Adopting Little Bug.

October 10th, 2006

This was the first moment I met my son. In the NICU, sleeping so soundly and waiting for his Mother to take him home. We got the call from CPS that they needed a home for a baby boy. He was 2 wks old and has dair hair and is small. That's all we knew. I met him on the 10th and spent 4 hrs alone w/him in the NICU. What a beautiful moment that was. I KNEW that he would be ours. I had no doubt in my mind whatsoever. He was designed to be in our family. We brought him home the next morning, October 11th.

We started off having 2 hr visits twice a week w/the BM and Grandma. I would drop him off at CPS and pick him up 2 hrs later. I couldn't wait to have him back in my arms. Those two hours were torture! This continued for at least a few months.

We waited so long for this little one to arrive! Hoping and praying every day! Here he is!

By now Dianna (BM) has signed away her parental rights. We were on cloud 9! We were starting to lessen the amount of visits slowly.

6 months old and the happiest baby ever! He is growing and learning more every day. This was the first time he sat up by himself. We are waiting for the case to be transferred to the adoption unit. Getting excited! We were down to one visit every other week or so.

ADOPTION DAY!

I worked 2 hrs this day (1oam-12pm) and on pins and needles the whole time. Dom took two naps that morning which was rare. The adoption was scheduled for 2:30 but when we got there we found out that so was another case. We only had to wait an additional 15 minutes.
Here is our support group of family/friends who attended:
Mark, Lisa and Nick Pendergrass
Betty Pendergrass
Kassie and Ryan Pendergrass
Zoe and Tyler Jackson
Katie Fosburg
Mike and Ronda Fosburg
Bryan and Brenda Nuggent & Spencer
Shannon Selland (Social Worker)
Marilynn Hatch (Adoption Case Worker)

The Judge was Valerie Jolicoeur. We were allowed to take pictures and video if we wanted to. Not all judges allow this.

"Signed, Sealed, Delivered, I'm yours!".

After the adoption, we celebrated by having dinner @ PF Changs.

We have an Open Adoption in which Dianna gets two visits a year and letters/pictures twice a year.

SEALING DAY!

October 21st
Dom was sealed to us! What a special day and a neat experience. Again we had a lot of friends and family there to support us. Afterwards both families and close friends went to lunch at Old Country Buffet. It meant so much to me that all my sibblings could be there!

October 26th-Adoption Baby Shower from my work!
Needless to say Dom was spoiled rotten! I was so excited that my work did this for me. Dom got a lot of cool toys!

October 28th-Adoption Party
Our Mom's planned an adoption party for us! We went to a cabin in Twin Lakes and celebrated w/family and friends. My sister-in-law, Mary made a beautiful picture slide show w/beautiful music for all of us to watch. Thank you Mary!
A light lunch was served. Mom made a cake w/many cupcakes, covered in frosting, with the message "Welcome to our family Dominic Ryan Pendergrass".
Mary designed the adoption announcements and put together a beautiful picture slide show. Afterwards Mom put together a game where we looked at everyone's baby pictures and guessed who was who. It was fun!

October 29th- Baby Blessing
I just want to note how special this day is. When you adopt, you have to wait until they are yours to bless them. In foster care this usually means that they will be quite a bit older. I have attended many baby's blessings and we will never have a newborn blessed. My mom made Dom's outfit. He is was adorable!

Well this ends our adoption journey for Bug. It seemed long at the time and we were on pins and needles until the Judge declared him as good as our flesh and blood! Dom is an angel sent from heaven. He was meant for our family. He came to us so easily it's hard to believe that we are having such a difficult time this time around. Whatever happens with this next child, we always have Dom. FOREVER! He is OURS!

Thank you for reading this. I just felt the need to share this experience with my friends and family as we are going through quite a different experience trying to adopt this time around.