One of the most important facts about me is, I am a believer. I believe in God, I believe in love and I believe sappy, stereotypical Christmas movies can cure all holiday blues. Christmas is one of my favorite holidays, mostly because I love giving. I love watching someone I care about open a gift I carefully picked out for them. If you know me, then you also know I have a story that goes with each and every gift. Christmas is also my favorite holiday because usually people are nicer to each other, they come together and people tend to let their guards down a tad bit.

This Christmas, Christmas of 2020 in the year of a pandemic my family got a Christmas miracle. I’ve spoken a few times about being in a blended family and while I am no expert I’ve been blending for almost 9 years. This alone comes with it’s own ups and downs but this year after some careful prayer, thought and consideration we decided that step-parent adoption would be the best option for Daniel. Anything concerning children is never easy and I am one that definitely takes some time to make my decisions. I thought about it about three years ago, but it really become a much bigger thought as time progressed. I brought it up to my husband who was also on the same page and it took another year before we started the legal process. There are alot of emotions that go into this decision. I, nor my husband, took this lightly.

As we went through the uncontested adoption, we felt like things would be smooth sailing and then COVID hit and court dates were pushed back, cancelled and rescheduled. Many court appearances were via Zoom and we just knew our time would come. On our original adoption date we hit a snafu and it was crushing, to say the very least. Three months later…on Christmas Eve, we received word that everything had gone through and Daniel was officially adopted! Tears of joy are only the half of it.

The gift I’m giving my son, on the Eve of when we celebrate a different blended family of a baby born to His mother Mary and Step-father Joseph,my son got accepted. He’s always been my husband’s son, literally the two were inseparable from the time they met but this sealed the deal. My son who has had my father’s last name will now carry the name of the man who has helped raise him the last 8, almost 9 years. I’ll interview Daniel later about this later but for now enjoy some pics!

Merry Christmas!

•