Thursday was a "blast"!

Yesterday, (Thurs March 26) was quite a day! It started off with a special treat arranged by our great friend Nori Jackson. Nori is the amazing Family Readiness Officer for 1st Battalion, 11th Marines (yes she is the person who has saved my sanity by taking over 90% of the "stuff" I was doing for the battalion!). Nori arranged for the 2 of us to go out with a Battery from the battalion on the "gun line" and "pull a lanyard" (in civilian words, we got to go out with the big howitzers and fire one!) The Marines of Battery C and their Battery Commander (Capt Kenny Jones) were our hosts. Bryant was able to go out with us too. We had to suit up in a flack jacket and helmet and had to ride out to the position in the back of a high-back Humvee! We had so much fun and learned a lot. As the wife of an Artillery Marine, I hear a lot about the gun line, the howitzers and what they do, but seeing it in action and getting to pull the cord to shoot one -- well it was amazing! Thanks to Nori, Kenny, and Battery C!

As it turns out, whenever I spend time in Nori's office I tend to get phone calls with good news (maybe that it is a sign I should spend more time there!). I was there in December when we got the call from the Adoptions office in Greenville, SC that we had been selected by their panel as Marcus' adoptive parents (the sweet little boy in South Carolina). This time we received a call with great news that is still hard to believe! As many of you know, one of the delays in our process to adopt Marcus has been court delays and issues with terminating the parental rights of the birth parents. Despite showing little to no interest in him and not taking any steps to work on their ability to be good parents, they have not been willing to relinquish their rights . . . until now -- a little over 2 years to the day he was placed in foster care! The birth mother signed the papers in court on Thursday! We are thrilled and so excited for this huge obstacle to be out of the way (it certainly brings up all kinds of questions - like why now and why did she wait so long, etc., but we are not questioning it and know that God has a plan so we just have to trust in Him!).

We still have to wait for a court hearing to terminate the rights of the birth father (or the sperm donor as I like to call him -- he certainly is not a "father" in any way). That will be the end of April and should be a simple process. Then we will see what the next step is to get South Carolina and Kansas talking!

Thank you for all your support and prayers! We know that God's hand is guiding us and we know He is hearing your words. Please pray for Marcus' birth mother - that she will get the help and support she needs and that in time will know she will find peace with her decision.