Introducing JULIAN

 On September 29th 2020 we adopted Julian! (Previously known as "O" on the interwebs.) Julian was placed with us on March 24 2020, just one day after we had told our RFC we would accept another placement. We had been feeling for a few weeks that we needed to get another placement, but it was a huge leap of faith for us to make that call and open our home again. Well, the Lord knew that this little guy was coming and needed a home. I am so grateful and humbled that we were the ones he came to. He is truly precious and we feel so lucky to have him. We knew since about May that we would adopt him, but in Utah you have to have a child in your home for six months before the adoption can be finalized. So we finally got our date in September!

Because of COVID the adoption was all virtual. It was pretty anticlimatic, but we made sure to celebrate the big day afterwards. We had originally planned a big party but had to cancel because we all came down with colds. That was quite the disappointment for the kids. We still had a cake and Julian got a present for adoption day, a mickey mouse lego set. He had been asking for a robot cake since practically the day he came to us, an he finally got it!

Julian is obsessed with his bear lovey that we gave to him (all our kids have one) so it had to be pictured too. :)

Adoption is born out of loss, and it is not all rainbows. Julian has had tremendous loss in his three years and I know it will impact him his entire life. I can't take that away, but as we promised on adoption day to love and care for him as if he was born to us, I was reassured that being in a loving family is the best place for him. We aren't perfect, and we aren't saints for doing this. We are just doing what anyone would do, making room in our family for a child that needs a family. We firmly believe that children belong in families and we are so grateful we took that leap of faith. Julian fits perfectly in our family and we can't imagine life without him now!

And now for some of my favorite pictures of J. 

And to end, I am sharing this infographic about adoption terminology. I have been learning a lot about adoption since we found out we would be adopting Julian. I still have a lot to learn, but the words we use to speak about adoption is a great starting point. ( Click on the picture to make it bigger, then you can zoom in)