Lubbock, Part 2

Last night we had dinner with Val and her husband, Lewis, as well as Amber's cousin, Jacky. Jacky was with Amber when Abram was born, but we didn't get to meet her last time. She is really close to Amber so it was wonderful to get to meet her. Our time with them was such a blessing.

Val took Abram's socks off because she wanted to see his cute feet! Abram ate at the beginning of our meal and was SO HAPPY the rest of the time. I loved that they got to see him so happy (which is usually how he is)!

At the end of the time, Abram got sleepy.

One last goodbye snuggle for Val.

And one last goodbye kiss from Jacky.

There were a few times last night when Val and Jacky were holding Abram that tears nearly started streaming down my face. As much as he is totally ours, he is still theirs also. (I made sure to tell them that last night.) Seeing Abram with them confirmed that reality. Seeing how much they love him and knowing that they have to say goodbye to him was hard. I walked out of the restaurant thinking, "This is the hard part of adoption."

But while it is hard, it is also at the same time so good. It will be so good for Abram someday to know and see how much they love him.

I also loved seeing Abram with Lewis, Val and Jacky because they are part of who he is. They represent his heritage. They are his family. It is similar to how when I go with Jason back to his home town, I feel like I get to know new aspects of Jason and more of who he is. That is how last night felt. We hope to be able to come back about every year, if we can. I look forward to Abram getting to learn more about his family and heritage as he grows up when we visit Lubbock each year.

It will come as no surprise that as soon as we got in the car, I completely lost it! It immediately reminded me of how much I cried the last time we were here and I'm glad I won't be crying that much again!

Overall, I just feel so incredibly blessed by God that He extended our family to include some wonderful people here in Lubbock.

And tonight will be no different. Yesterday Leti told us that Abram's half-sister here in Lubbock, who is 9 years old, really wants to see Abram for the first time. How sweet it that!? Oh, it almost makes me cry just thinking about it. So tonight, Leti is picking up Abram's sister and 3 year old brother and bringing them to our hotel to hang out. I even think Mimo might come, too. We are ordering pizza and they are going to swim in the pool at our hotel. How fun! I can't wait!

In Lubbock, Park 1

Abram has his own little room in our hotel . . . the CLOSET! He barely fits! At noon yesterday, we stopped by Leti's office to see her (remember that her office is less than a block from our hotel)! And we got to have lunch with her.

As you can probably imagine, it was so incredibly wonderful to see Leti and spend time with her!

In the afternoon, we just hung out in the hotel.

All in a Day

Monday, November 9th

6:45a We left Tom and Merrie's house

7:50a Arrived at Dallas Love Field Airport...Someone woke up while we were checking in for our flight!8:20a A little play time before we got on the plane.

11:00a Ate at our favorite restaurant in San Antonio (the same one we ate at with Andy and Jill when we came to San Antonio for orientation...exactly one year ago this week!)

In front of the bakery at Mi Tierra

12:00p Walked along the River Walk in San Antonio

12:45p Arrived at the Bexar County Courthouse to feed Abram quick before our appointment.

1:00p Met our lawyer and signed a few documents

1:15p Arrived in the courtroom . . .

And took our oath before the judge (alongside our lawyer)Abram was listening closely. It's official!

The whole finalization process went incredibly quickly. We were in the courtroom for 5-10 minutes. The judge was very personable and happy to be finalizing our adoption (I think it is probably more "fun" than a lot of the other cases she deals with). Audra, our social worker from Abrazo, came along and took pictures for us.

1:30p Left the courthouse2:15p Stopped by the Abrazo office to visit the staff who were there. Audra, on the left, was who came to the hospital when Abram was born. Angela, on the right, helped us through all of our paperwork leading up to our adoption. She is who I always called with questions! Elizabeth, the director, was out of town.

3:30p Abram was cashed out when we dropped the rental car off.

4:00p Went through security at the San Antonio Airport. I swear Abram is always sleeping every time it is time to go through security. The stroller and car seat have to go through the screening machine, so we have to take Abram out each time. You can see how Abram felt about it at the end of the security process!

4:15p Ate quickly before our 5:10p flight out of San Antonio. Jason tweeted while we waited for our food!

6:00p Arrived back in Dallas to change planes on our way to Lubbock. A little tummy-time in between flights.

7:25p Flew from Dallas to Lubbock

8:30p Arrived in Lubbock.

The first two flights were pretty rough on him. He would eat on the take-off, which allowed his ears to be okay. But, by the descent, he didn't really want to eat anymore, so his ears really bothered him. He was really fussy at the restaurant in San Antonio, so I gave him some water through my straw and he loved it. This little trick saved his ears on the last flight. By the time we landed, he was still hanging in there!9:30p We made it our hotel in Lubbock (the same hotel we stayed in last time)!

I had many interesting feelings flying into Lubbock and driving to our hotel last night. As our plane was landing, I remembered the excited, nervous feelings I had six months ago knowing I was about to meet our baby boy. As we drove to our hotel, I was struck by how short of a time it has been since we were here last. It gave me a tiny glimpse into how "soon" it still is for Abram's Momma Amber since she gave birth to him.

We had lunch with Tia Leti a few hours ago. I'll write more on that later, but better end this post now! :)