Headed to finalization!

Tomorrow is our big day as a family of three.....in my heart, it is as big of a day as our Family Day when Emma was placed in our arms for the first time. Tomorrow we will stand before a judge and be declared Emma's parents in the eyes of the law. Are we still her parents tomorrow just as we are today? Yes. Is our family "dynamic" going to change because we heard a judge say those words? No. But in a strange way, it is my chance to get a "do-over" of our Family Day. A chance to savor every second and hug her tightly while they declare us family. I will be holding my daughter, who loves me now...and who trusts me now. Because, seriously guys, on our Family Day I was a nervous wreck. I was scared to death of this little baby and this BIG thing we had taken on (parenting). I didn't know her. I didn't know who she was, what she liked, what she needed. She didn't know me either-and for a while didn't want me. She wanted the mother she had grown to love, her Foster Mom.

Tomorrow I get to be the mother she wants. The mother she has grown to love. I get to say that I know her and I love her and she is mine forever. I know what she wants when she cries one way versus another. I know when she is scared, when she is sad, when she is sick, and when she is just simply happy.

Tomorrow I get to experience the emotions of having her placed in my arms while having the comfort of having already been in the trenches and survived-knowing we have come out stronger on the other side.

From my scared, sad baby girl in Seoul.....

To smiling at me for the first time....

To becoming Mommy's fearless little princess.....

My goodness how far we have come :)