10/10/10

Let's start off with a "smiling" pic. Now, back to yesterday...
Here's the first time we held Julien. Heather, the sweet mom who took care of J for his first week handed him off to me first. Then, Cody took a turn.
Here is Heather's family. Her two boys played with Julien all week! And her sweet husband Dale, who also loved on and took care of J. We will always remember and be grateful for this loving family.
Julien's first bottle while we were still at the agency. He will drink it cold...crazy!
Daddy burping baby boy. Julien is a really good burper.
So far, J sleeps most of the time and only cries when he's hungry and getting changed.
The high here today was almost 90 degrees!
Sweet lips!
We went to a big church in Birmingham this morning. Cody had heard of the pastor and we wanted to check it out. It was HUGE! Julien slept in my sling but he's such a loud sleeper after the music finished we had to listen to the sermon in the lobby.
Lest we forget about sweet Nellie waiting back home, here's a pic of her from this week. When you ask her "What is your brother's name?" She replies "JULIEN!" And she can say "brother" but she does not understand the implications this is about to have on her life. This baby will be here to stay! She gets very jealous when I hold other babies and wants to be held immediately. I am sure she'll get use to him soon :)
Here's some pics of J's nursery the night before we flew to Alabama.
I made the animals hanging above his crib and the stuff in the corner. Janny made the crib skirt and valance. you can't tell but it's gingham. the animals are cut out of gingham paper and framed.


So we find out some disappointing news. Because of the desire of the birth mom to remain completely anonymous and refusal to name the birth father in public records, Cody and I both have to fly back to Alabama with Julien to finalize the adoption. This will most likely be around the end of the year. It's a long story why we have to do this but we can no longer finalize in NM. The birth mom went to another state to have an abortion only 3 weeks before Julien's due date. The only people who knew she was pregnant was her mom and brother. I'm so thankful the states don't allow for late term abortion. Also, the court approved three months of her living expenses we have to pay..ugh. Adoption is very expensive, but abortion is costly beyond measure.

Tomorrow is Columbus Day and the gov't offices are closed and we are praying this won't delay our ICPC clearance. Please pray fervently that this would clear so we can fly out on Thursday. Thanks everyone and we will keep you posted!