{Their Journey} A Wish Come True

This month it’s going to be official. Over the past few months our family has been going through the adoption process.  For those of you who don’t know our story,  being a single parent when my Mr. and I first met I came with a bonus, my daughter and I were a package deal.  Our love “story” is a beautiful one.  Did we have our share of challenges?  We did, but what matters most is that we overcame them and because of our challenges we realize how much of a blessing it is to be continuing our journey – together.

On August 28, 2010 the three of us got married.  The Mr. said vows to both his soon to be Mrs. (that’s me!) and his Little Miss and  from the Mr., I received a ring and she a necklace.

{I know you can’t see it but our hearts are smiling}

And following the ceremony we walked back down the aisle only this time, the three of us – together.

{the 3 of us}

As I have shared before,  my Mr. has been the one who has been there for my daughter since she can remember.  In my vows I talked about how over time she went from calling him Chis to Chris, to daddy Chris and then to daddy all on her own.  Marrying our Mr. was her dream come true reaffirming for her that her daddy would always be her daddy.  When the school year began my little one returned and excitedly told her teacher that she needed her (teacher) to change her name because she was “a Briscoe now”. In her heart and ours she was a Briscoe but on paper she was not and despite me not having changed my name (my primary reason not wanting her to feel “left out” but also my uncertainty as to whether or not I would like to completely drop my maiden name) she spent countless hours saying she wanted her last name to be Briscoe.  She further requested, from everyone, that she only be referred to as one.

Months later we officially began the process for a step-parent adoption,  a way of solidifying, and “putting on paper”, what each of us already knew to be true in our hearts.  Later this August we will be going to Court so that the adoption can be finalized and to say we are ecstatic is an understatement.  Our Little Miss is finally going to get her wish.   Perhaps this wish seems small, after all we are already married but to her, to us and our family and friends it’s big and it(her wish)is destined to come true.   I will admit, I initially wondered if making the change to my our daughter’s name was the right decision, I wondered if she would one day come to me and ask me why I decided to make the change.  As parents we are always trying to make the best choices for our children but I prayed about it and followed my heart and hers.  I thought about what it truly meant to be a father and focused on our particular situation.  My prayer is that she will always be as overjoyed as she is at this moment and on that day and that the feeling she has in her heart and the smile she has on her face when she speaks of her daddy will cause this decision to always make perfect sense.

So, while there are other things that have us absolutely excited about August including our very first wedding anniversary we especially can’t wait for our big day.  And this year when the school year begins the Little Miss will in fact be “a Briscoe now”.

Happy Monday! And remember wishes (and dreams) come true and prayers do get answered.

p.s. Here’s what Chris had to say when the Little Miss asked him a very important question.