Eternally Ours

 On November 17, 2015 Joseph David Ruger Adams became legally ours.  But on Saturday, November 21, he became eternally ours.

 It was such a beautiful experience.

 I will start with this picture.  One the left is Shannon Wilson.  He was one of our witnesses in the temple.  Ideally, we would have chosen our family as our witnesses and the endowed member to hold Ruger during the sealing.  However, family was not able to attend.  It was important to me, however, to get it as close to family as possible though.

 

We met Shannon while living in Oklahoma.  He and his family soon became very important in our lives.  He makes me think of Oklahoma and my family there.  In the middle, holding Ruger, is Peggy Stevenson.  I met her while we were living in Sunset, Utah.  She quickly became my closest friend in the ward (church) we were a part of.  She reminds me of my sisters.  Her way of expressing herself, through her hand gestures, reminds me of Amanda.  Her amazing ability to make me laugh in any situation, reminds me of April.  It was important for me to have her hold Ruger while we were being sealed in the temple.

 

On the right side is Karl Roberts.  He was the first person David thought of when we found out we needed to have 2 witnesses.  I love Karl and his wife (Sabrina) so I thought it was just fine.  But after a while I started thinking about how perfect Karl really was for this purpose.  With all our moving and being in many different wards, Karl and Sabrina, represent the amazing members of the church who have been our "family away from family" through each move.  The majority of our moves have made us physically far away from our family.  So we have always relied on our ward family.  Which leads to the next picture. 

 Other than Jen Thomson (second on the left), these lady's are/were from our current ward.  I wonder if they know just how much them being there really meant. 

 

Jen, we met through foster care.  She has been an amazing resource for me personally through this whole experience.  We were blessed with the most dedicated members in DCFS as well as our cluster support groups.  I know people have their "horror" stories of Foster Care but I can honestly say that we were very well taken care of. 

 

These pictures were taken by Tricia Wilson (Shannon's wife).  I am going to quote what she said about these pictures on Facebook:

“The Joy of a mother comes in quiet moments. It comes with heartache, selflessness, and hardship. But in the end... It's moments like this when it is all worth it. Today is a day to honor this friend. She has loved and nurtured this baby boy not knowing what the end might be. I can't imagine the emotional roller coaster that may have been. This boy is so happy and clapping his hands for his eternal family!!!”

That meant so much to me.  I won't go into detail about that but just know that I love her for saying that.  I truly do love Ruger so very much.  There were times it was an emotional roller coaster, not knowing the future.  It was scary not knowing.  But he was so very worth it.

 Peggy posted this picture on Facebook with the caption:

“Our amazing friends David Alisa Adams brought home a sweet baby boy last year and loved and cared for him while his mommy tried to pull herself together to give him the life he deserved. Sadly--but happily--she wasn't able to do it and they got to adopt him last week, making sure he will have a happy life and will never want for anything. Today I got to hold him in the House of the Lord where he became a part of their beautiful family for all eternity. To be such a cool part of this day with them was a blessing I will cherish forever. Love you guys!!”

There was so much truth spoke here.  It was happy, yet sad, at times during this whole process.  Sad, knowing that his biological mom couldn't get it together yet clearly still loving him.  Happy, because we got to add a precious boy into our family.  And Peggy being a part of this special occasion in the temple was such a blessing for both her and my other children.  For Peggy (as well as David and I and all those attending with children of their own) was a reminder of all the blessings that children born under the covenant receive.

 

 

This was a picture from Tricia.  I love how the white in our clothes just stand out so well in this picture.

 

I want to end this journal entry with 2 things that was said about the beautiful, wonderful things that were witnessed in the temple:

 

Tricia said,

 

"It was so neat watching your boys walk into the room.  They looked a little nervous.  When they saw me and I waved to them, they were all smiles and waved back.  They all hopped onto the couch and Brigs sat Indian style with his feet up on the couch as if he was at home.  I don't know why that tickled me so much?!  I guess because he looked so happy and content.  It was special to watch Ruger during the sealing as he would just look at David and then at you and then back up at David.  I wondered what he was seeing.  Then after the sealing as he was placed in the arms of his brothers and seeing the love they had for him was priceless.  They all three reached out to grab him but Levi won.  Levi was emotional and you could see that he knew what this meant.  When we hugged you, you gave me that little boy to hold, he kept grabbing for my earrings and then all of a sudden he stopped for quite some time and was looking up at the lights.  The chandelier over the alter.  I knew he was seeing others from the other side.  He seriously was too focused and still.  The sealer mentioned that his was the shortest sealing but the most important because it binds families together for eternity.  He said to your boys what a privilege it was for them to be a part of this because not all children get the opportunity before being sealed.  He encouraged them to remember this day."

 

Peggy said,

“So the very first thing I noticed was that Brigham just made himself at home in the temple. He pulled his feet up and sat cross-legged on the couch. I thought, "Only Brigham!" It didn't seem at all inappropriate--just that he felt comfortable. So as the sealer spoke, I was watching the boys. I expected emotion either from Levi--because I know how much he loves Ruger, or from Hyrum because he's such a tender little love. But while both of them looked so happy, it was Brigham who you could tell was really touched. I can't pretend to know what he was thinking but it was clear he was feeling emotional. I almost think either it surprised him or maybe he didn't know exactly what it was that he was feeling? It was just very, very clear that he was moved and I'm tearing up just thinking about it.”

I appreciate both of these witnesses of the feeling inside the temple so much.  I guess because we all experienced our own things but yet there were similarities also.  And sometimes you can miss certain things because you are focused on others.  It is so important to me to get this journaled so that when time fades our memories of this glorious event, we can look back on this and be reminded.