Today is your day.

Congratulations!
Today is your day.
You're off to Great Places!
You're off and away!

Actually, a week ago today was her day - Halle's day, that is. Last Saturday, my mom, Tekia, and I (the boys were at an Arkansas game) went downtown with Niva Grace (aka Halle), her family, and friends for her big day - adoption day! It was, in fact, National Adoption Day, a Saturday on which courtrooms all across the country were open to finalize the adoptions of 4500 foster children! Good day.

Here are Niva Grace and her mom, sister, and grandparents with the judge who finalized her adoption (and who also finalized Tekia's adoption almost six years ago).

My mom and I had never been to court on National Adoption Day before, and we very much enjoyed getting to witness it all. Adoptions are rather anticlimactic - at least the court room part of them is - but seeing so many at once was exciting. I believe they were doing about thirty adoptions in Memphis, and we saw the first six or so, starting with Niva Grace's. We just sat and watched as family after family was declared forever, and it was awesome.

The picture below is of people who are total strangers to me. I took it because I like them - or at least I think I do. The father of this family is on the stand, telling the attorney and judge that he promises to be a real dad to the son he is adopting. His newly adopted son is sitting in the front row of seats. I'm not sure which one he is, though, because they are all his sons. The man on the stand is the single adoptive father to those six adolescent boys sitting there. Wow.


Anyway, back to the star of the day. She really was the star. If you get the Sunday paper here, this week you might've noticed a stunningly beautiful little cover girl on the front page of the Local News section. That would be Niva Grace. If you don't get the paper, you can see the photo of N.G. and her new mom here. I'll see if I can get you an autographed copy when the star learns how to write.

Side note: Don't get confused and look for this picture on the very front page of the paper - that space was reserved for an article about animals being rescued. The article (which was actually not an article at all - just a caption under the photo) about children being rescued was a few sections back. Really. Now y'all know I'm all for animals being rescued. You're talking to the girl who recently syringe-fed puppy formula laced with crushed-up Tums to a calcium-depleted baby squirrel. And the girl who once brought home a wild, orphaned baby bunny and was once known to cook green peas for her spoiled betta fish. But I'm still a little partial to human children, particularly those who need rescuing, and I wish The Commercial Appeal and other media outlets shared my sentiments. And that's all I'm going to say about that.

After court, we went to Niva Grace's Adoption Day party, where we ate, talked, and watched N.G. open and play with her presents. Below is Niva Grace opening presents with her sister Cierra and mom Cande.

I have to admit that Mom's gift was her favorite. She dragged that phone around the rest of the morning! You may recognize her dress. It was her Easter dress that my mom made for her.

Love this girl. :-)

Kia made sure to get in some holding time with both baby girls.
This was Jordan's first big outing and she spent pretty much all of it sleeping. Dreaming of her big day, perhaps? And, yes, she is flipping off the camera in this picture. On second thought, maybe that's not what she's dreaming about . . .
All that baby-holding wore this girl out!

We are so blessed to still be able to be a part of Niva Grace's life and were so happy to be there with her and her family on her special day. I know many of you have prayed for this sweet girl right along with us, and for that I thank you. Please don't feel you have to stop now. :-)

So . . .
be your name Buxbaum Halle or Bixby Niva, or Bray Grace
or Mordecai Ali van Allen O'Shea,
you're off to great places!
Today is your day!
Your mountain is waiting.
So . . . get on your way!

We love you, sweet girl!

P.S. For those of you who aren't Dr. Seuss fans like me, the italicized quotes at the beginning and end of this post are from Oh, the Places You'll Go!, a book I read to Niva Grace almost daily during her seven months with us.