Happy New Year

We are going on 2 months of being a "completed" family. Of course the moment we held our sweet Kenna, we were complete...it just took the Judge and lawyers 22 months to agree with us!

We are praying about whether there is another child for our family. One big part of adoption planning is your home study. Due to the fact that Kenna is a Native American, the Tribe required us to do a second home study. Our newest one will not expire until Sept. 10th. So we want to be open to another little one.

I so love both of my girls. Adoption is such a gift and I just can't find the right words to thank both my girls birth moms, S and C for their selfless gifts. They first chose to give their girls life and then to find a family that could provide for their needs when they new they couldn't. I am amazed at their strength and deep love for my girls. Kayla is now beginning to understand a bit of what her adoption means and I love to see how grateful she is to be in our home and for what S did for her! Kenna is too young to understand right now, but we tell her her adoption story, just as we did Kayla...so I know that it won't be long before she also appreciates the gift she was given!!

Almost didn't happen

OUR FIRST OFFICIAL FAMILY PHOTO!!!

As most of you already know - the end result today is that Kenna is OURS!!! It is finished, done, signed, sealed and delivered she's ours!!!

But today did not go on without its concerns! So let me tell you what I can remember, it's been an emotional day!

We arrive in Globe, Arizona to meet with our attorney. She tells us a little bit of info, but not much - so we felt it was not a necessary meeting, but oh well. We did find out that going through the Apache Court means that this will be an open adoption. News to us, but we can make it work. Basically if the birth mom or grandparents want to see or receive letters/pictures we need to make it happen on our terms. So they would have to come to GA!! More than likely this will never happen, but we needed to be aware of it.

So Court is at 2:30pm - we arrive at 2pm and find out that the Judge is not in, so another Judge is taking our case. We find out it is Judge Dawson and are excited because he is the judge we wanted to begin with. He arrives at 3pm - now Kenna has not napped all day, but has been a happy little lady until we go into the court room. She melts down....GREAT right!! Oh well the life of a toddler! Court lasts for 40 minutes and she cries off and on the entire time!

So this is what the Judge starts with - "I don't think I can hear this case" (my thoughts.... what???are you kidding me????no way.....here we go again....)"there are questions that Judge Griffin wanted that are not here" Our attorney thankfully jumps in and gives him the information that would hopefully be sufficient. He says it's not what he would prefer, but go ahead with the hearing - Phew we dodged that bullet.

So next we are asked basic questions like how long have you been married - to which Sean responds 13 years, I had to speak up - 14 years honey!!! so we breezed through the rest with no problems!!!

Then the Judge begins talking about our worst fear - the Northern Cheyenne. He goes into long details about why we are at the Apache court and not the Cheyenne. Again the oh no thoughts begin...He then moves on to should this case be heard in State Court....So we start feeling this is NOT happening today. All this took around 30 minutes - a VERY LONG TIME!!!! Then out of the blue he starts saying it would be in the best interest of the child, baby girl bear, to be with the petitioners. It will be as if they gave birth to her and she will have all rights as a natural birthed child by petitioners. This child has bonded with the family... I grant the petition for adoption. CONGRATULATIONS!!!!

Tears are flowing, but we are just sitting there somewhat dumbfounded...it took a minute for it to sink in! I then held my baby girl and even though she has always been mine, she was legally mine and it felt awesome!!!!

Kayla didn't quite understand what was going on, so Nana told her did you hear what the Judge said, she said not, so Nana said, Kenna is your sister- she was speechless!!! So priceless to see her little mouth drop!!!

HAPPY GOTCHA DAY KENNA!

Less than 24 hours

Wow - in less than 24 hours Kenna will prayerfully be ours forever!!!

We had an uneventful trip out here - Sean was very nervous, because Kenna does not travel well. She had some fussy times, but overall did great! Our plane left on time and actually arrived 10 minutes early! WooHoo!!

So we arrived at the hotel with a call from the attorney's office. When I contacted them yesterday they still had not received the letter the judge wanted from the Tribe's social services. This letter was to state that they were clearing Kenna to be adopted. Since October 23rd, we have been attempting to get this letter. They kept telling our attorney that they have nothing to do with this case and she kept telling them, then just please put that in writing. FINALLY - with just one day to spare - WE GOT THE CLEARANCE LETTER!!! Our attorney told us we could breathe a little easier! Of course it is still not final, but things look really good!

Thanks again for your prayers, we could not be getting through this without you all!!

With much love~

Countdown begins....10....

In just 10 days we will know if Kenna will be forever ours! I am excited, scared, nervous, thankful, happy, sad...about all emotions you can have run through me- But what covers me is peace - even through the sadness and nervousness...

We know that God is in complete control of Kenna's life. He placed her in our lives for a purpose and we pray that she will continue to be ours. Each day is a gift from God and we have cherished these 21 months with Kenna. We understand that these days may be all God had planned us to have with her - of course we are keeping faith and hope that this will not be so and she will forever more be Kenna Grace Kelley!!!

Please continue to pray for our attorney Diana Montgomery, for safe travels and for the Judge - may he truly put Kenna first!

Our flight leaves on Dec. 8th - Court will be on Dec. 9th at around 4pm est time - please check back here for updates - we will not be posting on facebook until we arrive home!

Thanks for all your prayers, love and support!

Court Date Set!!!

Kenna playing peek-a-boo with momma!

At Stone Mountain's Native American Pow-Wow! This woman had so much knowledge, we are exited to have the opportunity to teach Kenna about her culture!!

WE are excited to announce that we have a Court Date!! As long as our attorney is able to get the letter from the Tribe's Social Sevices - we will be finalizing Kenna's adoption on Dec.9th at 2:30pm (4pm est).

We are at the final step - so hard to believe!

FRUSTRATED can not even begin to describe it

Here is the newest information:

Our attorney arrives to court for our 2pm (5pm est) hearing and finds out that they subpoenaed another lawer that is not in the process anymore so he filed a continuation and once our lawyer explained their error they would not reverse the continuation.

So we are delayed at least 2 more weeks before the review hearing can take place. We don't have a date, but the judge only does these hearings on Wednesdays and he is out next week. So the earliest it could be is the 21st.

We did find out that, although it is incredibly unlikely, the judge could grant our petition for adoption at the review hearing.

Please pray for Judge Griffin and that he will grant the adoption at the review hearing. This process has gone on long enough. Kenna is 19 months old and will be 20 months at the next available hearing.

18 Months

Kenna weighs in at just 19.4 pounds! Still our little peanut! The doctor said she is perfect and growing great on her growth chart!! She's only in the 1st percentile for weight, but since she has always been little, they look at her overall growth and she is just going to be little!!

We finished our home study on September 10th and it arrived in Arizona on September 11th! We assume that the attorney will mail it to the Tribe this week and then we wait to hear back from them with our court date! If all goes well we should be heading to Arizona sometime in October.

Of course we know that Kenna's adoption has not gone smoothly....so we will not be surprised if we don't have a court date next month! We know that God is in total control and that is where we leave it! We have a peace and always have - regardless of the outcome!

Thanks for your continued prayers! We hope to have more information soon!

Love you all!