice but I just don't know what I would even say to her!
Happy Birthday you cute cute girl!
Danielle- I think a few of the reasons that I wanted this adoption open is. One is, We got to know each other before Callie was born. That is very rare! Another is since Callie is bi-racial, she is obviously not biologically ours, so I wanted her to be able to connect with her AA heritage if she wanted to. Also, it is sorta a "new" thing that is happening in the adoption world. It used to be you really did not have an option to keep an adoption open. In a weird way open adoptions are sort of "trendy". It is hard to know if closed or open will be better for Callie in the long run. Basically there are details about bio dad she will hopefully never know about. So, basically I am one of the most open adoptions out there and we are flying by the seat of our pants and hope it turns out best for Callie. We are raising her to be proud of who she is and have a good sense of humor and to not take herself too seriously... so, hopefully she will be secure with who she is and where she came from... I say that now, but she ain't a teenager yet... haha!
Happy Birthday Callie! She sure has had a busy first year. Can't wait to see her again!
Happy Birthday yesterday Callie Skye! You're such a doll baby! Hope it was a great one! :)
AUDRA~ I THINK YOU AND LEVI ARE GREAT PARENTS. I REALLY ADMIRE YOU FOR WHAT YOU ARE DOING! I DON'T KNOW IF I WOULD HAVE LIKE MINE OPEN OR THEY WAY IT IS? I HAVE NEVER KNOWN ANY DIFFERENT! BUT I AM GLAD THAT CALLIE IS GROWING UP IN YOUR HOME! SHE WILL HAVE A WONDERFUL LIFE! JUST LIKE I DID WITH MY FAMILY! WELL, I STILL DO!ANYWAYS~ I WILL SHUT UP NOW!
I can speak from experience of adoption also and say that I love that you do have the closeness with her bio family. Cami's adoption was closed too but we were lucky since we had the same caseworker doing both ends of the adoption. We felt as if we really knew her parents and what they were going through and I'm sure they felt the same because our worker made sure to give us all the details about each other and then had us write and send pictures for the first year until they were able to know Cami was in the right place and that they had made the right decision. They both wrote very sincere letters to Ray and I and could not stop thanking us for what we were doing. But, I have always said that I wanted Cami to find her parents later on in life because I want to personally thank them for what they did for our family. Can you imagine the Boltons without Cami? NO WAY! Cami has now decided she is ready to begin the process of making contact with them and we are all anxiously waiting to see what happens. I believe with all my heart that Cami was always meant to be a part of our family and the same with Danielle belonging to the Berrys and Adam also. And there is no doubt that Callie was meant to be in your family. She is absolutely a beautiful little girl. I love all the pictures but the sad, sad Callie is my favorite picture, she is too cute! Happy 1st birthday Callie!
What a year! I loved seeing how much she has grown. What a cutie!
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