Amazing Weekend!!!

Six month pictures of Gabe that Aunt Shanna took. They are amazing! They are taken outside of our apartment 07/19/2009.

Daddy and Gabe!

GABE DRESSED IN WHITE! SO HANDSOME!

Mommy and Gabe!

I love my baby!

Mommy, Daddy, and Gabe. The photo Shoot outside the Temple.

Grandma and Grandpa Riddle

Grandma and Grandpa Howe

Everyone who was at the temple that day!

Wow! What an amazing weekend. To start off with on Thursday the 16th of July at 1:30 P.M. our adoption was finalized. Aaron and I met our attorney Jared Cressillius at the District court. We went into the Judges room. I believe the Judge was Jeffrey Donnell. Anyway we sat down with him and he asked us a few simple questions and then reviewed our paperwork. That was it! He signed the papers and Gabe became our son ----Legally. Yippee! Gabe was all smiles and charmed the Judge. He said he had never seen a happier baby and then joked that it looked like we were starving the kid (we had a polo shirt on that was a little on the snug side so it showed off his belly). We took pictures of us with the judge and then with us and then with Gabe and our attorney. It was a great day! I was perfectly fine -no tears- until we pulled up into the drive-thru at the bank and i just got choked up. Did I ever tell anyone that I hate crying in public places?

On Friday we left with my brother Eric and drove to Denver to stay the night in a hotel before our temple Sealing. For those of you who do not know what I mean by "Sealing" I will explain. In our church we believe that to be together as a family FOREVER even after death, we need to be Sealed together in a Temple. For most members of the church they get sealed together as husband and wife in the temple when they get married. That is why it is so important for us to be married in the temple. When parents are sealed in the temple, the children born to them are born in the covenant of their parents’ sealing and do not need to be sealed to their parents. Children that are adopted are not born in the covenant, but can still be sealed in temple after the adoption is legalized by the state. So that is what we did. Aaron and I had our son sealed to us so that we can be a family forever. The former president of our church, Gordon B. Hinkley has this to share about Sealings: “Was there ever a man who truly loved a woman, or a woman who truly loved a man, who did not pray that their relationship might continue beyond the grave? Has a child ever been buried by parents who did not long for the assurance that their loved one would again be theirs in a world to come? Can anyone believing in eternal life doubt that the God of heaven would grant his sons and daughters that most precious attribute of life, the love that finds its most meaningful expression in family relationships? No, reason demands that the family relationship shall continue after death. The human heart longs for it, and the God of heaven has revealed a way whereby it may be secured. The sacred ordinances of the house of the Lord provide for it”. Perfect thought. Needless to say we know that this one act is so important to us and that is why we did what we did. Anyway...... That night some of my family met up (we all stayed in the same hotel) and ate some dinner and just visited. The next morning we went swimming at the hotel pool. Gabe had fun but the water was a little cold- okay it was freezing! And then Aaron and I got ready to go. We had to be to the temple at noon and at a 20 till noon aaron realized he does not have a dress shirt to go with his suit. After a short freak out, our friend Tim Hancock called to say he was in Denver and to see if we needed anything. What an inspired phone call. Aaron told him what happened and that we needed to go to be at the temple by noon and he didn't know what to do. Tim said that he could be to the hotel in five minutes and he would let Aaron use his shirt and he would go get a shirt somewhere. So Tim literally gave Aaron the shirt off his back. Amazingly, the shirt was a perfect fit! What a blessing great friends are. So we went to the temple and got sealed to Gabe at 1:00 P.M. It was beautiful and everyone was bawling. When they brought Gabe to us all dressed in white, I almost lost it. He was so beautiful and he just smiled up at us like he was excited too. It was one of the most spiritual experiences I have ever had. I felt so good and we had so many amazing people around to celebrate this day with us. The people who joined us were: Grandma and Grandpa Riddle, Grandma and Grandpa Howe, Pat and Ed Pennington (Aarons aunt and uncle), Shanna and Justin Combs, Eric Riddle, Heather and Ben Updike, David and Julie Gough, Mike and Lanae Goates, Tim and Kara Hancock, Kirk and Kris Dory, Drew and Camille Howe, and Jamie and Jeremy Wilkey. Waiting for us outside was my brother Kort and my two nieces. We also had Mike and Lanae's little ones Isabella and Jackson and Tim and Kara's little one R.J. was waiting outside as well. Luckily for us The Hamblins babysat for us.

After the Ceremony we took lots of pictures and then ate at Dickies BBQ. Yummy! We all got really full and then some of my family went to the aquarium in Denver before we left for home. Gabe really enjoyed looking at the fish and would get upset when I moved to the next room. It was fun to seem him enjoy it. It had been a long day so he started to get tired and cranky and he slept on the way home. The next day we blessed Gabriel in our church and enjoyed lunch with family and friends at Aarons Parents house.

So it was a great weekend, but very busy. I am tired this week! Enjoy the pictures from this weekend that my sister took! I loved them.