National Adoption Day. Every year the Saturday before Thanksgiving is set aside for finalizing adoptions. It is a day families have dreamed about for a long time. The feelings and emotions you feel this day is so hard to describe. A few years ago we finalized a month before National adoption day.
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| This is the little guy who changed our lives |
Three years ago we got up just like we do every morning. Today was different. We got dressed and brushed our teeth. Only today was different. We ate breakfast and got in the car. But today was different. Instead of driving everyone to school we drove to a courthouse. We were meet there by our social worker, Hubby's parents,and sister. We sat down next to another family and waited for them to call our names. I couldn't help but look around at the other families. You could see nervous,excited and happy all at the same time. Our social worker couldn't tell us what to expect because this was her first finalization too. We passed the time by taking photographs. (I discovered this later but I had the wrong setting on my camera. I can't enlarge my pictures any bigger than 4x6. I can't tell you how upset I was when I found that out. Grr.)
Finally what seemed like an eternity they called our name. We were sworn in. I have to admit the court room was a lot smaller than I expected. The Judge told us that finalizing was his favorite part of being a Judge. I was the first one to take the stand. He asked us the names and ages of our kids. What we were changing our son's name to. Hubby took the stand and we both promised to love and care for Bubby as if he was a naturally born to us.(Can I just say,I hate that word. Naturally? Really as apposed to what? Time to update words. Geesh.) We of course said yes. Judge hit the gavel and Bubby became legally ours. We took some pictures with the Judge and some more outside the courthouse. We said our byes to my in laws and spent the day as a family.
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| Forever Family~Trust me. We really do not look like this anymore. HA! |
We kept it simple. We went to a huge mall and had lunch. Shopped. We made Bubby a build a bear dog. We wanted him to have something to remember the day with. When you are 17 months you don't remember a lot. HA! We had a huge party that weekend. I can't tell you enough how thankful I am to our friends and family who celebrated the day with us. They have never looked at him as anything but our son. Not foster. Not adopted. But our son.
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| He just thought it was a day to get balloons,to us it was so much more. |
As I think about the families celebrating today a big smile comes across my face. I know the feelings they are having. The excitement. The happiness. The I can't believe it's finally happening. I wish them luck. Most of all, I hope they have the day they always dreamed of.
I'm including a link in case anyone wants more info on adopting.
http://www.davethomasfoundation.org/free-adoption-resources/research-and-awareness/
