our collective digital self
Posted by Michelle on Sep 1, 2008 in Hayley, More Family
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We had some of Hayley’s first family members up to the house for a nice visit. Her sister Faith, grandparents and great grandparents all came. We relaxed, went to lunch and took the kids to the pool.
Posted by Michelle on May 3, 2008 in Hayley
Hayley had a chance to see some of her bdad’s family at a soccer game in late March.
I love this photo, this is Hayley with her half-brother Dalton, they were both so tired.
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Posted by Michelle on Sep 28, 2007 in Hayley
I posted these in the gallery and thought I’d posted these on here but forgot to post them on the main site. Here are two galleries, the first of Hayley with her bdad Derek, her brothers and grandparents; the second of Hayley with Nana and Poppy, her grandparents by birth.
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Posted by Michelle on May 12, 2007 in Hayley, More Family
Hayley got a chance to hang out with bothof her sisters!
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Posted by Michelle on Nov 2, 2006 in Hayley, Jeff, Michelle
We planted two trees on the day Hayley arrived, November 3rd. She was so small then that she got almost fit in the hole if she sat down! The magnolias, slow growers in general, may not be as lush as when they were planted but they are definitely bigger, stronger and growing well on November 3rd 2006.
Posted by Michelle on Oct 17, 2006 in Hayley, More Family
We were really luck to have a chance to have Hayley’s birthfather’s mom and sister visit. Maw Maw Jenny and Aunt Regina were passing through the area and dropped by to see Hayley and share photos with her. It was a lovely visit and they are really nice people. Hayley is lucky to have more people join her life who want nothing more to know and love her in a healthy way.
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Posted by Michelle on Sep 15, 2006 in Hayley
Now that we have more and extended members of Hayley’s birth/first family visiting the site and emailing, I’m not going to be sending the regular letters and photos to everyone as I did before since all the photos are here.
Every other month or so, I’m going to do an update on her for everyone. It will be in adobe pdf format, so it can be easily printed and sent out to relatives without access to the site or computers, as well as put in life or memory books for others.
I’ll keep adding them to this page as new ones come out.
The updates are posted in pdf format (Portable Document Format), which looks and prints the same on any computer when opened with the Adobe Acrobat Reader. To view them you need the free adobe acrobat reader program, download Adobe Acrobat Reader.
Posted by Michelle on Dec 23, 2005 in Michelle
I used to work for WRAL in their new media group. I really enjoyed being over there and the people involved. I noticed over the year that they have been adding blogs to their website – they have employees writing baby blogs, weather blogs, tech blogs, etc.
Recently I saw they have added a non-staffer blog – Dave Glenn doing an ACC sports blog and it hit me like a TON of bricks. I should do an adoption blog there.
So I drafted a proposal and they were intrigued enough to agree to let me do it. They got it started right quick and I was so excited I had tweak right then and there.
So if you check wral.com, wral.com/family/ or wral.com/interactive/ you’ll see that all three pages have mentions of WRAL’s new adoption blog, done by ME!!
NEW URL: The direct address is http://html.wral.com/sh/blogger/wraladoption.html
This is a TV station website that reaches 1.2 million people a month. 32 million page views a month. I’m so excited and I really feel like I can share and help people!!!!
Posted by Michelle on Dec 11, 2005 in Hayley, Michelle, More Family
Hayley was blessed to have a wonderful foster family who we welcome now as part of our family. Her now ‘Aunt’ Angie and cousin Clair came down to visit and to go see the Polar Express on the IMAX screen in 3D.
We had a great time and hope this is the first of many good visits as the years go by. Since Jeff nor I come from huge families, we are thrilled to have such kind people a part of our world. We want Hayley to understand that people from her past don’t all go away.
Posted by Michelle on Jun 12, 2005 in Hayley, Michelle
We are flying on several trips this summer and I had some concerns about what last name to put Hayley under since the adoption finalization could be done anytime from the end of May until the end of August (90 days to 6 months from when your lawyer files it all). And with all the new airline security, I didn’t know what she needed to have. Well, I called the airline and they said it wasn’t a big deal if she was traveling with parents. But I decided that was a good idea to try to get an update on our decree anyway because we have next to nothing that says she is our child.
I call the special proceedings dept at the clerk of court’s office. 45 minutes of waiting while I actually fall asleep and am awakened by their answering the line. Of course, they can’t ask and transfer me to a Ms McMillan. She’s not there, I don’t get her VM but end up in no mans’ land of their phone system. Frantically I push numbers to find ANY human so I don’t have to wait 45 more minutes. I manage to get someone who gets me to the front desk who gets me to Ms McMillan’s voice mail. I don’t have high hopes are all of this but I leave my name on her voice mail.
In 10 minutes later, she calls back. She starts very efficiently and I’m worried I’ve really screwed up and bothered her, that she is going to take our paperwork, step on it and put it at the bottom of the pile. However I’m wrong, she warms up – seems she’s been getting some snotty calls and when I didn’t appear to be one of those, she is charming and so helpful!
Turns out, she is the person who does the decrees personally and going to do the final decree for us the very first week it can be done – basically on the 91th day. She confirmed the file was complete with all the paperwork from our lawyer, Hayley’s social worker and our social worker. Then she offered to call me when it was done and I can just come pick it up!
The week finally arrives and I call her to follow up. She’s had to cover for some people out of the office and is behind but will get it done that week, she promises. And on Thursday, May 26th she calls me at 11am to let me know about 10:30 am Hayley legally became our child forever and is now named Hayley Elizabeth Hillison. You could not wipe the smile from my face and Hayley was tickled too – not as much because she thinks of it as her name and her forever family already.
I grab the camera and we head on down to downtown Raleigh, which I abhor after working downtown for the N&O. One way streets, parking decks, loud/drunk/crazy people, all very annoying but I was in such a good mood I didn’t care!
We parked and started taking fun pictures. We got to go through courthouse security – she thought she had to go INTO the xray machine on the conveyor belt. We head up to the 12th floor and around to Special Proceedings.
I ask for Ms. McMillan at the desk and turns out it is Miss Cookie herself there waiting for us. She comes out from behind the big desk unit as if we had been friends for a long time and we gleefully hug. She gives me the papers and it is all done! She takes a photo with Hayley and with me.
Then she shares her special story about why doing this job means so much to her, especially cases like Hayley’s. I’m almost in tears as she asks for copies of the photos. She’s only been doing the job for about five months and since everything is mailed out, she doesn’t get to be a part of many happy moments. She really made our day extra special.
Hayley and I grabbed lunch at Zaxbys and then made bead necklaces at BeDazzled over in Cary – or as Hayley calls it, the Pink Store as it is all pink inside. She made a necklace with her new name and picked me out some of the same beads that said M O M. And we met a wonderful grandmother with her daughters and ended up sharing our story with them. The grandmother was in tears and hugging Hayley. Having people share in your joy is awesome. She prayed for us even which was so kind.
We then saw a fabulous clothing boutique for kids with a moving sale. And you know we hit the heck out of that! Everything was 30-60% off! $250 later we had a ton of gorgeous stuff that should have cost $400.
We met up with Jeff at home and he made a funny, silly big deal about the paperwork that made me smile. And then we went out to Outback for dinner. I really wanted to go to Ruth’s Chris but Hayley wouldn’t have enjoyed it, so we wouldn’t have either… I was craving steak so Outback it was. Then we went over to friends, goofed off and went to bed at like 11pm.
Thanks to everyone for their comments and well wishes. I love you all! So many of you went though the infertility journey, then adoption journey and now that part of our lives is over. For all of you still waiting – HAVE HOPE & FAITH. It will happen for you too.
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