do you know the actor Robby Benson?......

...that is how i start my answer to the question ...."where did you get the name Lyric?" 24 years ago, my mom saw that he had a daughter named Lyric and thought it was beautiful...and perfect for a daughter of mine! we put it on our list and it slowly worked its way up....but i digress...this post is not about Robby Benson....

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY LYRIC

April 20, 1987......here is the story...

We were living in Beaumont, Texas (ironic, i know)....Leah was 1 yr old and we decided we'd put our name in to adopt again. Back then there was a 1 yr waiting period and then your name went on the list for real. So we paid our down payment (I think it was like $500) towards the $2500 that it would cost for the adoption thru LDS Social Services and began the process....home studies, references....etc....lots of hoops to jump through.

....sidenote....LDS Social Services raised the price to $4000 right in the middle of our waiting....so, being the good consumer I am...I wrote a letter to the Presiding Bishopric (for those who arent LDS...thats like writing to the Speaker of the House in Washington DC)....you cant raise the price in the middle of a contract! thats not right! how can a couple with one income save $4000! Certainly they werent asking us to come up with an extra $1500. So one day, in the middle of a nap, the phone rings...its the office of the Presiding Bishopric! I was sure they were going to ask me to turn in my membership card (we dont really have membership cards)....the guy on the line was very nice in explaining why the raise in the price and why it was fair and yes, they totally understood that it would be hard to raise the extra money on one income and if the baby came before we had the money we could pay the extra over time or make arrangements....i was dutifully humbled....and really impressed that Salt Lake would call little old me!

When our year of waiting was up we knew it would still be quite awhile....not a bad thing because i was very sick...ended up hospitalized for a bit when leah was 2....so i needed time to get well....we would meet with our case worker every few months....we were told there were like 20 names on the list ahead of us. About December 1986 or January of 1987, we said "would we be thinking maybe by Thanksgiving or Christmas of 87? Our Caseworker said that was probably a good ballpark. So we lived our life. We always assumed the next baby would be a boy...after all...the church let you adopt 2 kids...so the perfect family must be a boy and a girl...and we already had a girl.

back to lyric's story.....

Mid-April 1987, pretty sure it was April 19, 1987, we met with our caseworker....just a regular old "how are you doin/nuthin's changed" kind of meeting.....he didnt know anything more than we did. He did ask if we had any names chosen...we answered that it would be Lyric Elizabeth if it was a girl....he thought it was a funny name....but he remembered it.

April 27, 1987....I'm at work....I played the piano for ballet classes at Bonnie Cokinos Ballet School...Mary Robertson was the teacher (she serves in the singles ward in Beaumont now! ironic!).....Leah was with a friend that watched her while I worked.

At about noon I got done at work and picked up Leah....stopped to chat....way too long....with my friend...then headed home. As I drove up to our house...there is David standing by the front gate...."hmmm" I thought "is he sick?".....nope,,,,not a sick face. I got out of the car and he walked up to me and said 'WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN! I CALLED THE STUDIO! I CALLED THE SITTER!" (this was before cell phones folks)......"sorry!"....."anyway.....How would you feel about going up to dallas to pick up our little girl!?" "WHAT! REALLY!" we both cried! we were so surprised and excited!

Leah is in her car chair...almost 3 yrs old....not liking all this excitement.... We get her in the house...call our parents...my mom makes flight arrangements to meet us in Dallas the next day....so we are running around trying to figure out what to do....gotta drive the 5 hours to Dallas today to get to the office the next morning to get LYRIC! the case worker had called our home and left a message saying "Lyric Elizabeth is in Dallas waiting for you"...then he called David at work. He had no idea that the day after we met, she was born...he had no idea that we would be moved up the list to get Lyric....the social workers in the Dallas office made that decision! YAY!

we are packing and talking and laughing and crying....leah is mad...no one is paying attention to her...no one is really explaining anything to her.....she sits in the road in front of our house and says "i dont want a sister"....too much confusion for her....so we promise her she can bring her lunch box....and she is good to go.

My visiting teachers JUST HAPPEN (really!) to stop by.....no appointment...we tell them the happy news and they take our house keys and promise to get everything ready. We jump in the car and are off. My visiting teachers spent the next 24 hours finding and laundering all my baby clothes, finding and putting together our crib....filling our house with banners and diapers for when we arrived home!

We stop in Palestine, Texas at a Walmart or K-mart...cant remember...to get a purple dress to bring Lyric home in....we were totally unprepared. We are making lists and re-thinking names...never seriously re-thought her name....Lyric had moved up to the top spot and stayed there. We stop at a Pizza Hut for dinner and find a Motel 6....same one we stayed in when we took Leah to the Dallas temple 2 1/2 yrs before.

The next morning we go to the Social Services office and there she is! Dark hair (more than Leah, so we thought she had a bunch) We get to hold her...then we sign papers....PAY THE STINKIN $4000 (best investment we ever made....and she is the most expensive of all our kids!....:).......we change her into her dress and head to the airport to pick up my mom. Then we head back to Beaumont...our little family....start planning our life with two girls...thinking we were done....haha...little did we know...but anyway......

Lyric continues to make my heart sing.