Celebrations

Ashley Kathrine Adams, June 7, 2006. "Gotcha Day"

We have a lot of them. More than most families. Ashley's life has taught us to celebrate every day, every moment, every breath, every smile, and every miracle. It really is a wonderful way to live. Tomorrow will be another day of celebrating for our family. June 7th, 2007 will be our Ashley's Gotcha Day celebration. What am I talking about? Let me explain.

It was exactly one year ago tomorrow that our sweet Ashley Kate legally became our sweet Ashley Kate. It was such a long time coming. The entire first six months of Ashley's life was spent in the hospital. During this hospital stay our adoption of Ash was not allowed to begin. It could not legally begin until the day she was physically placed in our home. Although we were with her daily and although the entire hospital staff knew we were her mommy and daddy, Dave and I had no rights or decision making power when it came to our tiny girl. This was the period in our lives that God used to teach us how to depend on Him and Him alone. A valuable lesson that may have never been learned without this time in our lives. We were labeled many things during those six months. We were judged by strangers who knew nothing of our hearts and our true intentions. We were stereo typed and gossiped about almost daily. There were several days that I spent in tears and several things that I did not understand, but at the end of the day the only thing that truly mattered to me was knowing how much God loved me and my Ashley Kate was evidence of that.

Looking back I can remember thinking to myself on several occasions, "Will this ever end? Will they ever see her as our daughter, our baby, our Ashley?" Blake and Allie struggled during this time. They did not understand how she could be the sister they asked God for, but not really be their sister. There were so many questions and there were so many days I had no answers. With every telephone call Allison would ask, "Was that the judge? Is she ours yet?" What a blessing it was to wake up a year ago tomorrow and dress our little one to go before the court. What a blessing it was to celebrate the end to such a long piece of her journey and to celebrate the beginning of the next part. When we finally signed all of the papers, answered all of the questions, and heard her name announced legally for the first time, I could not hold back my tears. Ashley Kathrine Adams. It was over. It was beginning. It was beautiful! It was Gotcha Day and we took her home to celebrate. We gave her gifts. Each one specifically chosen for her. Blake presented her with a pink baseball. Allie presented her with a story about counting your blessings. Grandma presented her with a beautiful poem that seemed to sum it up so perfectly(you can read the poem on her photo page under "Gotcha Day").

Tomorrow we will have a celebration in our home. It will be small. It will be simple. It will be precious. It will be full of smiles and it will be full of tears. It will be perfect.