Birth Certificates

We received Eli's birth certificates today!!!! We had to wait until Eli's adoption finalization to apply for them and pay for them. The birth certificates have us as Eli's parents!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Happy First Father's Day, Daddy!

Happee furst fathurs daay, Daddy! i am tankphul 4 u. U haff chandged my lyfe so much all red-eee. U make mee feel spechul and luvd. God gave mee a spechul gifd whin He gave mee u as my daddy 4 evur. i luv u. ***Eli

Eli May Pictures

Below are Eli's May pictures that we sent to our adoption agency for Eli's birthmom. Enjoy!

Adoption Finalization Day!

June 4th was monumental for the Millers! June 4th was Eli's adoption finalization day!!!! What does that mean? All the adoption process pieces culminate up to the point when a judge grants adoptive parents their adoption petition. Eli was placed in our care in December, but appearing before a judge and having the judge's signature on our paperwork made Eli a legal and forever part of the Miller family. For some perspective from the adoption realm, adoption finalization is as big of a deal as actually giving birth to a baby. It's the moment when your child really becomes yours (even though he has been yours in your heart for months).

The morning started with Eli giving his Daddy a special gift. It was a card and a picture with an adoption saying on it. Then it was time to get ready. We had fun dressing Eli in his new suit (size 12 months).

We arrived at the courthouse around 8:30 a.m. Our appointment was at 9. Taking the walk to the courthouse seemed like a dream. We thought, "Is this really finally happening?!?!" Yes, it was!

This is us waiting to go into our courtroom!

Adoptions are closed-courtroom, so only our friends and family could stay in the room. The judge had our attorney come forward, and then our attorney asked the judge if we could stand there, too. The judge agreed and even said that everyone else could stand with us! 

Our attorney asked us some questions in front of the judge. Questions were about Eli's name, our residency, our agreement to having Eli being a Miller, and our agreement to love Eli forever. It felt like saying wedding vows ... lips quivering while responding because of happy tears wanting to come and everything seeming so fast and like a fog. 

After our attorney said her part, the judge told us that he was granting our adoption petition and that he had signed our document saying that Eli is ours forever! That was an indescribable moment!!!! The judge came down and took pictures with us once the hearing was over.

We were excited that some of our family came and witnessed the finalization of the newest family member.

Some very special friends also joined us for the special ocassion. 

The clerks office was our next stop. There we received a certificate of adoption and paperwork that would allow us to obtain birth certificate copies.

It was truly amazing to leave the court house knowing that Eli is ours and the adoption is finally over! The whole adoption finalization was a vivid picture of what God did when he adopted us into His family forever through the gift of salvation. We are so blessed and thankful that God chose us to be a part of something so special... a representation of us entering His family and of Eli entering our family... FOREVER!

The celebration continued at our house with lunch and Eli's first cake made by his mommy. The cake says, "Grown in our hearts." Eli might not have grown inside his mommy's tummy, but he has been growing in her heart for years! 

 

The day ended with Eli receiving a gift from his official mommy and daddy (even though we've always been mommy and daddy). We gave him a book about family. It's a book where we can record ourselves reading. The book talks about what we learn about and do in our family (forgive, help, pray, ...). We recorded it as we read it to Eli for the first time. 

June 4th was really a special ocassion and a day to celebrate! The celebration still continues because every day is a celebration of God gifting us with our forever son!