Adoption Day!

Yesterday our family headed out at 11:30 a.m. to travel three hours west to finalize Peanut's adoption. We had a great trip there, thankful for the sunshine and warm weather that accompanied us!

We were greeted by that sign on the courthouse parking deck. Awesome!

Our girls had their first security/x-ray machine experience. Little Bit even had to remove her shoes in order for the machine to quit beeping at her. Oh how I love their innocence! They thought the whole procedure was crazy and asked what it was all about. That was a fun explanation. :)

Doesn't everyone look so very happy? We had just gone through security and were waiting on Honey to come back from the van. He had his pocket knife on him and obviously could not take it in with him! Incidentally, this bench is also where I left my purse sitting and did not realize it until our elevator was almost to our floor. I prayed and prayed as Honey went back down to fetch it. Thank God it was still sitting there!

We headed up to the 6th floor to join the dozens of other families that were there to finalize adoptions. We met with dear Vonnie who was there from our agency. She is the one who handles all the paperwork for us once we have placement of a child. We SO appreciate her for everything she has done for us! There were three other families from our agency, and so many more were adopting through the foster care system, at least one woman was adopting her niece. It did my heart good to see so many older children being adopted, too!

They were taking photos of all kids being adopted and printing them off. They had those wooden frames from the craft store that kids could decorate and then put their pictures in. I brought ours home to use some of my paints on! 

We also were given red ribbon pins to wear that said "Adoptive Parent". That was a really neat thing to do to help others recognize who was who!

The pins also kept Peanut quite occupied!

Friends from our agency, Bryan and Stacy, were also there to finalize their sweet son's adoption. 

We were soon called into the courtroom, where Judge Lisa Beam was holding the door and greeting each family as they walked through. Such a great way to make us feel welcome and comfortable! 

This was our view.

Cheesin' it up for the camera!

Peanut was pretty chill. That is, until the proceedings started. Then she commenced to blowing raspberries through most of it! I love what Judge Beam said, "God put the wiggle in children" and so she was not too worried about little disruptions in the courtroom at that time. :)

That is Judge Beam. She had some really sweet words for all the families. She introduced some other special guests there such as the Sheriff and also some political reps for that county. 

So one by one, each family was called up to the judge. Each family was also given the opportunity to say a few words, if they so chose. Some families were in tears, sharing that their journey to adopt their kids had been a 5 or 7 year battle. It was so neat to be able to be there to rejoice with them, even though we did not know them at all. 

Judge Beam shook our hands, handed us our adoption decree as well as a certificate of family membership, and she gave Peanut a pink bear. (They had pink and blue bears, for girls and boys...you probably figured that part out!) The certificate of family membership declares Peanut to be our child, that she is a member of our family, and that she has all the rights and responsibilities of being a member of our family. (Isn't that awesome?)

Our names were called!

We were handed our decree!

And me telling the girls to turn around for the next photo...

Peanut is adopted for life! The law now recognizes what we have known in our hearts since we first laid eyes on Peanut. She is our daughter!

Stacy don't kill me for this one, your family is so beautiful and precious I really wanted to include you in this post! But Peanut was in my arms when I took this and she was quite a "help", causing me to get a photo with your eyes shut. :)

It was some kind of hot in that court room! The girls came out to enjoy some cake and punch. Honey topped Peanut off for our ride home. We said our goodbyes.

Walking back to our van, Honey and I were saying how awesome it was to know she is legally ours, but at the same time how funny it was that nothing felt different. She has been ours for 7-1/2 months! But having this part of the adoption journey behind us is definitely a wonderful feeling!