Introducing...

COLLEEN

Our adoption was finalized last week!!

In this photo you will see me, Moses, the judge, (Fabi) Colleen, and Dave.

Yes, now I can call our sweet girl by her real name - Fabi will now and forever be known as Colleen!  The actual court proceeding for the adoption was pretty much 10 minutes or less, so it was almost surreal.  When we arrived home, there were strings of balloons from the house to the apple trees, balloons on the porch and in the trees.  It was an awesome sight!!

We are so very blessed to have good friends who understand the magnitude of the event and what it means to us!  They took the time to go out in the snow and decorate for us, which was so very special - it was a good way to take the court ceremony up a notch and start the celebrating!!  The next day we had a huge party w/friends, family and teachers and their kids.  We needed that.  It still doesn't feel real.  She was always our daughter, from the beginning, now it's just official, legal, whatever you want to call it.  Having so many people surround us and come to celebrate with us was absolutely amazing, I don't know if we can ever thank them enough.  Many of those people have been in our lives since we were married or since we have set down our roots here.  We know they have prayed for and with us, they have talked and cried for us and with us, they have modeled what parents should be, they have modeled healthy Christ-centered marriages and we are still basking in the love everyone has showed us.  THANK YOU!!