She is Our Little Girl!

Between 3 and 4 P.M. yesterday afternoon, baby Ava officially became Ava Grace Chapman! The paperwork was all signed and she is now our little girl! Of course, the process did not come with out it's potential problems (as always).

They gave us the forms to sign at around 2 and we sat in the waiting room at the hospital looking it over while Jeff (Randee's caseworker) went upstairs to go over everything with Randee. As I looked over the contract we were about to sign I realized that there were a few inconsistencies in what was in there. Working in the industry in which I do, I was a bit nervous about signing something that was not totally correct. After speaking with our attorney (okay, it's actually Faith's sister who is "our attorney" it just sounds cool to say that) and working out some details, we signed the paperwork.

We went upstairs to the NICU unit where Randee, her mom, and her younger sister were sitting with Ava and we all had a good chat for about a half hour. Faith gave Randee the "hope" necklace that she had bought when we lost our little girl. She explained how incredibly important and special that necklace had been to her and that she had not taken it of for 14 months. She went on say that she hoped that the necklace became as important for Randee as it was for Faith and that it somehow helped her get through the tough times that were ahead for her.

After that everybody left with tears flowing and Faith and I were left with our adorable little girl who was now ours! Randee seemed surprisingly content with the decision. Her final thought was that she was going to leave and let us be parents finally. It was a very, very special day for us.

Here are some more pictures:

The proud new mommy!

The proud new daddy!





















Dustin's sister Ricki ventured up to the hospital later that night to visit the first grandchild in the family that isn't hers.



Of course, everybody says it, but in my opinion she is the world's cutest baby!