Finality

Here we are at the end of our adoption journey. Friday will mark our very last hearing, the last time we will have to step foot in the LA County Children's Court. This milestone has caused me to reflect on our past year, all of the ups and downs and all we have learned as parents. I have learned so much about love and most of all patience. I thought that on her third birthday the terrible twos would be over... but guess what, they had just begun. The stomping, head thrashing and talking back had just started. Now we are almost to her 4th birthday and again I am hoping for the end of terrible 3's. She has learned a lot and is happy to tell you how great she is, how pretty and how she is getting older.
There have been several times over the last year that I have worried about someone taking her away. I have wanted to be guarded but loved every minute of giving my heart to her. She has completed my life in ways I didn't know that it was incomplete.
There are so many people coming to her hearing on Friday, my family, Grant's family... I think there are 10+ that are going to be there to celebrate this wonderful moment. I know that it will have special meaning to a few people in our families as they are also adopted and it is a bond Noodle will have with them.