It has been a VERY big week for our little man Mason.
First of all, he turned ONE!!!
We celebrated with neighbors and cupcakes...
...some presents,
...and family, food and more presents at the park.
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| Mason and Grandma Dawna |
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| Ian hiding from Aunt Angie |
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| Gotcha! |
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| Little Logan |
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| First pizza... |
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| ...then presents! |
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| I LOVE his face in this one!!! |
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| The cake |
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| We all helped him blow out his candle |
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| Of course, he loved the cake! |
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| One happy Mama=) |
That first year always goes by SO quickly, and I can't believe he is already one, but I cannot tell you how grateful I am that he was HERE for his first birthday and the fact that it looks likely that he will be with us for many, many more!!!=)
Mike and I were subpoenaed to attend the trial to terminate his bio mom's parental rights this past Wednesday. It was quite an experience!! As some of you may remember, we have already experienced a trial like this with Ian's bio father, but this was very different. The main reason being, she wasn't even there.
About a month ago, I received a phone call from Mason's case worker saying that she had not heard from bio mom so she was canceling the scheduled one hour supervised visit for that week. Later that day, she called me again to tell me that she had finally gotten hold of bio mom and learned that she had left Utah to be with her family in another state. She knew about this upcoming trial and the significance of what was happening, but she still chose to walk away. She claimed that she knew she would lose custody and just couldn't stay in Utah anymore.
So we knew going into court that she probably would not be there, yet after the attorney failed to reach her by phone 3 times, the court clerk once, and even the judge after he had taken the bench, I was so sad for little Mason.
She had stopped fighting for him.
But we didn't and we NEVER will!!!! I testified at the trial as to how much we love Mason, how bonded and attached he is to our family and we with him, and how we want more than anything to be his family forever. The caseworker also testified as to how much he is bonded to us, and how we are who he looks to for not only all his needs, but his safety, security and happiness.
After some other testimonies, the judge ruled that birth mother's rights would indeed be terminated.
It was such a relief to know that everyone in the courtroom could see how much he belonged with us and how he should never be removed from us again!
We left court, had a delicious, quiet lunch, just the two of us, and then headed straight to our attorneys office to turn in our notarized Petition for Adoption. He will file that with the court for us this week, and as soon as the allotted appeal time has run its course, we should be able to finalize the adoption of our precious Mason. (I say should because we learned with Ian's case NEVER to expect anything except the unexpected, but it is looking very good for us!)
I will keep you posted, so stay tuned=)
I am SO very grateful to have been chosen to be this sweet little boy's mother. He is so incredibly loving, he gives THE best hugs, he is so funny, and I could never imagine my life without him in it. He has a strength in him that brings me to my knees, and I know he has great things in store for him. We are so blessed to be there to enjoy that ride with him! He was meant to be a part of our family, and we cannot wait for the day to make it all official!!!
