Our "forever" little girl

Olivia Louise Green became legally ours on November 25, 2014 (our wedding anniversary).  This meant that she could finally be eternally ours.  Sadly, so much happened in life in the next few months that it didn't immediately occur.  Then I decided that I really wanted it to be a super special day, so we decided to just wait until the 1 year mark of the day we took custody (gotcha day).  So, on August 13th, 2015, Olivia Louise Green became eternally ours.

This girl couldn't have made it any more perfect (as long as you ignore her screaming at grandma to 'stop it' and 'no').  She wore her white dress with pure delight, and knew without a doubt that she was a princess.  She had every Raleigh, NC Temple worker lined up watching her twirl and stare at herself in the mirror.  

Prior to arriving at the Temple, we went out to eat with the family that was able to come.  This included my parents and siblings still at home, and the Bodily family.  It meant a lot to us that our family took the time and effort to be part of this special day too.

Will & Olivia

Then we headed to the Temple and were joined by our Branch President and his wife (and close family friends), Darrin and Deanne Starkey.  Once again, so awesome that they could take the time to come along.

The Sealing itself was short, but memorable.  Caden wouldn't stop talking (asked lots of questions about Jesus), and Olivia decided to take on a polar opposite personality for just a few minutes of her short life (and not cooperate).  Nonetheless, it was great to have all our kids together with us.  

Afterwards we snapped a few pictures before the long journey home (our boys had to be at school the next morning).

Us with The Starkey's

All of my family that was able to attend

The yummy sugar cookies that I made to say "Thank You" to those that came

Can't believe the impact this little girl has had in our life, and can't imagine our life without her.  She has a complete diva personality, and doesn't let anyone tell her differently than what she wants.  She is scary friendly (such a change from our boys), and will win over any crowd.  She is truly a princess, and she knows it (good or bad???).  She is loved by so many, and reciprocates that love right back.  She is Olivia Louise Green for time and all eternity.

No longer "The Boys"

This part of our life has been years in the making.  It started back when Chris and I were dating.  I would travel to Guatemala, to my parents orphanage, every March to play volunteer.  At this time there was a little girl, about 3 yrs old, that I absolutely feel in love with.  While I can't remember her name at this time (I know mom would) mom would always update me on who she was doing.  Adoptions were allowed at this time, and I always wished I was in a position to adopt her.  Obviously, being in college, and merely dating a guy, didn't put me in a position.  Then when Chris and I got married we always talked about adoption.  Even before having 3 boys, it was a little hispanic girl that we were drawn to, whenever we did decide to adopt. Fast forward to January 2014. 

It was the middle of January and I had this strong impression that I should talk to Chris about us going ahead with the process of adopting.  He, and I both, weren't ready for another child - in any form or fashion! He, of course, says 'he'll think about it' (always the response I get when he has no desire to deal with whatever I'm talking about).  Next thing I know he is coming to me to tell me that he had just turned the truck on for 2 seconds to roll the window up (before the rain hit) when a message came on the radio, and the only words he heard were "ADOPT NOW".  He was creeped out by this, given our discussion a few minutes prior.  All I could do was laugh and tell him things couldn't be more clear.  However, this still didn't change anything.  Months passed and we did nothing about it.  It wasn't all him, I wasn't ready either.  I work in adoption, so naturally I come across all sorts of available situations, and would of course screen them, but nothing more.  I didn't want to fork over the money necessary, I didn't want to add another child to the mix, I didn't want to go through the hassle of a home study, I didn't want to do a lot of the requirements mandatory to actually adopt.  

Then July 14, 2014 an email came through to Sarah (who is in charge of our spanish emails).  She was in labor with Luke, so she sent it out asking Hannah (who speaks spanish) to call this women who wanted to place her 6 month old baby girl for adoption.  As I always did, I told Hannah to let me know if she was serious, and to have her send a picture.  Most women wanting to place already born children don't actually follow through.  Then this picture came through to our email: 

It was immediate that I wanted her.  I really didn't think that Chris would remotely agree though.  I assumed he would laugh at me.  I had him come look at the picture, and to my utter amazement, he asked questions of what we would have to do.  Good question! What would we have to do? So, I started making some phone calls.  I discovered that Virginia is one of the longest home study processes.  Everyone was telling me it would take 6 weeks-3 months.  This process was mandatory before we could bring her back in Virginia.  So, I continued to make calls.  I knew that we could pay to put her in a private foster care for a time being while we competed everything, but refused to do that for more than 3-4 weeks.  I didn't think she deserved that, and would just let another family who was ready go ahead and adopt her.  Somewhere in me I also hoped things wouldn't work out so that it would be easy for me to say no.  If I stopped and thought about what I was doing then I would immediately freak out.  Fortunately, everything fell into place.  I found a home study provider that assured me it would be done in 3 weeks.  Birthmom, Yarina, wanted to sign ASAP (she signed relinquishments on July 18th).  An attorney in FL who I've worked with for years was willing to handle the case.  The major vacation that we had already planned for out west was still going to work out, because we'd have everything done on our end before going, and then everything on the social workers end would be completed by the time we got back.  The cost of private foster care was dropped from $150/day to $40/day - making it feasible.  Every road block we tried to put up was knocked over, and the path was paved for us to adopt this little girl.  

So, we did all we could do.  We did background checks, fingerprinting, in-home visits, medical visits, financial documents, you name it, we did it - all before we left for California/Arizona on July 29th.  While we were gone our fingerprinting and background checks came back.  This is something that our social worker said could delay things, and he had to have before writing up the home study.  Anything dealing with the government isn't typically done in a timely manner.  Miracles happened, and they were.  After we got back from vacation we meet with our social worker again (meeting with him involved 2 hr drives each way, each time), and finalized our home study.  He was then able to send it to the FL attorney who was the get it on Monday, August 11th.  Chris had to work and Carson & Cooper had to start school.  So, our plan was that Caden and I would drive to FL as soon as it looked like I could pick her up and bring her back.  This involved FL giving us clearance, and VA giving us clearance.  Since the FL attorney had the home study on monday, I decided to drive down on Wednesday and wait it all out.  My sister, Alisa, came with me to help with Caden.  The drive down wasn't the best.  I drove in the wrong direction, losing 2 hrs, and then pulled into the Florida Baptist Children's Home just for my car to die, and me not have a clue why.  None of this mattered though.  We were here, finally!

 

Caden was completely smitten.  He thought, and still does, she was awesome.

        

The Florida Baptist caseworker ended up taking us to a hotel, while my car was towed.  Thankfully we stayed in a hotel that was walking distance to some pretty cool things in downtown Jacksonville, FL.  The next day I was told my car gas gauge wasn't registering correctly...so, I was merely out of gas :) I got my car back on thursday, and was very anxious to get home already.  Thursday FL had given clearance for us to leave.  Friday another miracle happened and VA ended up giving clearance.  Once again, things don't always go this quickly.  So, home we headed.  We made a pit stop in Charlotte to visit the Bodily family, and the finally made it home around 8:30 that evening.  

Olivia Louise Green was able to meet the rest of her family.  3 crazy brothers, and a welcoming father.  My local family also came down, anxious to meet her.  

Her name - I always thought I would name my daughter (should I ever have one) Allie.  It's a family name, and I love it! However, when this situation presented itself, it didn't feel right.  So, we started talking about names.  Did we start is with a C? Nope, I really was done with C's, and I was ok with it not being one.  I had wrote down a few on a piece of paper one day and apparently Chris had read them.  When I got home he said "I want to name her Olivia Louise".  Louise being my middle name.  I thought it was a bit special that he felt strongly about a name, and loved it as well.  So, Olivia Louise it is.

Seven months later - Olivia has definitely changed things.  #4 child has no doubt been the hardest to adjust to.  Not sure why, but it has been.  Also, I find myself still saying "The boys" when referring to my kids.  I have to remind myself there is a girl now.  You wouldn't believe how difficult that transition is.  She has softened the house full of boys, and they all adore her, and treat her like the princess she is.  Getting mad at Olivia or being mean to her isn't even a question.  She is the sweetest, most easy going, child I've had.  She is actually receptive to other human beings. No fear - she has her temper tantrums where she'll throw her bottle at you, but they are typically few and far between (but maybe it's just a teaser for what terrible two's will be like with her).  She is a princess to the core.  Loves the mirror, and loves selfie's.  We are very blessed to have her in our life and a member of our family.

I do have the thank the family and friends who got me through the times that I was about to lose it because "what the heck was I doing?".

West Coast Here We Come!

For as much as I have travelled, I've never touched the west coast! Sad, right? I lived in Utah, visited Nevada numerous times (Las Vegas baby), had a blissfully warm Thanksgiving in Arizona and enjoyed Montana & Idaho during my college days...but never stepped foot into a west coast state, and especially not the ocean itself (slightly dramatic because I did go to a Wal-Mart that was technically in Washington during a trip to Montana).  Enjoying the Pacific Ocean has been on my bucket list for some time, and I really wanted to take Chris to experience the West as well.  So, when my oldest sister (Jenn) and her family moved to Arizona, a convenient opportunity arose.

The plan was to visit the Swapp family and see the mountains of Arizona.  To add to the adventure we decided to hit San Diego, CA first, with them, and then travel back to their house in AZ.  We flew out of Charlotte, NC bright and early on July 29th with a straight flight to San Diego.  3 little boys on a plane was slightly scary, but they did awesome! Thank you straight flights!

Caden

Ryan and Madeline picked us up at the airport and shuttled us back to the house we were renting together.  It's always fun to share a place with family because the cousins end up having such a good time being together all the time.  Jenn and Ryan were gracious enough to drive two cars to San Diego so we were able to have our own transportation while there.

At some point during the trip....

It was still early when we arrived in San Diego because we gained 3 hours.  So, we got dressed, packed up, and headed to the beach!  I was finally able to put my feet into the Pacific Coast.  I have to admit...It was much colder than I thought given that I was in a part of the country that is fairly warm year round.

Nail polish compliments of Carson & Cooper

Carson pulling some treats out of the ocean

The crew minus a few

The crew still minus the twins

Random tamed squirrel

The next morning Caden woke up crazy early because of the time difference.  So, Chris and I decided to drive down to the ocean and ended up walking it for a short distance.  It was really nice!

Later, we hit up Legoland.  It was quite the adventure.  Note to self - Don't attempt big time amusement parks during prime time!  The kids had a blast, but even they didn't like waiting in lines.

I will say that it was pretty cool to see all the things that were built out of legos:

After looking at all the cool lego buildings we finally decided to enjoy some rides:

Cooper and I

Carson and Madeline

Cooper imitating the "cat" behind him...pretty good impression

I was talked into riding the roller coaster.  Needless to say it reminded me of how old I was getting.  Cooper LOVED it!

How cool are these Lego's....

The first half of the day we did rides and the second half we enjoyed the waterpark portion.  I think the kids liked the waterpark the most.  Probably because it just involved swimming around and not waiting in lines.

The next day we just enjoyed the beach.  It was amazingly relaxing.  Not sure when I've fallen asleep on a beach before, but I accomplished it here, and so did Caden.

Cooper, Carson, Caden and Sam

Chris even got some fishing in

The Beach we stayed at

Friday, we hesitantly went back to Legoland...

This time we did the Sea Life Aquarium:

And then went on more rides...

Caden entertaining himself while waiting

Unfortunately he wasn't old enough to ride many rides, so he enjoyed the stationary ones

Sam and Cooper rode the smaller race cars (a few times), and Madeline, Ella, Carson and Max rode the bigger ones (numerous times).

Ryan and the crew

After Legoland we went back to the house and rode bikes for a bit.

Saturday brought the end of our California stay.  Before heading towards Arizona we wanted to visit the San Diego Temple.  Wow! What a beautiful Temple!

Carson complained about his eyes hurting and couldn't look normal in a single picture

Then we began our journey towards Kingman, AZ and made a pitstop at Joshua Tree National Park.  It was awesome to see a desert national park.  So different than our East Coast.

A Joshua Tree

After Joshua Tree we were on the road again to Kingman:

Chris was amazed at how far you could see

At one point during our 6 hour drip from San Diego-Kingman we went through a 100 mile stretch that had NOTHING.  Not. A. Single. Thing.  Except, a homeless man.  It was so weird.  I have no idea how this man survived.  There was this shrine of some sort (had shoes hanging from a fence and then a single post)...

And then this homeless man and his cart.

When Chris got out to take a picture he encounters this spider

We finally made it to Kingman rather late that evening.

During our 4 day stay in Kingman we enjoyed The Grand Canyon and Lake Havasu.  Chris was also able to go fishing one evening with Ryan to Lake Mead...pretty sure fishing our West was on his bucket list.

Lake Havasu

Section of Lake Mead

The Grand Canyon was great.  A bit scary as there was no fence to prevent any one from falling over, and taking 7 kids 11 and under definitely meant keeping a very close eye.

A group full of hooligans 

Note Trail Ettiquette #4

We started walking down this trail but realized it was a bit steep and nerve wracking with our group of kids...so, they all left their mark and we turned around

We ended up walking the Rim back to our cars...

Caden making himself comfortable in the gift shop

We were even able to see some native wildlife that doesn't exist near us (Elk).

Our last day in AZ we just chilled at the Swapp home and enjoyed their neighbors pool.  It was awesome!

Caden LOVED Tori and Thomas

Caden has never been one to care for clothing...

Cool man Cooper

The evening of August 6th Ryan took us to the Las Vegas airport to catch our red eye flight back home.  Once again, nervous how the boys would do on an overnight flight, but they did AWESOME! Definitely recommend it for kids.  It wasn't that awesome for the adults, but hey, the kids slept and that's what matters.

We did drive through "The Strip" so Chris and the boys could "see" Vegas.

The we hit the airport to return home:

Overall it was a great trip.  We had our moments of people being out of their comfort zone and not enjoying it a great deal, but it was all worth while.  We were all able to see things we haven't experienced, and spend time with family that has lived further away for the last several years.