"Fairest of them All" contest ...

I realized that as soon as the Princess contest is over, all the stories will probably be deleted from the website, so I thought I'd better post Sonora's story here. There were 21,410 girls who entered, and Sonora made the top 50! We entered late in the competition with only 2 and a half weeks to vote ... I wonder what would have happened if we entered the first day! Still, what an accomplishment for someone who just happened to have a princess picture laying around and a last-minute prompt from a friend. Again, our hope was not to win the most votes, but to get her name high up enough in the polls for the judges to take notice of her face and her story. There were close to 3000 pages on the website when you went to "most votes", and Sonora was on page 7, so I think we accomplished our goal! Thank you to all who voted for her! We will find out the results sometime in the beginning of November.

My Princess Story

"Someday..."That's the answer my husband, Daniel and I would give when the inevitable "when are you having kids?" question was asked. After eight years of politely smiling and saying, "someday..." one particular doctor's visit turned our answer into: "hopefully someday" and then 2 years after that, our new revised answer became, "we're in the process of adopting."

Little did we know that Fairytales don't always have to include a wicked Queen for a stepmother or suspiciously shiny, red apples...

We tried to live life as normal as possible, but every time the phone rang, there would be a rush of adrenaline wondering if "this was the call." We had several calls, and then there were calls that said, "she changed her mind and is keeping the baby" or "she chose someone else." Someday seemed to be fading into the distance.

Then, the day after my 43rd birthday, something miraculous happened ... unfamiliar symptoms that resembled the flu turned into our doctor telling us, "I can't believe it, but you really are pregnant!"

Words can not express the shock, joy, the renewed hope, and the new fears that overtook us!Many stars were wished upon and many knees were bent in prayer to bring my pregnancy through difficult times to a real-life dream-come-true.

In October of 2007, shortly after we celebrated our ten year wedding anniversary, Sonora Adeline was born. There were no trumpets sounding from the palace rooftops, no fluffy godmothers waving wands and casting spells, just a team of doctors in an operating room and a lifetime full of family and friends in thankful tears congratulating us and showering us with love and encouragement as we joined the troops in the remarkable journey called "parenthood."

The day this princess contest ends, our Sonora will turn two, and what a wonder-filled 2 years this has been! Yes, she loves her Disney Princesses and all things bibbity~bobbity~boo. We know there are many, many kids out there who would love to win a trip to Florida, and we don't feel comfortable saying that Sonora "deserves" it more than anyone else. Of course we would be beyond thankful to win! We would cherish the opportunity to make magical memories at Walt Disney World, but if not, we hope that Sonora's story has touched you, the readers, and encouraged you to keep wishing on stars and bending those knees, because dreams really do come true!

Oh, and about that 4th prize ticket ...

We believe that even though our wish was granted and we had a baby of our own, we are still meant to continue on with the adoption. So, when asked if Sonora will be getting any brothers or sisters any time soon, we just smile and say, "Someday ..."