As I wrote about yesterday, we had to wait six months from the time we brought Abby home until finalization. We also had to wait until after finalization before we could seal Abby to us and for Ryan to be able to bless her in church. (In our faith we believe families can be together forever, that families are meant to be an eternal unit. But for this to be able to happen you must be sealed together in temples - it is one of the main reasons we have temples. When Ryan and I were married we were sealed in a temple. After you are sealed to your spouse any child born to you is automatically sealed to you. But since Abby wasn't born to us we were able to take her to the temple and have her sealed to us. Also in our church, fathers (or other family members) can bless the child in front of the congregation - similar to a christening or dedication in other faiths. You can read more about sealings here: http://www.mormonnewsroom.org/article/sealing). We decided to do these 3 things all in one weekend so that my family traveling to be with us would be able to attend it all. On Friday October 12th we finalized, on Saturday we were sealed as a family, and on Sunday Ryan blessed her. It was an amazing weekend!
In the wording of both the finalization and the sealing we were told that Abby was our daughter just as though she had been born to us. Overall I do not wish that she had been born to us - she wouldn't be the person she is and we wouldn't have Cheyenne or her family as our extended family if Abby had been born to us. But still, hearing them say that was comforting in a way I can't explain - it validated my feeling that I was just as much Abby's mom as anyone else is their child's parent. No, we don't share DNA, and yes, she has a birth mom who has an important role in her life, but as far as the important aspects of motherhood, I had that completely. I don't know that I am explaining this feeling well, and it may only be understood by those of us that have traveled this road, but it was liberating, validating, exhilarating, breath taking (or giving), heart pounding, tear inducing, wonderfulness! It was like I was finally able to breath for the first time. It was amazing - I loved know no one would take Abby from us, that we were a family FOREVER!
(I wrote all about this incredible weekend in a lot of detail on our blog: http://www.bigadventuresblog.blogspot.com/2012/11/abbys-story-part-17-becoming-eternal.html)
Two songs for today: "At Last" by Etta James (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQ45Q7ZuTEs) and "I See the Light" by Mandy Moore (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y9m38Kl-Rp4)
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