Adoption Day Celebration

Sunday evening...Will got home from his football weekend, though he missed his family and we missed him,  he had a great time and got to do some catching up time with Danny Wuerffel and the team from Desire Street Ministries. Will had a great time despite the loss of the Gators.

After Will got home he and Ethan went down for their Sunday afternoon ritual - Bass Pro Shop. Ethan loves to play on the boats, look at the dead animals (as I call them), and just "hang out looking at the fish".

The boys got home and after a dinner of pot roast and potatoes and carrots, we celebrated Ethan's Adoption Day! We had ordered a cake from Publix and picked it up after church. Well, Ethan wanted to eat the cake before we even left the store! Let me back up - when I went in to order the cake, the lady in the bakery looked at me, and looked and Ethan and said, I know you! I remember you! (I shop Publix nearly on a daily basis - though I am OCD, I have never been a good meal planner. I just don't know that I will want on Friday what I planned on Monday! So we kinda go with the flow and I like fresh food.) The woman didn't say I remember you like she hadn't seen us in a long time...she remembered doing Ethan's adoption cake last year...and she remembered meeting him when he was first born and we couldn't go anywhere without someone stopping us and asking what that noise was. We'd simply reply, that is our son, trying to breathe. He had such a time just breathing - poor little man - he was soooo loud and sounded squeaky and fought for every single breath.

Sorry, so back to my story. The bakery lady INSISTED on making Ethan's cake.  She has known Ethan since he was first born, and she knew he was adopted and had made his first cake, and she wanted to be the one to do this one. So I ordered it for today. We went in to pick it up and the bakery woman was grinning ear to ear as she and Ethan were talking to each other. (God uses his BABIES and TODDLERS in mighty ways too!) She wanted to hug Ethan...she wanted to pick him up and just squeeze him! But she showed him his cake; he smiled at her...and smiled even more. He was ready to dig in right there. He was all about the cake.

We made it home, (cake untouched), had dinner and then it was time for THE BELOVED CAKE... he dipped his finger in the frosting, again, and again, and again. I did grab the camera real quick and we got a few pictures:

I love me some Ethan kisses!! He was laughing through this last one...but he loves to give his momma and daddy kisses. His "movie kisses" are the best. He grabs your face in his hands and pulls you close and plants one right on your lips. It's the sweetest thing.

So one more year of celebration...and adoption IS worth celebrating. Our Lord, who predestined us for adoption and adopted us to himself, dances over us and celebrates us every single day. We are his children. The really humbling and exciting part is this, we have the opportunity, as an adoptive family, to be a living example of the Gospel and share God's story with everyone we meet.