Progressions

As many of you know, my youngest nephew's adoption was recently finalized.  Words cannot explain the gauntlet of emotions we all ran over the course of those 13 (I think) months.  There was denial, fear, anger, hope and love.  There were the thoughts of, "There's no way we can lose this case" on the coattails of "Something tells me we are going to lose him."  It was like a really long game of Pong, simply going back and forth.  Sure, we tried to think positive and let our faith guide us, but let's be honest here, it wasn't always roses and puppies.  Some days I just wanted to put my fist through a wall and shout, "Why?!"  Luckily for my fist, I never did get into a fight with the wall.  That would have ended badly for my little fist of fury.  My sister and brother-in-law were an inspiring example of steadfast faith through it all, but if I had trouble with it all, I know they had much more trouble.  It all effected them much more deeply, after all.  This post came to life after I was doing some spring cleaning on my computer.  I was purging photos that I didn't need or would never look at again.  When I got to the folder of M-CAT's birthday, I was amazed at how different he is now.  He has progressed physically, mentally, and emotionally.  Just as we all have.

First, he was born and met a seahorse:

Then he was five months old and wore a sweet hat:

Then he was barreling toward one-and-a-half, happy as can be:

He has progressed.  So have we.  Praise God for that.