Happy Birthday Justin!

On August 3rd we celebrated Justin's fourth birthday! He's such a little man now. He spent weeks before the big event carrying around several pages of printouts from websites showing all the things he wanted for his birthday...and it was an extensive list. (For those of you who are wondering what to get him for Christmas, never fear--he started that stack of printouts and a list for Santa yesterday.)

At the top of Justin's birthday wish list was a rather pricey but oh-so-fun battery powered utility vehicle. Meet the Gator. This baby has a 12 volts of battery horsepower, two speeds, a reverse gear, seating for two, and a bed that dumps. Darrel and Spencer worked the night before to assemble the truck while I helped Grace put together a little treasure hunt that would lead Justin outside to his present. I was proud of Spencer and Grace getting excited about making it fun for Justin.
Grace wrapped and decorated this box which held the keys to the Gator and the start of a crepe paper trail to find it. With some help from the kids, he navigated all the obstacles around which the crepe paper was wrapped and ended up on the back patio to find his truck. He was so excited! It didn't take long for him to master all the functions and gears and he spent the rest of the day zipping around the yard imagining all sorts of fun.

"Thanks Dad!"

Taking Grace for a spin.

So hard to wait! Two years ago I made Justin a dump truck cake and his interests haven't changed since then, so it was a firetruck cake this year. He was duly impressed by my efforts.

We had family over for dinner, cake and homemade ice cream later that day where he got to open more presents: a very authentic looking fire suit from G & G Ivie and Uncle John & Aunt Lindsey, a super cool fire truck from G & G Chamberlain and a garbage truck he's been wanting for over a year from Aunt Liza & Uncle Andrew and Uncle Taylor. Justin was very happy to add these to his already enormous fleet of trucks. He also got some birthday money from Uncle Brandon & Aunt Stephanie which he immediately wanted to use to buy some Legos.


Fire Chief Justin

Ripping into those gifts!

This firetruck squirts real water from its hose! Awesome!

The long-awaited garbage truck.

Justin, like our other two children, is adopted. We found out he was coming to our family near Mother's Day 2006. What a gift! We were able to have quite a bit of contact through email with his birth mother as well as meeting in person a couple of times before Justin was born. As it neared time for Justin's birth, I was so honored to be invited by Chelsea to be present in the delivery room when he was born.

The day Chelsea went into labor we got a call around 10 a.m. to let us know she was at the hospital and we could head into Salt Lake. She had started having regular contractions around 5 a.m. and they figured it would still be several hours until Justin made an appearance. Darrel was at work and I was home. I told the kids the baby was coming and Grace was so excited she had to tell the first neighbor she saw! Spencer insisted that we needed to take flowers and went into the yard and cut some blue hydrangeas for her. I found a grandma to watch the kids and called Darrel at work with shaking hands. (That never gets boring!)

When we got to the hospital it was about noon. We went into Chelsea's room and spent a lovely hour talking and joking. We were all set to play a game of Bull, when the nurse said she needed to check her. We went out, where her boyfriend, who had just arrived, joined us. The nurse came out to tell us, "She's complete. The doctor's coming and she'll start pushing!" Wow, that was fast! The men headed off to the waiting room and Chelsea's mom and I each manned a leg and helped while Chelsea pushed, laughing and talking all along (ah, epidurals!). After about 40 minutes of pushing, at 1:40 p.m., there Justin was, fair as could be (we were expecting a dark-haired Puerto Rican baby) and beautiful just like Chelsea. The doctor had me cut the cord. The miracle of pregnancy and birth never ceases to amaze me! Chelsea wanted me to hold Justin first, but I wouldn't hear of it. She'd carried him for 9 months. That was her privilege. After she'd had her turn, I held that little stranger and just looked and looked at him. I used to think that somehow a mother must know intuitively her biological child, but after watching baby after baby come into the world in the hospital, I realized that they are all strangers to their parents at first. Certainly there is a resemblance to family, a familiarity, but still that little spirit is all its own. The men (Chelsea's boyfriend Jeremy, her dad and Darrel) were summoned back to the room. Justin was wide awake and the nurse brought in a bottle for him. I fed him and we all marveled at his perfection. It was a beautiful moment. After about 30 min. we said our goodbyes for the time being and headed home with plans to return later with the kids.

We visited later that Thursday night, then it would be Sunday before we were to meet Chelsea at the Family Services office and bring Justin home. That Sunday, we sat a long time, waiting. Chelsea's birth parent worker came it to tell us something had come up that Chelsea wanted to talk to us about. We didn't know what to think, but that didn't sound good. Chelsea and Jeremy came into the room. Chelsea said that she felt awful, but that she and Jeremy both thought Justin might be Jeremy's son, not a former boyfriend's like she thought. Justin did bear quite a resemblance to Jeremy. Jeremy told us he and Chelsea had discussed this over the past couple of days and decided even if Justin was his son, they felt that placing him for adoption was still the best thing for him and for them. They were planning on getting married at some point in the future, but it wasn't time yet. As hard as it would have been for us to lose Justin then, we told them through lots of tears that we could never take Justin home unless they were sure that was the right thing and what they wanted. They assured us it was.

Chelsea went into another room and brought Justin in, wrapped in a soft green blanket. Chelsea's parents were there as well and again that overwhelming spirit of love that we'd experienced with each of our children's adoptions filled the room. We hugged, talked and took pictures. Then it was time for Chelsea to go. We hugged a tearful goodbye. I cried and cried, more for Chelsea's loss than my own joy. It was so hard this time to know what Chelsea was losing by giving us this gift. My heart ached for her.

We tucked Justin into his car seat, which suddenly looked very large, and took him home. The kids were so glad to have Justin there and our family members were excited to meet our new little boy. And we've all been loving him ever since.

Justin's first birthday party at his birth family's house.

Seven months old--sealing day!

About 4 or 5 months
Justin was not one of our better eaters!

Newborn

Boy that car seat looks big!

With Chelsea, Jeremy and Chelsea's parents on the day of placement.

Lots of love.

Grace and Spencer holding Justin for the first time.

Happy family!

Feeding Justin his first bottle.

The proud dad and birth grandpa.

Chelsea meets Justin at last!

It's a boy!

So, how to sum up my Justin at four years old? He is so many things I wish I was! He is the most naturally cheerful person I know--an eternal optimist--the kind that can spread joy and delight to others. He is grateful. I can't tell you how many times he has thanked Darrel or me completely out of the blue for something we did or got for him long ago. He is kind and gentle. He is talkative--so so talkative! He is fun and funny. How he makes us all laugh! He is a little obsessive (papers, lists and miscellaneous toys and items that have to be carried everywhere he goes). He is rough-and-tumble. He is bright and quick to figure things out. He is sensitive. He is the quintessential "morning person". He is determined and knows his own mind. He is independent. He is snuggly, in a squirmy kind of way he's had since he was a baby. And most of all, he LOVES trucks. My Justin, you are a joy. How I love you!