We want to thank everyone who has been praying for the adoption!  I received a call last night from the lawyer that the birth father signed to deny paternity last night!  This is such an answer to prayer!  Thank you God!  Thank you to everyone who was praying for this.  Not only will this make the process shorter but it saved nearly 1,000 in costs if we had to pursue him with searches and newspaper notices!

The Next Step

We have our first homestudy visit this coming Saturday.  We are looking forward to meeting Candace, the one who will be completing the homestudy and writing the proposal for the judge to recommend we be named as adoptive parents for Olivia.  Then there is a provisional period following the court appointment.  I believe it is 3 months long.  At the end, Candace will write a second report, and the court will grant us full parental rights, and we will change Olivia's last name to Atkins. 

We are very thrilled and are just so thankful that she has been with us already.  I know many other adoptive parents have to do this part while still waiting for their child/ren.  Olivia is fitting right in with the family.  We are so thankful God has answered our prayers!

Here is a picture I took of the girls before church this morning. I forgot how hard it is to get a 1 year old to stand still and smile on cue!  LOL  Then of course when I get her, one of the other ones has gotten distracted or is trying to help by doing something to make the baby smile!

Here is another one that I think is so sweet!

She must be thinking, "What are you all doing just standing here!  Our shoes are on; let's go!"   I won't show you the other five shots where she is either making a break for it or demonstrating her dislike for the whole operation!

We know God has granted us many blessings!  We are so thankful for the latest answer to our prayers!

In Christ,