One step closer...

We had two court dates this week on Tuesday and Wednesday. Everyone involved spent hours and hours preparing for it. Me and my Mom were a nervous wreck all day Monday and Tuesday morning. We got there and there were 2 cases before ours. Morgan's mothers attorney didn't show up until time to go in (which means late!) and she hadn't spoken to her client in over 8 months. She immediately asked for time with her client and was grudingly granted 15 minutes. When they came back in the aunt's attorney said that she was going to withdraw her motion to intervene, which was our best case scenerio (or so we thought!). So, she had to stand up and state that she wasn't being forced to do this and that it was her intent. She stated yes and then the mom's attorney asked for more time with her client. So, they all left again for 10 minutes this time. When they came back she said that she needed a few more minutes and the Judge was getting REALLY irritated. She asked to approach the bench to explain and all the attorneys went forward. She got more time. This time when she came in she went to the Judge and he appeared VERY IRRITATED and pointed toward the DFCS table. She walked over and whispered to them for a few minutes and it seemed that they were all debating something. By this point I might have needed a small dosage of nerve meds..... Anywho, she finally started walking toward me and asked me and my mom to come with her. The supervisor of DFCS met us outside the door and asked if I was comfortable talking to Morgan's mom alone with my mom. I agreed and we went into a conference room. After 20 heartbreaking minutes of talking and LOTS of tears we entered the court room again. Morgan's mother had decided to sign over her rights. After another hour or so while all the papers were being signed in the court room most of us all stood out in the hall in complete shock. My mom finally started calling people. Our case worker came out to to talk to us and began explaining that she had 10 days to back out. If that happened then we would just go back to court immediately. So, on October 31st at 5pm her mothers rights are officially terminated. Then we can start the good stuff. I know that everyone is wondering when the adoption will occur....all I can say is the way that I have it figured it will be early next year. I know that that seems like a long time, but to me and my family that day is a formality. Morgan has been ours for a long, long time. Don't get me wrong I can't wait till that day, but I was more anxious to get visits stopped than anything. They just keep Morgan in a whirlwind that is becoming increasingly harder for her to recover from.

Anyway, I wanted really badly to just go get Morgan at school after we left court. But after we talked about it we decided to just let my Dad go ahead and pick her up and take her to the park like he had promised her. Me and mom decided to be there when they arrived. As it turned out everyone got a surprise because when I pulled up my aunt Doris was there waiting for all of us. She was so excited she left work early and couldn't wait to see us. Here is a pic of her and Morgan.

Morgan had tons of fun and my dad made her a little walking stick. She pretends that everything is a walking stick like my Papa's.

Me & Morgie on the slide.

Morgan with Nana & Papa. I just have to say that that is one very proud set of grandparents.

I just have to say that Morgan has both of them wrapped around her finger and she KNOWS it! I almost died when my dad got up on the playground and slide down to Morgan on her command. I guess he knows who the boss is!

Complete with a BIG huge at the bottom.

"Um, really Mommy with the camera....is all that really necessary???"

My silly, silly girl......

we are one very BIG step closer!

Tally Ho!!

Today we finally cashed in Morgan's birthday present from Bethie, a 1 hour riding lesson. Morgan was so excited. This is her when we first got there and she got her riding helmet on.....looking a little unsure about this all of a sudden.

Morgie riding around the arena.

Then she got to go for a ride down the stables long driveway, Papa walked beside her.

Morgan's favorite thing was telling Comet to "Whoa!"

Look at her. What a BIG girl! She loved it and did everything that they told her to. I was amazed.

Molly petting one of the other horses while Morgan was riding.

After riding Morgan got to feed the horses treats. She was very, very excited about this. She talked about feeding the horses apples and carrots as much as she did about riding them!!

Feeding Comet a well deserved apple.

Then Morgan got to help brush Comet. She liked this too.

On the way out Nana and Morgan fed some of the other horses.

I love this one. Mr Horse is like gimme, gimme, gimme......and Morgan is like Um, No way!

I took some cute pics after we were finished. Here is one of Morgan sitting on top of the fence.

And I just love this one. One of my favorites.

Morgan had a great time. She will probably talk about it non-stop for a while.

So, we just have to say....THANKS BETHIE!!!!

Wordless Wednesday

Sleepover!!!

Morgan was so excited this weekend. She got to have a sleepover with Molly. I mean you can't tell that she loves her or anything can you???

We changed Bitty Baby and Maggie's clothes and then Morgan made Molly play babies with her.

Looks like the babies even got in on some dancing!

They were so exhausted after that that Mommy Morgan patted them to sleep while multi-tasking with her computer.

She cracks me up that one. Molly slept in Morgan's bed and Morgan slept in her sleeping bag in her floor. She was in heaven!!! Of course that didn't stop her from getting up and coming to my room of course......

Here is a pretty pic of her I took in her pretty new dress.

Hope you ladies have a blessed week!

Upcoming Court Dates

Well ladies, I don't think that I have written a more personal blog since the one right before I got Morgan. I have known for a few weeks that we have new court dates of October 21st &22nd. I haven't said anything to anyone because they have been delayed continuously since July; however, it now seems that these are firm dates. This will be for TPR (termination of parental rights) and placement. The TPR we are not so worried about. Not 1 item on Morgan's mothers case plan has been achieved and just so that you get a grasp on the situation this was not hard stuff. The major things were stable housing with the exception of living with her parents (who technically aren't her legal parents because their rights were terminated when she was about 12 I believe), a stable job for at least 6 months (she hasn't had a job at all since last summer), she doesn't have a drivers license and can't read very well and refuses to get tutored for her GED. I feel really sorry for her because I know that she loves Morgan. It is just a classic case of love is not enough and she doesn't even GET IT. She just literally does not understand that there is a better life available, it is a sad situation. Her aunt is what we are really worried over. Her home evaluation was approved by her county (who approves everything) but was denied by DFCS. She filed a motion to intervene so now we will have to fight it out in court. Just some of the reasons why this is not a good option is this aunt half raised Morgan's mom, she is on disability, she is older, she has a live in boyfriend whom she says that she can't marry because it will affect her disability payment, and this live-in boyfriend has a 6 year old with his own set of issues. Those are just a few of the highlights and not even the best ones, trust me there are more! I believe to quote her exactly when the GAL asked her if she was prepared to deal with the problems that would come with getting Morgan she responded, "What is there to fixin' one more peanut butter sandwich?". Are you kidding me???? I am lucky because I truly could not have hand picked a better case worker, who me and Morgan both love dearly. The CASA is great, the Guardian Ad Lidem is wonderful and Morgan's therapist is going to carry great weight with the court. I feel truly blessed that we have this great team working for Morgan. The SAG representing this case feels strongly that we don't have anything to worry about. But I am beyond worried. Court isn't expected to be over in 2 days. The case worker says that it will take at least 3 if not more to get through all the witnesses. After every witness has been called the judge has up to 30 days to decide his ruling and they have told me to expect him to take all of it.

I can't even put into words the fear that I feel when I know what could happen. It is so hard when you want the end to come so badly, but at the same time it is your biggest fear because you don't know what the outcome will be.

I can't remember my life or my world before I had Morgan; it all seems so distant and trivial at best. I may not have given birth to her in the conventional sense, but she was born in my heart as my own child. I love her with a fierceness that I have never felt before. She is mine and I am hers. I feel that I have been prepared my whole life for this journey and I can only hope that it is a journey that will continue to last a lifetime. I would be honored to be given a lifetime with this special child of God, but am so grateful for the time that I have been given. I have seen a life blossom. I can not tell you the progress that Morgan has made in the 20 months that I have had her. She is a smart, inquisitive, loving, strong-willed, tender hearted, perfect child who brightens my life every day (even though her greatest joy these days is ruining all of her clothes playing in the red dirt at school) ; ). Most days I kind of laugh about this with friends and family, but Morgan cries most days when she gets on the bus to go to school. She skips down the driveway every morning only to climb two steps up the bus and turn to reach out to me and say, "but Mommy, I will miss you." And I mean pretty much EVERY day. Oh my, to tell you what progress this is that she even trust someone enough to let them know that she loves you this much and trusts that you will come and get her when you are finished at work. She says she wants to be a Mommy when she grows up, a nice one she says. At night time, if she isn't already asleep when I put her to bed or if she is still partially awake, she will say "There is no reason to be scared 'cause God will protect me." These are just a few of the things that she says every day that just GET me. They cause my heart to do little flips in my chest and make me realize that my cup truly runneth over. Morgan has made me GET IT, she makes me realize all the good things in life that I might normally take for granted.

So, I guess I rambled on forever to say this. I KNOW that prayer works. I have seen it work in many ways in my life (and in some of my blogger buddies lives recently too). I would like to ask all of you, my blogger sisters, to please pray for Morgan and everyone involved in this case. Please pray for me to have strength, the lawyers and case workers the clarity and knowledge that they need to make the judge see all of the evidence, and also pray for Morgan's mom because I can't imagine what it will be like for her when TPR occurs whether Morgan goes to her aunt or stays with me. I just ask please PRAY and when you are finished pray some more.

I know that God has great things planned for both mine and Morgan's lives and I just have to have faith that whatever may come I can remember that.

In the meantime, here is a picture of Morgan to inspire all of you prayer warriors out there.

Ta-Da!!!!

Morgan is loving gymnastics and has really started learning quickly over the last few weeks. It seems that all of a sudden she can just do lots of things that she hasn't been able to do before. I think that they learn everything like that. Here is a video of her doing some cartwheels.

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Here are a few pictures of Morgan from the last few days....just because they are cute!!!

Ready for school and eating string cheese.

Just too cute! I could eat her up. What a little ham!!!

What a BIG girl she looks like in this pic! Makes mommy sad.....

Vacation Whirlwind-Part 2 (in video)

Here are a few of the short videos that I took while we were on vacation in Orlando. The first one is one of my fav's because Morgan LOVED the dolphins and SeaWorld. There is also video of Tinkerbell's much anticipated flight, Morgan swimming, the kids racing their Lego cars, and a short clip of Morgie talking about the vacation on our last night. Hope that you enjoy!!!

Make photo slide shows at www.OneTrueMedia.com