It’s a party… Our family and friends gather together to celebrate Webber Forever Day.

April 3^rd is forever declared Webber Forever Day.  We received the final court documents signifying our son is officially adopted.  His new middle name is Josiah and last name is obviously Webber.  Josiah has a duel meaning; it means God heals.  Not only is our son going through a healing process through the adoption, but we ourselves are going through a healing process as we fulfill the desire to raise a family.

Webber Forever established 2016… Krista had custom matching t-shirts made for the three of us, stating Webber Forever with our different established dates.

On Sunday, April 3^rd, Krista and I dedicated our son to God.  This day became for our family, Webber Forever Day. A child dedication is when parents stand before the church, they are members of, and declare openly they will raise their child according to the Bible and the teachings of Jesus.  The church then pledges as a body to demonstrate a Christlike  example before our son. On this amazing day, we were blessed to be joined by both of our son’s new grandparents, and one of his new cousins.

After church we went to a fast food restaurant, in which our son and his new cousin played on the indoor play structure. We then went to the hotel where my wife’s parents stayed and played in the pool, which was completely empty except for the granddads, our son, his cousin, and me.  Krista and both grandmothers prepared our home for the small Webber Forever Party.  Our parents, neighbors and close friends joined us that evening for fun, games, homemade cake with ice cream.  The three of us chose a different part of the cake Krista created.  I chose the chocolate mayonnaise cake, our son chose the vanilla frosting, and Krista chose the chocolate shavings on top. Krista also had prizes for those who won the games, and the party games were designed so everyone could play; hokey, but fun.   Our son was so tired by the end of the day; he was off to dreamland shortly after his head touched the pillow.

Reflecting on the adoption process, I realize how important it was to create a catch phrase that our son could understand; such as, “you’re going to be a Webber Forever.”  There were moments in which he didn’t understand the concept of forever because of his lack of permanency for so long. I explained to him that his foster parents nurtured and took care of him like a young seedling, but when he came to us, he was being planted, so he could establish roots and grow strong like a mighty tree.  Our son has come a long ways since we first met him.  We are having conversations now.  I can ask him about his day, and he no longer says, “good, yes, or I don’t know.”  Instead, he tells me all about his day; what he did in class, what he did for recesses, who got in trouble during class, even if it was him.

Adopting has been possibly the most challenging and rewarding experiences of my life.  I am amazed to see how our son has developed over the past 9 months we have had him in our home. I would recommend looking into a state adoption for those parents interested in having or expanding their family.  It is a very challenging, but also rewarding. The reward is seeing each new development and hurdle accomplished.  However, both parents need to be dedicated to being consistent in their plan of raising a child for it to work.  Krista and I are on the same page, and we take a day once a month, leaving our son with a babysitter to regroup, reflect, and strategize how we can help in our son’s transition and development.

A beautiful day for a bike ride… We visited the newly restored train station in Sandpoint. The train station is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year.

Our Webber Forever Party kicked off Spring Break.  We spent the break working around the property as well as doing a little spring cleaning.  One of our tasks was to clean and do the maintenance on the bicycles.  Our son scrubbed all the bikes until they glistened in the sunlight.  I performed the bike maintenance and showed our son how to patch a tube, place air in all the tires to the correct pressure, and oil the chains.  The next day we loaded the bicycles into the truck and traveled to Sandpoint to ride on the town’s relatively new bike paths.  We had a great time, and it reminded me of when my father would take us as children on bike rides.  It brought back some great memories, but also created new ones.