The End.

Dec 18, 2014- one for the books! The day we closed the book on adoption #2!

Apparently our agency is different then most because our social worker said with all other adoptions that are finalized after placement, the judge meets with the lawyer in his/her chambers and the parents don't need to be present. For ours, they required that John, I and our social worker all be present in one place together and talk with the judge over the phone. The date was set for Dec. 18 at 11:30 our time (9:30 their time).

Our social worker works at RUH so this morning we met her over there, got some coffee and sat down and waited for the phone to ring. And waited. And waited. I was told to expect a small delay but after a half hour I was starting to feel a bit panicky. Finally the phone rang, but it was our agency. She said that we were the 17th case that morning and the judge was running way behind (apparently she is a bit long-winded!) She said to expect up to an hour of delays. So we went and got lunch and wandered around the new health sciences building. Thankfully our social worker had a slow day and had no problem waiting around with us (amazing lady, she is!)

Finally, at 1:20, the phone rang from Las Vegas. The call took about 10 minutes in total and it was actually really fun! They made us all raise our right hand and swore us in over the phone. I held my hand over my mouth so they wouldn't hear me giggling. How could they really tell if we were actually raising our hands? We all stated our full names and then the judge talked to John and I for a bit and then Michelle, asking her if she recommended the adoption going through. Then, those beautiful, beautiful words- "It is in the best interest of the child to be adopted by John and Mandi Letkeman," (or something like that, I don't remember exactly). There were rounds of congratulations and Merry Christmas and then they hung up and that was it! It all felt so surreal and I giggled some more and Michelle hugged us and then we all went our separate ways, John and Michelle back to work and I drove to my parents, picked up my baby and officially welcomed her to the family with lots of kisses.

The End.

2014, You Rocked

Only 15 days remain in the year 2014. I remember this time last year, as 2014 loomed ahead, fresh and full of promise. I dubbed it the Year of the Baby. We had just finished getting all our paperwork in and were waiting to hear when we'd be officially on the wait list. I had high hopes and dreams for 2014 and it did not disappoint!

Obviously, adopting Aviannah was the highlight of the year, but there were many other good memories, both good and bad, that I don't want to forget from 2014:

- John kicked off the year by turning 31. He's not into birthdays (whatever) but we did sneak in a birthday date.
-went skiing with a group from our church at Table Mountain. It was wickedly cold, but we made the best of it. A friend and I also tried tubing, and were lucky to walk away with no serious injuries (most intense tubing hill EVER!)
-celebrated Cassidy's 3rd birthday with a small get together with family. 
- went to visit baby sheep, pigs and chicks at a family friend's farm. Cassidy loved it.
- in May we got THE CALL, followed by the busiest week ever making travel arrangements, and then a 4 week trip in Las Vegas! 
- enjoyed an extended summer as our summer was just beginning when we got home.
- got to introduce Aviannah to my Grandma Doerksen, who passed away shortly after she met her. Her funeral was the most God honoring service I have ever attended. 
- I directed VBS at our church for the second time. It was busy, tiring and so much fun!
- spent my 27th birthday (August long) at the lake with my family. We had beautiful weather all weekend and the girls did so well! 
- weekend trip to Caronport for the Vanstone family reunion. 
- John and I went with a group from church to a Rider game in mid-August. We took a bus and had such a fun time (didn't hurt that the Rider's won!)
- Fall kicked off with piano lessons beginning up again and with Leesa moving in to our basement room!
- We attended two family weddings in the fall
- in mid-October I started babysitting Levi three days a week. I have really enjoyed having him and am already quite smitten with him!
- December has been surprisingly low key this year. Cassidy's church Christmas program was yesterday and we've been done our Christmas shopping for awhile now. We are enjoying this season and all that it brings.

That's all up till now. Even though there's only 15 days left in the year, they hold lots of excitement! In 3 days we "go" to court (via telephone) to finalize Aviannah's adoption, John's holidays begin next week and of course, there's Christmas gatherings and family time to look forward too! I can't wait!

I feel like I've grown so much this past year, in so many areas. My relationship with God is ever changing, day by day. It's hard to put into words the things He's been teaching me this past year. I think most of all, He's shown me just how much He can do when I hold out my hands before Him, let go of the things I love and want and just trust Him with it all. I still struggle with this, but it's a work in progress and it's amazing to see what He can do when we decide to let Him. Yesterday we went to an evening church service and sang the song "It Is Well." Even though I've sung the words to this song countless times, I was brought to tears at this verse: 
"My sin, oh the bliss of this glorious thought
My sin, not in part but the whole
Is nailed to the cross and I bear it no more
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, oh my soul!"
I can't say it any better then that. My only response is one of immense gratitude and praise to Jesus! Because anything I face in life, whether joy or sorrow, is possible when I remember what Jesus did on that cross for me. How can I do anything else but surrender my life to Him? 

Looking ahead to 2015, I don't have any specific dreams or goals like with last year. I want to keep learning how to be a better wife, mother and most of all a better servant for the gospel of Jesus. I'm excited to see what God has in store for our family! 2015, bring it on!!

9 Months

Time for another montly update! Here's what's new in Aviannah's world

- She weighs 14l bs and is 26 inches long. Tiny but feisty!

- She cut her first tooth last week! She was working on it for months so I'm happy it's finally made an appearance and it looks like another one is on it's way.

- She has mastered sitting, to the point where I feel like I can walk away and she'll be ok. She still falls over sometimes, but usually only if she's been sitting for awhile and has gotten tired

- She LOVES her solids! She eats 3-4 times a day and has tried a variety of different foods. It's great because we're finding she's needing less formula as she eats more solids (which means it lasts longer and we're not spending quite as much on it, that stuff is not cheap!) Yogurt is her favorite, she usually eats a whole container of it before bedtime

- She's started to make more sounds that sound like real words and not just baby babble. She can say "mama," but she only says it if she's upset. Not sure if that's a compliment or not! She also says something that sounds alot like "hey." I think she is trying to say hi because she always says it in response to us saying "Hi!" It's really cute!

- Her favorite games are peek-a-boo, patty cake and being thrown in the air. She also loves dancing and getting tickled.

- She is getting close to crawling. She can scooch around and I've seen her trying to get her legs underneath her so I'm thinking it won't be too long until she's mobile! Rolling is still her method of choice when wanting to get somewhere

Healthwise, she's also doing great. We saw her pediatrican last month and she was pleased with how she's doing.  She had a nasty cold last week, which really scared me. With her lungs being underdeveloped, we were warned to watch her very closely if she developed a cough. She had a bad cough with this cold but thanks to a humidifier and Vicks it only lasted a couple of days. I'm praying that she makes it through cold and flu season without any major problems.

We have been going to the Kinsmen Children's Centre once a month to see an occupational therapist and a physical therapist. They are keeping taps on her development and making sure she's on track for where she needs to be. With preemies, they always track by their adjusted age rather then their chronological age. Adjusted age is full term. Avi was 7 weeks early so they knock 7 weeks off her chronological age, meaning right now she is actually 7 months 1 week. We had our visit at KCC last week and they scored her on a bunch of things then charted it and she is exactly where she should be developmentally for her adjusted age. This was great to hear! It's hard not to compare her to other babies as she's getting to the age most babies are already crawling and standing, but I have to remind myself that even though we say she's 9 months, she's really only 7 months.

So that's really all for now! We're so excited to celebrate Christmas with her this year, and the icing on the cake is that by then, the adoption will be finalized and she'll be a Letkeman! What a great gift!