25 November 2012

It's Legit!

 

 November 17 was National Adoption Day.  It was also the day that our adoption of Amelia was finalized.  Since our 6 month wait period was over in November this year, we were super blessed to have our finalization land on National Adoption Day.  In Missouri, the Family Court opens on a Saturday and does all of the November adoptions on this day. It was AMAZING!!!
There were 34 children who were adopted in St. Louis this day, including our Amelia.


The whole thing was more like an event.  There were refreshments catered, a photo booth, free gifts, mascots from all of the sports teams, the media was there, and so much more.  It was a blast. Our St. Louis friends and family came to witness the whole thing and Adam's sister, Rachel, flew down for the day to represent our Massachusetts family (what a blessing!!).






At 10:20 we were called into a little courtroom where we were sworn in.  I answered a ton of questions, and then Adam had to just say that he agreed with everything that I said.  Our (adorable) social worker gave a statement, and the judge pronounced us FAMILY FOREVER!!






Amelia clapped her hands, smiled and laughed the entire hearing. It was awesome. The judge swears she has never seen a happier baby :) She also said she can tell Amelia is somebody special (we already knew this of course).


Afterwards, they gave a huge bag full of presents for Amelia.  It was amazing.  There is a sweet little necklace in their with charms all about adoption, free books, toys, a sweet little teddy bear and a ton of other things.
As a family, we all went and celebrated with a special lunch.



I had a custom doll made for Amelia, with an outfit that matched the outfit she wore at court.  It was from the cutest etsy shop, The Cinnamon Bears.  We gave it to her right before she went into the court room.  Of course we didn't get any photos of it but it's her special keepsake from the day to remind her of her special little "Gotcha Day."

Thank you again, all of you, for sharing in our little adoption journey.  We are already planning for adoption number 2 but we HAVE to get a bigger house first.  This one bedroom condo just won't cut it with another baby :)

I'll be back later with a post all about Amelia's "Gotcha Day" party :) It was awesome.

xo
janel

8 comments:

  1. amazing news! im so happy for you :)

    Barnicles

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  2. THAT IS WONDERFUL! Ours is done in January and I have never been more excited for Christmas to speed by. Congratulations and I can't wait to follow you through your home buying and your next adoption. We are thinking we will start the process again in May. That's only IF we can afford it by then.

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    1. That is awesome!!! I will be praying for things to go speedily for you too!! Yay!!

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  3. Congrats! I am very happy for you!

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  4. This makes my heart so happy! Congratulations to you, Adam, and Amelia!! <3

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  5. Can I ask you the cost of the adoption? (feel free to decline)

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Thank you so much for commenting!! xo