A Name and other exciting events

The official release of version 6 is:

Daniel JaKwaun Edward

(Yes it is a bit unusual, but sometimes situations call
for a bit of compromise, and this is one such time!)

Notice the tongue, he really does keep it out like that most of the time.

We came home and this little guy has learned the army crawl! He doesn't do it very often on his own, but his siblings sure like to tease him and when that happens he can sure crawl a long way!

Here is our first picture taken with all the children. Daniel is almost a week old.

This is what our children do on a Saturday afternoon, in the rain. They put on
winter coats, life vests, goggles, and hats. As accessories they carry around
floating devices and marshmallow guns. And don't forget Joseph's wings!

By small and simple things

Here is an excerpt from a favorite poem entitled The Weaver (author unknown):

Not til the loom is silent
And the shuttles cease to fly,
Shall God unroll the canvas
And explain the reason why.

As we look back at the last few weeks of our lives, this verse rings particularly true for us. A few weeks ago, we traveled to Louisiana planning to adopt a baby. Within hours after we learned that the birth mother was planning to keep the baby, we received word about another baby that needed a home. Given our recent experience, we decided not to say anything about it to anyone - not really sure what might happen. The baby was supposedly due on November 4th in Dallas, so we thought we had a few weeks to think about it. But, much to our surprise, we got a call on Monday (Oct. 11th) saying that the baby had been born at 2:37 AM that morning. We were still recovering from our family festivities last weekend, but we packed as quickly as we could and flew to Dallas Tuesday morning.

The birth mother's name is Tamika, and she is a great person. We spent time with her on Tuesday and much of the day Wednesday. Despite her love for the baby, she is not able to provide a stable family life for him. She signed papers yesterday and placed the baby with us. We are so excited to have him in our family. He is a tiny baby boy - he was 5 lbs. 6 oz. at birth and 5 lbs. 1 oz when released from the hospital.

We are still working on a name, so stay tuned ...

 

 

 

Families can be together forever

On Monday, we went to the court house and Isaac was added to our family by legal authority.


On Saturday, we went to the Lord's house and Isaac was sealed to our family by priesthood authority.

 

 

 

What a Day!

This little guy is officially ours!

Aren't they cute?

We went to court today and went through the official proceedings.
The people who are not familiar to you are the judge and the lawyer.

Such interesting questions that the lawyer asks: mainly to me and then they ask Mat if he heard, and if he agrees. Some of the questions I was asked were:

• If the baby has been in my home six months
• If I am at least 21 years of age and ten years older than the child (ha, ha)
• Are we (individually) capable of providing (emotionally and physically) for the child
• If Mat is willing to agree to the adoption (like it was all my doing!)
• In the event of divorce or death, that we are still to provide for this child
• Do we feel like we have established a bond of love and affection for this child, and other such interesting questions.

A picture of our happy family!

Afterwards we went to a well known local restaurant and had
THE SINK.
It was great fun. The adults had lunch and the kids gorged
themselves on ice cream. This thing must of been at least
ten inches tall with ice cream and toppings.

They ate and ate and ate........

and then they were sick.....

yet they kept coming back for more, and eventually
resorted to eating strait out of the sink!
They never did finish it completely but they sure enjoyed themselves.

It has been a great day. We look forward to this weekend when we
are able to take Isaac to the temple and make him eternally ours.