1 Down,

2 More to go.

Today was our Adoption. He is officially and federally ours. Yippee. Will post pics when I receive them.

This morning was a bit stressful for unknown reasons. You can just say I was tense. It didn't help that our attorney, the very experienced Randy Kester called this morning and casually announced he would not be there. The conversation went a bit like this:

Randy: "Something, something, something-and by the way I won't be there-something, something..." WHOAAA.
Me: What??! Whadja say? Who WILL be there?!
Randy: "Oh, you'll be fine, he's great. He's Tyler Young and he's a son of one of the partners."
My response: Is he even an attorney?? How many adoptions has he done?
His: "Oh, this is his first, but it'll be fine." (It turns out he was nice, nervouse, and nice lookin. What was I complaining about?)

Anyway, do you feel where I was at 'tense-wise'?!

Not to mention, Leroy forgot what time it was ('I thought you said it was at 3 o'clock.') which means he was late. Did I mention that, in the flurry of leaving late, we forgot the diaperbag? And, that Andy woke this morning with green snot all over his face and a fever? Did I mention my state of mind??

But, all's well that ends well. Gabe, Karen and Terry were all there waiting (LJ was there with Alyssa, but she got sick and they had to go home.) At any rate, we might have forgotten our camera, bottles, diapers and wipes, but Gabe and Karen remembered theirs. Small miracles do happen.

For the record, Judge Davis has a heart of gold. He was really warm, really patient (with our somewhat fumbling but very nice attorney) and really happy for us. It was interesting hearing him talk about the seriousness of the occasion and how this formality made Andrew, in the eyes of the governemnt, our 'birth' child. I flashed back to what my parents must have heard at my adoption. Full Circle.

Judge Davis also included the kids by asking them questions (like he asked us, only in abreviated form) like how they felt about Andrew, whether they were going to be a good brother/siter, and if they were goiing to be a great helper for Mom. Theya re now lawfully required to do so!

All joking aside, the whole thing was wonderful. Having family there with us really made it special too. But, I loved most that he took a moment to recognize Ibby (our birthmom) for the selflessness it took for her to carry to full term a baby she loved, but couldn't keep and to give that baby a better life by giving him away. Talk about tears. Although, I needed duct tape from the moment I stepped through the metal detectors.

We got great pictures of us and the kids, the kids and the judge, the kids and the robe with gavel in hand, us and family, us and the judge, us and the attorney, the attorney and the judge...you get the picture. Or, you will get the pictures, when I post them.

In the meantime, I am off to CHILL out for a few hours since tomorrow I will be tense in anticipation of next week. The saga continues...