Meet the Official Stuteville Family ;)

These are the pictures that my friend Mari (Mary) took. She gave us a wonderful blessing by documenting our day and we so appreciate what she did for us in our time of need. I hope the pictures come across...
http://www.kodakgallery.com/ShareLanding.action?c=8d0z85iy.6vkn9q3i&x=0&y=-85jodm&localeid=en_US&cm_mmc=site_email-_-site_share-_-core-_-view_photos_button
So... What do you know... we are an official family! :) What a unique experience to go through the adoption process! Thankfully our adoption was relatively pain free in the way of the court system but our road was not totally bump free. Many of you have know us since we were married or before and knew of our desire to have children from day one. When we went through the stress and heartache of infertility, you were there. As we prayed about Adoption and Fasted for our child to find their way to us and for our future birth mother to see something in us when she looked at our page, you crossed your fingers. We had a depressing failed placement one week before we found out about Evan and you were there then too. Courtney said she chose us because we looked like the family she always wanted but never had. We are grateful we were that family for her and for our son. The moment that he was born, she excitedly announced "your son! your son! you have a son!" Like you she wanted us to be parents as badly as we did and understood perfectly what she was doing for us. I hope one day, when she is ready to parent she can know exactly what she really did for us that day when she insisted Evan be placed in our arms. That is the moment we were changed. We were lost and confused and couldn't really believe they just swaddled this grimy baby and tossed him in our arms, shuffling us out the door to be alone with him. Trusting us to take care of him and give him what he needed when really, he was giving us everything we needed after so many years of disappointment. In that instant, Evan represented all the children we hope to have, all the dreams we have for them and all the love we stored up to share with them. He, and our Heavenly Father, have shown us how to love him, care for him, know him, teach him and encourage him. Our love for him grows more everyday. Right when you get comfortable with how cute he is and how much joy he exudes, he does something better and your heart bursts! You can't believe this is your child!... I used to dream about, pray for and think about why I wanted to be a mother, why I wanted children and if it really mattered. I didn't want children to have a posterity necessarily but I had a real desire to raise children that are good and moral and true to themselves. I hoped my children would be the ones in their group to be looked up to for standing strong for what they believe. I hoped they would enjoy being with their parents (i don't just want to love them till they're 18! i want them to still like me as adults). I imagined I would encourage them to see their potential in every way, academically, artistically, athletically. I hope they will be humble and sweet, loving and lovable. So, am I normal or what? I'm a parent! I don't think Michael thought a lot about being a parent before we were married. He's the youngest of 2 boys and IS a BOY so, that's two strikes against him right there (lol! :) he didn't have an older bossy sister to make him 'play house'). The point is, Michael is such a great man and father. I think it surprises him that he enjoys being a dad to even such a little baby but, in my husbands eyes, I see a spark I've never seen in our 12 years. He has a love for Evan that is similar but different than the love he has for me and I don't mind. ;) I'm so pleased that he gets to experience this gift. His father died too soon and when Michael was just getting closer to him. I know he misses him and the relationship that was developing and that he looked forward to having. I am glad he gets the chance with Evan to be the parent he wants to be... Anyway, these are the ramblings of a woman on a cloud, still day dreaming about the future. Today, we woke up with smiles on our faces. Chose a super cute outfit for court. Met my friend and client Mari to take pictures before our session started. At 1:00p we were on the 3rd floor, room 306 and we had a blur of an experience. Michael's Mom Jennie and step dad George were there, Mari (the photographer and supporter) and "Aunt" Cammie and "Uncle" Brian slipped in too. :) We stood up, raised our right hand, swearing to tell the truth, said a bunch of yeses and we were congratulated! Seriously, we were only there for like 7 min! I know this because we, took pictures after then down the elevator and I took a picture of the grandparents with Evan it it's time stamped as 1:14! All that waiting and anticipation for 7 minutes of blur! ;) LOL. Here is that photo: Here is my friend Cammie in a tender moment with Evan. I have to keep an eye on her cause I think she wants my baby (Lindsey, you would protect him right?) ;) In other news... When we were on our way home, we ran an errand then stopped at Target. While there, Mike was taking Evan out of his car seat and he started crying. He'd had a long day, was tired and ate weird so he was very possibly cranky. He was inconsolable. We finished and left and fed made a bottle in the car on the way home. He didn't really want it?! By the time we got home, he'd lightly fallen asleep. We were excited when we pulled in the drive way to see we'd had a delivery! The Walker I ordered was here! This was going to be the awesomeist day EVER with our finalization and my kid having the coolest car on the block! ;) But while taking him out of the car, i bumped his seat. He woke up and screamed and now he almost acted like he was in pain? After prodding around, we realized that his right arm was hurt! Anytime we moved it or touched it he was unhappy again. He tried so hard to smile for us or just not to cry but it was hurt somehow. ;( So, needless to say, this was not part of my dream of being a parent. (I selectively kept these unpleasantness's from my plans..) Well we didn't want to be foolish but we didn't want to overreact so we decided maybe a walk-in could examine his arm and give us advice but first we decided Michael needed to give him a blessing, which was great and comforting even though we didn't feel a definite answer right away. But then off we went (first time parents reminder, no making fun). For your information... your almost 7 month old are not welcome in at least 5 local walk-ins. No walk ins we called or visited will see under an 18 mo old (one said they'd see an 8 month old). Well, we called our Pediatrician's office while we drove and were referred to the E.R.! NO THANK YOU! talk about freaked out! If we weren't freaked out before, we were on our way now till we called... Mama Mary ;). She's the first person I got hold of and as everyone in our area feels that knows this family, we can trust a Meredith with the info, especially when it comes to children (plus, as I was raised, I knew she's hook me up with a way to do things the healthiest way, thanks MM!). She validated a tiny thought I had that we could give him some Tylenol or Motrin and see if that helped him first and pointed out he could have dislocated or tweaked something and this might help. Ahh, our first peace and glimmer of hope! As we contemplated this, we gained momentum after my friend Kristyn said the same thing and decided to head home to see how he did on some medicine. In the mean time, he wasn't even lifting his arm and had eventually and thankfully now fallen asleep. When he woke up, we gave him some Tylenol and impatiently tried to keep him still and waited for it to take effect. Slowly he showed signs of life in his right arm! In the end, it totally did the trick! I'm so glad we didn't have to got to the E.R., wasting time and money we don't have. He feels fine now as far as we can tell and will be watching him closely for the next week. We don't want him to be damaged for all the passing around that will happen in one week (!eek!) in California!!! So... now that he was feeling much better, I got to put his new walker together! He L.O.V.E.S it!!! Ok, maybe "I" love it, it is just sooo cute. (thanks a lot Debra for holding back your walker! :) he he) Here's a still and video to document this moment WE fell in love with our walker. :)


Hopefully you now understand why it took us so long to post this days events. ;)