Finally

For more than a year, every time I think about today I choke back a flood of tears and can barely compose myself. Every time I drive by that courthouse, I'd wonder when the phone call was finally going to come and when we were finally going to get to make our promise to you a reality.  We have already walked in that building and had this moment with each of your siblings. But this feels different.

This is different. Their adoption days, while important, were ceremonial and just a formality, the end of a state mandated time requirement.  Getting here today with you was a fight. There were so many moments where I almost lost hold of my faith, where I wondered if today would really ever happen.

And thank God, finally, here we are. Today we will once more walk into this courtroom and make the same promises to you that we have made to your brother and your sister. Today we will walk out forever your mom and dad. Today, finally, your name will truly be yours.

Today we can finally, truly, take a deep breath and know that this is all behind you. That we have finally reached the finish line of this particular event in your life.

Today we finally get to lay down the heavy burdens of what-if and really stretch our wings and look to the future.

Today you are finally, forever, our daughter, Alexis Faith.