a full heart and a forever day

today is the day we've been waiting for since we brought haven home. our forever day. this morning we headed to the courthouse to finalize all things adoption. it's official-- haven's stuck with us as parents forever! it couldn't have been a better morning. our lawyer was a pleasure to work with and the judge was great too. friends of ours were with us at court as their daughter's adoption was finalized too which lessened the scariness of being in a courthouse and increased the celebration all the more. they're our friends that kinda 'got us into all this' and we are so thankful that they were present to witness the last piece of the adoption pie. 

my heart is so full. i wept the other night putting haven to bed. i am so rich, so blessed. God's mercy is too much for me to grasp. long before jon and i first conversed about making adoption a priority when we were dating, God had this day ordained. psalm 113:9 says 'he gives the barren woman a home, making her the joyous mother of children. praise the LORD.' how good is God? and how worthy of my worship? where h's birth was a bit of a whirlwind (as most baby's are), this event has been much anticipated and easier to soak in. this day will i treasure up in my heart as mary did with the magi. 

here are some pictures from this morning in random order. tonight, we're celebrating with friends who are more like family over waffles and ice cream so more pics to come!

'z' is for zila!

our forever family

getting sworn in ( on a real bible and everything! just like matlock...)

haven did great through all the questioning and such-- she only spoke up a few times :)

the judge was so kind. word is, that he's retired and only comes back a few times a month for 'fun days' like finalizing adoptions. he thought haven was so cute and might have been a little distracted by her! in this picture, he's asking what she thinks about all of this and of course, she babbled right back!

this is just after the judge announces us as a family and declares haven's full name. jon got a little choked up and everyone cheered even hae!

our forever family with the judge

daddy and haven outside of our house with a pink 'h' to commemorate

oh. funny story. jon was in charge of dressing h this morning so that i could have a bit more time in the bathroom getting ready. no big deal, right? i, as a girl, typically take longer than he in getting ready PLUS i had already laid out haven's little dress, tights, shoes, and sweater... so, piece of cake (in my mind). :) i come out of the bathroom ready to jump in the car to see my baby girl playing on the floor with naked little legs and the sweater UNDER her dress. ??? jon says he didn't see the tights(who wants to bet he did and had no idea what to do with them!) and to his credit, she'd never worn a little cardigan before. later, in the car, i noticed jon didn't do anything with his hair OR shave OR grab a coat/blanket/anything to keep our child warm on the day a JUDGE decides if she'll be ours forever. when i asked about it, he puffed "i got stressed dressing the girl and forgot all the other stuff!" i just laughed. next time, i'll dress girly and let jon take his time in the bathroom. :D (*haven never felt the cold as jon gave up his jacket to bundle her in. triple bonus points for the husband!)

sportin' the new hat

i kept seeing something moving outside our window-- on closer inspection we discovered....snow?!! haven wanted to commemorate this event, her first of course, by wearing her winter hat...

and, by golly, it's just too cute to take off after one picture! so, she had her snack in it too...

then she had to check out the adorable baby in the mirror wearing the exact same one...

'worthy of a kiss' she thought to herself...

happy first snow day!!!!

just the messenger

pink overalls

is there anything cuter?

splashings

our girl has discovered the joy of getting water on the floor (and the mom)...

songs in my heart right now

sara groves, i saw what i saw

kim walker, how he loves us

closer to one than nothing

can you see my tooth (bottom left)?

praise God her legs are still a little too short for this yet!

goofy grins

sweet girl

she got here all by herself (the outlet in the background now has one of those plastic thingys in it for all the concerned moms out there) :)

let's take a vote and slow down the pace of a kiddo's first year and make it two-- who's in?! seven months has been quite the exciting week already. haven is crawling like a pro, pulling up on anything that is still long enough (lookout beau!), spraying the table with squash/drool dring dinner, cruising a tiny bit, AND if that's not enough, getting her second tooth. this kid has no fear (or balance yet) and will let go while standing which sometimes (to our wonder and delight) leads to the tiniest stander and other times leads to a crash and boom. 

so, my favorite memory of this week... i was folding clothes while hae was playing on the floor when she crawled over, bear hugged my leg, pulled herself up behind me with said leg, and then full of pride and joy standing between my stride, looked up at me with her head between my legs and the greatest grin and just laughed. oh, i hope everyone has such an awesome moment at least once in a while!

and the little one said, 'roll over'

the roll has turned into the scoot has transformed into the army crawl which has become a few good yoga poses but alas....

our baby is crawling. haven's not up to racing speed yet, but can sure give the dog a run for his money. gone are the days where plugging in an electronic device didn't mean having to wrestle with those awful little plastic things.

it has to have a stem

this morning was annual pumpkin selection day in the zila household. there are rules. :)

the day must 'feel' like fall. the pumpkin can't be a big one or a little one, but juuuuuuuust right. oh, and there has to be something wrong with it. this year, there's a dent/soft spot on one side making it a bit jellybean-ish. when jon went to pay for our prize, the cashier exclaimed 'this is an odd-shaped one?!' to which jon replied that it's become a bit of a tradition for us to claim a 'charlie brown pumpkin' (*referencing the charlie brown christmas tree, not the great pumpkin*). this has a little less to do with tender hearts and more to do with the fact that our first year of marriage we went choosing a little late in the game-- slim pickins'. oh, and the new rule this year, it must have a stem. selection #1's stem broke off as we lifted it, nullifying it's opportunity to rot at our house. it wasn't charlie brown enough anyways...

playing catch up

we've fallen behind... here's the cliff's notes version...

::my sister, elizabeth, got married and had a four-day long wedding...

::day one, thanksgiving in september, shakes beautiful aunts, lots of gifts and amazing outfits...

::day two, mandhi (sp?) ceremony (*henna=semi permanent skin markings), unbelievable indian food, crazy fun dancing, wore a bright green sari :)

::day three, rehearsal, flawless, tiramisu 

:: day four, wedding! breathtaking bride, tears, bet won about crying during toast (eb, i should earn a free pass for a single item from your closet!), glow sticks, haven cuts 1st tooth

::recovery day, atlanta aquarium, mesmerizing, great day trip with a baby

tagged

so... my sweet cousin jessica 'tagged' me from her blog (thanks btw-- i feel a little like a rock star. a little) also, i'm afraid blog tagging has become the new chain letter/ e-mail forward phenom for our generation. here goes:

1. post the rules.

2. write 6 random things about yourself.

3. tag, tag, tag!

:: i'm addicted to ice cream. my mom kindly pointed this out when i kept wandering around her kitchen opening all the cupboards and fridge not finding what i was looking for. rocky road is my current fix of choice.

:: i'm left-handed and feel totally affected by it. it boggles my mind a bit to watch you right-handers write, use 'normal' scissors, and shake hands.

:: at least once a year i panic that i can't remember where each state belongs on the map or know its capitol, so i print out a study sheet and make jon quiz me until i get them all in there place and with the correct leading city. i'm determined not to be an ignorant american, but i just can't seem to remember!

:: i've always wanted to have to run through the airport to catch my flight. my sister just beat me on this goal-- she just got back from her honeymoon in mexico. barely. :)

:: i secretly long to be a runner. it's my new thing. i think people who run are so cool. i'm waiting to develop a good plan of action before i actually start-- i wouldn't want to overdo it you know. yea, we'll see how far that goes. 

:: jon took me to this little hole-in-the-wall restaurant in NYC a year ago that only serves mac 'n cheese and i crave to go back. of all the great restaurants in the city, and how easily you can just make a box yourself... i'm a little embarrassed by this one. :)

whew. okay, so now i tag christin, laura, amber and jon!!!

airtran cookies

to explain the long hiatus, my sister just got hitched and i've been away from home for almost ten days. i'm to that point where so much seemed to have happened that i'm not sure where to begin in postings. so, in true jen fashion, i'm picking a totally random story that's not much connected to anything...

God is good and answered my prayers for peace and patience (from other passengers) while flying with a 6 month old. for example, when asking that God not seat a large businessman in the seat next to haven and mine who might get huffy with the wiggles or fluids of an infant-- God provides a couple on their way to the birth of their adopted son with tons of questions and stories to share. oh, and haven slept the whole way. but that's not the story for this post.

on our flight back, God is equally as sovereign and gracious, but this time he provides a flight attendant. not just any flight attendant, the one that had to have scored perfectly on all her flight staff exams and who seemed to have enjoyed one too many lattes before our flight. when we were seated, she was quick to scoop haven up so that we could get situated, but instead of returning her, had haven help her greet the other passengers as they boarded the plane (haven was a pro of course, what with that easy grin and all). then about half way through the flight and after stopping by to check on 'her little friend' seven times, our FA wanted to know if she could have haven again to introduce to the other FA's in first class. 'sure!' we say, so proud of our little hamm. 15 minutes later our FA returns with haven and the addition of something smooshed all over her bib.  'don't worry, she had a cookie at the front of the cabin, but we've cleaned her all up.' WHAT?! yep. we heard her right and haven had the crumbs in her smile to prove it. our precious, firstborn child had her virgin solid food experience 3,500 feet above the earth. so long as you don't count the receipt she ate out of the diaper bag a couple weeks ago. an airtran cookie. i'm not exactly sure what food group that fits into. or if there's a food group for airline food. oh well.