Many the Miles

Ah, finally a free minute to sit and reminisce over Miles' Adoption Day as well as the 16 months leading up to the big day!  The title of this post definitely rings true for our journey to adopt this loud, sweet, uber-cute, rambunctious boy!  A little shout-out to Steph J for making this my mantra during those many months (oh, and you, too, Sara Bareilles...ya know, for singing that song "Many the Miles").  

It's a funny thing, naming your children!  We were very hesitant to name Miles for the first few months...really, just hesitant to call him anything.  Naming anything is a big deal...it means there is a sense of permanency and attachment...neither of which were promised for the first few months of his life.  Luke and I thought of (what felt like) a million names, but we kept coming back to Miles.  No family history, nobody we even know with that name...it just seemed to fit!  I digress...I mention all of this to say that Miles is completely appropriate, in hindsight, after this long journey to make him a Douthitt.  Hence, Many the Miles!

Luke and I chose to have Miles' adoption finalization in PA.  Elijah's day was so perfect, and we truly wanted to recreate that if possible.  We were able to use the same attorney, Mark Silliker, (and his great staff!) as well as the same judge, Todd Hoover.  Both of these "teams" made Elijah's adoption hearing so special, unique, and personal, and we felt it was worth it to travel to PA to do the same with Miles...they did not disappoint!

The timing for Miles' hearing couldn't have been better! It was the week before Thanksgiving which left it completely wide open for Luke to take off.  We were able to spend the entire week in PA!  We flew in on Saturday and spent the first two nights with the Longs, great friends from church.  They cooked, stocked the fridge, got down old toys for the boys and even gave us their comfy bed!  Such servants!  On Sunday afternoon, the Walstons had the entire church family to their home for a pot-luck. It was a beautiful, unseasonably warm day, and we were able to get some great time in visiting and catching up with our PA church family. We miss them all!

Monday and Tuesday evening we stayed with the Coopers (remember, that crazy family who let us stay in their basement for 5 months!?), and we were SO glad we did that.  The kids (all SIX of them!) had so much fun having that time together.  Sarah & Scott have been very committed to maintaining a relationship so that these kids will know their siblings.  We are forever grateful for their willingness to make it happen, regardless of the situation! 

The Boys watching for our plane as we leave Memphis

Back to the Coopers:  Sarah and Kathleen (where would be without you??!! she's the glue that keeps us in check with Mama Jen) are very good about getting the kids together with their birth mom, Mama Jen.  They usually meet at McDonald's for lunch and let the kiddos run amuck. We had never had the opportunity to do this while in PA...in fact, Mama Jen had not seen either of our boys since birth.  But, Sarah & Kathleen coordinated a lunch playdate while we were in PA for us (The Douthitt family) to meet Jen.  It was a very interesting/weird/confusing/sad/loud/crazy event, but it truly was great and went so well.  Luke and I are so glad we had the opportunity to meet her and let her see that we are doing the best we can to love and provide for her sons.  I do hope we can do it again.

Lunch Date at McD's...you should've seen the looks on the faces of 

everyone else at that play place!  What a circus!

Immediately following lunch, we went to see Caroline!! Oh, how we miss you! Caroline cut my hair when we lived in Hershey, and she LOVES these boys!  Of course, we would have no one else cut our  (long, shaggy) hair before the adoption! She even came on a Monday and opened the entire salon just for us!  Luckily, she also had a stash of suckers that kept our boys happy during their cuts!  Seriously, the amount of hair on the floor from Miles alone could supply about 4 wigs!  Thank you, Caroline!!!

Monday evening we were able to meet some friends at Houlihans for dinner. The Hulseys, Paul, Danielle, and Johnny (from afar) were able to join us.  Sadly, Erica and baby Ava weren't able to make it, but we at least had Paul there to represent their family!  

The quietest 20 min of the day...lunch!

While we were in town, we also got to celebrate Sadie's THIRD birthday! We went to Isaac's for dinner (and the kids were so great!) and came home for cupcakes!  Actually, Sarah got cupcakes for the kiddos but spoiled the adults with a chocolate cake with PB icing from the PA Bakery...YUMMMM!!!! Seriously, why do we not have that flavor in the south?? Post-cupcakes, we took the 5 oldest kiddos and threw them in the tub (yes, all at once!) to get cleaned up for the next day's festivities! I am a bit afraid to post "nakey" pictures on the web, but that bath was quite an event!

And now, Adoption Day pics!  Wednesday, November 14th, 2012...Miles Patton Douthitt is officially ours!  What an enormous blessing to share this day with SO MANY of our friends from PA.  We truly were overwhelmed with your presence and the outpouring of love that you displayed.  Mr Silliker and his team had donuts, coffee & juice for us in the lawyer's lounge while we waited to be called to court.  Here's a quick elevator pic of just a few of the folks that came to celebrate with us!

Now, I need to give credit where it's due...the following pictures were taken by Sarah Schulkins (Kathleen's daughter). She has them posted on Facebook, but I wanted to share with those of you who aren't on Facebook.  She did a fantastic job!

Waiting in the Lawyer's Lounge...

Where has baby Miles gone? He looks so old here!

 This really should be entitled "Miles eating his way through the adoption" because in about 90% of the pictures he is EATING!  Pork chop ooh ha ha!

Granma D flew all the way to PA just for Miles' Adoption.  She's just awesome like that!

all the kids (minus Sadie who was having NO part of it!)

Milo, Mimi, Max, Elijah & Miles

Douthitts + Coopers = a whole lotta crazy!

And, where would we be without our most favorite nanny, Candace! Seriously, what a lifesaver she was for us while I was there! She really does love all of these kiddos like her own!

Mimi & Max

Kathleen helping Mimi sign the plate

While our group was heading into the courtroom, we were able to visit with Judge Hoover privately.  He is such a great man, and a man of faith.  He was genuinely excited to see us again and be a part of our family's growth.  He truly loves what he does!

So, part of the hearing involved some of our friends saying funny/lovely/kind/mushy gushy things to us, and Sarah captured some of that emotion here.  She also caught a few pictures of me making that "I'm about to cry but I also want to smile ugly face"...I didn't include those. :-)

 still eating...

 One of my favorites!  Judge Hoover asked our preacher, Scott, to lead the courtroom in prayer. I am reminded of the influence that Timothy's grandmother, Lois, had when we read 2Timothy 1.  Timothy's faith "first lived" in his grandmother. I am so thankful that our boys have a similar example to learn from.

and more eating...cheeks full of food! Or maybe he's saying, "Lay off me, I'm starving!"

Just helping me with a few of these final documents...

 Big Man is officially a Douthitt! Hip, hip, hooray!

Our ENTIRE group! There were almost 30 people there and that doesn't even include the lawyer, his team AND all of the DCS caseworkers that came out to support us!  Everyone should feel this kind of love at some point in their life! We are so thankful and blessed!

 These were actually taken on the way into the courthouse.  We were trying to recreate one of our favorite shots from Elijah's adoption (which I cannot find right now!). The leaves were gorgeous!

 After the hearing we had lunch at Red Robin...the man of honor was sacked out!

Of course, Aunt Lauren drove all the way from Pittsburgh to come to the hearing.  Sadly, I don't have any of her from the courthouse other than group shots.  Elijah was so happy to be reunited with his first love!

SO glad Tabby "had a headache" that day. :-)  We love her!

All in all, it was a beautiful, perfect, super special day for Miles and our entire family!  The days leading up to the adoption were also so great, and we are thankful for the extra time we had to visit! Following lunch at Red Robin, we packed up our crew while Luke took Kathy to the airport, and we crammed in Aunt Lauren's car to head to the Burgh! We'll save those pics for another post.  

Thank you to all of you that had a part in this process...even those of you who prayed for us from afar.  It was a unique journey, but Miles is certainly worth "Many the Miles".