Davis Family Journey: Clara is ours!

So, we left the hospital Sept 17, 2013. Our princess was almost 1 month old. A couple things I didn't tell you in the last blog.....remember how the Dr's told us that we could expect a long NICU stay?! Well, they continued to tell us that. Even when she was weaning down on the medication, they continued to remind us that this could be a long process. Now, I understand that is really what they "need" to tell us, but when it came to the day they released us.....all the Dr could say was TLC goes a long way. To which I replied, prayers-our God protected her and helped her through. It was very evident to us. She was where she was due to the prayers that had been lifted for her for months before she was born & the time she was in the NICU. We were so thankful.

Home. It was a ride. For the first several months this child SCREAMED and I really mean SCREAMED NON STOP for the entire time she would be in the car seat. Whether it was 2 minutes or 30 minutes, it was crazy. There were moments I would actually call Dan on the phone (which was blue toothed in the van) just so he could enjoy the moments too. Yup, I am that wife. Every night around 6pm, Clara would scream. Scream for 2 hours straight! Oh, those were the moments that I lived for. yeah. NOOOOO. However, we made it. We survived. She eventually stopped and her withdrawal symptoms became less and less. Yes, she still had some. They advised us that she could show signs for up to 18 months. The cool thing.....as she grew, the less we knew. All of the "what ifs" that could've been, were not. She was fine! God had truly protected her. Seriously, that was a miracle we were thankful for.

Our adoption legal process hit many bumps and potholes. It ended up that we didn't finalize our adoption until June 19, 2015. It was a glorious day & sooooo worth the wait! We were complete. Our family was full.

This was our finalization day!!!!!

One final thing I will share about our little lady. Clara Harmony. I told you how and where Elijah Dylaun got his name. So, Clara. Well, there is this lady in our lives that we adore. I grew up without Grandparents. My grandparents passed away before I was born & when I was young, so I never knew them. When I met Dan, there was this lady who loved me as if I was one of her own grandchildren. I now knew what having the love of a grandparent was. Grandma Davis was that lady. Dan always had admired her and loved her. We knew that if we were ever blessed with a little girl we wanted to name her after Grandma. Well, Grandma Davis, her name is Clara Mercy, but she was always called Dolly and so.....we originally had planned on naming a little girl Mercy Mae. Well, when we moved to TX, we have a dear friend who takes a lot of our pictures and her photography business is MercyMae Photography. So....as we talked about our options, of which there were MANY that came through....we decided on Clara. Even though Grandma never really went by Clara, we knew that we wanted our daughter to have her name. So, Clara it was. For the middle name, we had desires, but we asked birthmom if she wanted to have a say in her middle name. She thanked us, but declined. So, we went with Harmony, which is my mom's maiden name. I've always heard a lot about my mom's mom, so it seemed perfect to use my mom's maiden name as Clara's middle name. So......Clara Harmony it is and we LOVE it and it FITS her perfectly!

So, I will leave you with this....we were blessed to have Mamma-Great (what our kids call Grandma) here with us for a while this summer. So, I will leave you with some pictures of my 2 Clara's!