Wednesday is "Gotcha Day"

I can't seem to find time to post anymore... can't imagine why ;-), but I needed to share this!

This Wednesday is the LAST STEP in our adoption process! We get to go to to court on Wednesday and the boys names will be legally changed to Cody Daniel Cassady and Brandon Thomas Cassady!!! As of Wednesday, the boys are legally ours and our process of adopting them is OVER!!!! We have really had a great experience in the adoption process and one day hope to do it again, but it is something I am glad to see come to an end as the boys have always felt like ours, but now it is official, legally speaking too! We will go to court and the judge will ask a few questions, then papers will be signed and it will all be official! We will forever celebrate this day, February 23rd, with the boys as their "Gotcha Day." Cody is lucky as his birthday is the 25th, so he'll always get double partying his birthday week :-)

I will try to post the pics we take from the day as I know I will want to share with all my blogging buddies who have stuck with us through the ups and downs of this journey we've been on. Can't wait to share and be thinking of us Wednesday!!!

Happy 30 Days!

What is Happy 30 Days you say? Well, in our adoption world today is a BIG day! Today is officially the end of our "30 day visit" and tomorrow our lawyer will officially file for adoption with the court system! That means hopefully by February 23rd our court date and "gotcha day" will be here and the boys will legally be Cassady's. To us, and most of the people around us, they have always been Cassady's, but this makes it legal. The boys birth certificates will change to show Adam and I as birth parents, which we find funny since we weren't dating when we would've had Cody and weren't married when we would have had Brandon! :-) We are changing their middle names to family names, which the boys seem to LOVE! Cody will be Cody Daniel since that is Adam's middle name and he is the oldest and Brandon will be Brandon Thomas for my grandfather who was John Thomas.

The other day a friend of mine from work said she went through and read all of my posts up until the last one and she said she sat there and cried. I thought, hmmm, I think I need to do that to. (Not cry, but read all about our story) I went through last night and read everything until today. All I can say is God is amazing and if anyone doesn't believe in miracles and God's work, just read our journey. I know women who give birth naturally say you forget all the pain when you hold your child for the first time and I feel the same way. I had almost forgotten the pain we endured along our journey, but I am so glad I had posts to remind me of how great God is. I admit sometimes I think of all the "firsts" I missed, like first words, steps, losing teeth, etc. but I am experiencing some amazing firsts right now. I will never forget the first time the boys told us they loved us or the first time they both called me Mama and Adam Daddy. Those are more precious to me than anything in this world. Now, we aren't the Partridge Family or anything and everything isn't perfect, or even near perfect every day, and we are learning as we go, but I wouldn't trade where I am right now for ANYTHING in this world. God knew there were 2 boys who needed love and a home and he knew there was a couple who desired a family above everything and He made it happen beyond our wildest dreams.

People keep saying 'you know you'll get pregnant now' and if that is God's will, great, but if not, I have MORE than I could ever have asked for or deserve. We are still on the waiting list and are keeping our files up-to-date if another child comes along and we feel that is right for our home and our boys, eventually we might add to the Cassady Chaos. But right now, we are content and feel blessed beyond anything our hearts ever desired.

So, Happy 30 Days Cody and Brandon Cassady! You have made Daddy and Mama the happiest, luckiest, most loved people in the world!

PS. This is how we celebrated, Daddy and Uncle Drew put up the new basketball goal and Brandon finally got to play with his Metal Detector he got for his birthday!




Our posing Little Man




I hope he is finding a great treasure out there!




Our future Basketball Star ;-)




Uncle Drew and Cody trying to beat Daddy. Not sure how that is working out!

My Toothless Wonder

I know this isn't the first tooth Brandon has lost, but it is the first tooth he has lost as our son and in our home, so tonight is a big deal for Daddy and I! Brandon's other front tooth got a little more loose while sledding yesterday, amazing how that happened! Then today while Daddy was tickling him he said, "My tooth is on my tongue!" So he gave me the tooth while spitting out the yucky blood. What a lovely sight! Here is my little toothless wonder! Isn't our baby precious!

Snow Play Time

I have to admit we have enjoyed our time off, but come May I will be steaming about it! Anyway, Adam (who is now always known as Dad and yes I am mama all of the time) :) got a new toy. Adam is so excited to have some playmates now! I definitely felt like a redneck as I watched my kids being pulled by a tractor on a car hood! I really had only heard of that, never really seen it done before! They had the time of their lives!! I admit, I got on a few times, can't let the boys have all the fun! Why we waited until most of the snow was gone to do this, I am not sure.



Here is Adam with his new toy, he is so happy! :)




All my boys, from 31 to 8!




Lovin' it!




Action shot! The boys were giggling so loud as they were flying around!




Still smiling so that was a good sign!

The Best Christmas Ever :)

Well we have just concluded the Best Christmas Adam and I have had in our 7 years of marriage! (And yes, we do have a 9 year old LOL!) I just wanted to share a few pics from our special day. Last night we went to Grandmother and Papa's for the Cassady Christmas. Today my family came to our house. This was a special occasion because my cousins from Orlando and Atlanta were in and got to spend Christmas with us. It's not very often we all get together, so that is another great gift we received this year.




Here is the best picture I think of the Cassady Family Cousins! The silly faces are the best because it's the picture the kids don't mind doing!



The lovely morning look picture! :)



Here are the boys with Lauren and Rachel, two of our cousins from Atlanta.




Here's "Little Man" and me :) Now I know everyone says the boys look just like Adam, but I do see a resemblance here!





Here is our family of 4! What a difference from last year to this year :)




Here is our family. Mom said "Finally, our family has grown!" :)




What a way to end the day with a little snow man! We loved our White Christmas and hope you did too!

Meet the Cassady's

I got the OK to say names on here and post pictures, so here are a few pics of our new family! (yes I know, they look just like Adam!) These are just a couple of our favorites. I will be adding more later I am sure. Cody and Brandon have completed our home and made us the happiest people in the world! God has truly blessed us this year! It was just a year ago we were meeting with Anne for the first time to get approved for adoption! We found out that if all goes well with lawyers, paperwork, etc. we might get to have our "gotcha" court date the last Wednesday in February!










These 4 have quickly become the Fantastic Four! Alicia and I have waited a long time to share "the boys" stories!

My First Day as a "Real Mom"

So, we picked up the boys last night to begin our "Forever Family." I took off today so Adam and I could attend the boys Christmas parties at school. This morning I got up, got the boys ready and drove them to school. (yes 30 min both ways, so I am glad that is the only time I have to do that!) I was totally excited to be a parent in the car rider line, instead of the teacher greeting the students getting out of the car rider line!

I then proceed to come home and get more wrapping done since I am seeing so many hours dwindling away lately (imagine that!) As I am wrapping my cell phone rings. I notice it is a school number, so all I can think is "Oh no! What have they done already?" I answer and it is my youngest son's teacher. She said he has been really worried that I don't know what time the Christmas party is. Then she giggles and says "He said he didn't think you knew what time the party started, because you are a first time mom and didn't know these things!" :) She and I both had a good laugh at that one! But I realized he bugged her enough she called me, so he really does think I don't know anything since I am a "first time mom!"

So if you think I don't know anything being a "first time mom," you are probably right, at least according to "little man" as I call him :)

Monday we are having yet another home visit from the agency so hopefully I can start using names and post some pics. :) I will at least attempt to ask that question!

Anyway, just wanted to share my first morning day as a "Mom" (a mom who doesn't know much though!) :) I am sure I will have more interesting stories once we have a full day under our belts!