Lilypie First Birthday tickers

Lilypie First Birthday tickers

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Finalization!!!!!

I had this post all typed up last week, but then my computer ate it. Kind of like your dog eats your homework...except this is for real!! :) So...here's the info on how our adoption finalization day went!!

Finalization was Friday, Sept. 30th at 10 am. My parents and sister, made a trip up to join us for the momentous occasion, and Joe's parents, sister and her 3 boys accompanied us as well!! First we got ourselves spiffed up, and then took a photo of the girls...

Then we all made our way to our local county courthouse, where our social worker, Laura, and the Honorable Judge James Duvall awaited us. Aside from the fact that Liddy pooped on our way to the courthouse, and we had to do a quick diaper change on the floor of the bathroom, we arrived with 10 minutes to spare (thankfully)!

Laura walked us into the courtroom, and told us to sit up at the defendant's table. She and the rest of our family sat out in the courtroom watching area. As we waited, Liddy enjoyed the echoing sound of her hands slapping the table, which I quickly shushed once Judge Duvall entered.

Waitin' for the Judge...

He greeted us and stated the formalities of our court precedings, and then asked which one of us was going to be taking the stand to testify. He told us we could arm-wrestle for it...hehe...but we had already decided that Joe would be the one. So Joe, lookin' all handsome and spiffy, took the stand, and Judge Duvall proceeded to ask him a few questions. Things like how long we'd been married, if we owned our house, how long Lydia had been living with us, where we both work, and if he understood that we will be taking responsibility for Lydia as her parents for the rest of her life. Then Judge Duvall asked me if I agreed with all his answers, and I nodded.

There were a few more moments of the judge reviewing our request (things like whether the termination of parental rights had been finished and about her name change), and confirming things with Laura. Then he looked at us both and said, "There are a lot of bad things that happen in this courtroom. This is one of the few happy occasions." and then he went on to say, "I would like to be the first to welcome Lydia Joy Kathleen Roemer....I think that calls for a round of applause!" I gulped back tears, grinned and joined in the applause. And I'm pretty sure that the grandma's and auntie were crying too... :)

Once everything was finished, we asked if we could take some pictures with Judge Duvall, as well as with Laura. And they were happy to oblige! :)

Us with Judge Duvall. Liddy looks very underwhelmed... :)
 
Us with Laura!!

Lots of smiles...and check out Liddy's sneakers! :)

After finalizing (yay!) we went down the hall to order her birth certificate, which went smoothly (except for the moment of panic when I realized I didn't have any checks in my checkbook! Eek!! Thankfully, I found a starter check in the back of my checkbook...though I just found out that they will not accept it, so I have to send another. But still. Minor problem. ). And then we all went to one of our favorite places, Buena Vista Park! It has a gorgeous view of the Mississippi, and we'd never showed it to my family before, so we thought it would be a beautiful spot for a few family pics.
We attempted to get these 2 five-months-apart-cousins to look happy,
but they would have none of it.


The Roemers...family of three!! :) :) :)

Haha...I know Joe looks silly, but I couldn't resist showing how much Liddy
loved her high tops!! :)

Squishy kisses!!!!!!


Weber-Roemer family

Roemer family!!
And that sums up our Finalization day!! Woohoo!! Hopefully posts will be coming more frequently in the future! :)

6 comments:

Tony and Lisa said...

I think it's cool that you wrote this post on your brother's airplane day. That was an amazing day too! :)

Lydia's adoption finalization was such a blessing. I'm so glad we were there to witness it in person! I didn't expect so many tears of joy but I should have known since I'm a sentimental grandma now. Ha!

I love you all so much and thank God for giving our little Liddy Diddy to our family. He is so faithful!

Love,
Mom

Steve Bricker said...

This has been a roller coaster for you two, and by your description the finalization was more uplifting than anything in this process, and for good reason.

Charissa said...

this is amazing. :) so very happy for you all!!!

Sarah said...

this just brings tears to my eyes! congrats!!!!

Charity said...

Wonderful!!! :)

Lindsay said...

Yay! I'm so excited that it's finally done with and she's yours/ours for good!! Wish we could have been there! I'm so happy for all of you. Love you!

PS Bodie saw Lydia's pic the other day while he was playing on the floor and just started chatting to her. Then I picked him up and he saw Jack, too, and just was all smiles at their pictures. hehe Missing you lots!