Aiden is adopted! Yay. Everything is done! No more paperwork, social worker visits, etc.
It feels good.
Aiden is now related to us as if he had been born to us. The finalization was November 18th - oh what a fun day it was. We all came to the courthouse, told to invite as many friends and family as we wanted. My good friends Myrna and Christina came with their kids. My grandparents drove all the way up from Southern California. My parents came and so did Aiden's old foster family, Beth and Lily and their kids.
We arrived at the court, I had to stash my weapons (mace, haha) in a bush on the outside of the building. We all went through the metal detectors and then crammed in an elevator to the courtrooms. The mood in the air was such a contrast to the last time we had been in court. Back in April when Aiden's biological mom was losing all of her rights to him, it was a very sobering, sad day - even for Seth and I. This time was different. The atmosphere in the air was one of happiness and joy.
The county did such a great job of making it super special for us. They had a table of refreshments, they gave Seth apple cider, myself a bouquet of flowers and Aiden a bouquet of balloons. The newspaper photographer was there to capture the moment, along with two other photographers. We sat down as a family, they arranged us, took a few shots and five minutes later handed us a framed family portrait with the date printed on it.
When it was our turn to go before the judge in the family court, everyone could come in. All of the normal courtroom rituals and rules seemed to be thrown out the window for this very special occasion. We did not stand as the the judge entered the room, the bailiff didn't call the court to order - everything was very casual. Every child in the room was allowed to pick out a stuffed animal to take home.
The judge walked up to Aiden and asked why he was here. He said "a party"(hehehe). She then proceeded to ask who I was... he said "my mom" and then she asked who Seth was. He said "my dad"
The whole thing was adorable and sugary sweet.
We signed a paper to finalize (even Mr. Aiden got to sign) and then we raised our right hand as we swore to love, protect, care for Aiden and treat him as our own. Then the judge introduced us to her mother and proceeded to tell us that she was in a quilting group and they had made a quilt for Aiden!
We then gathered and took a few snapshots to remember the special day by.
Afterwards we came back to the house and had a potluck type party. Aiden had so much fun he said he wanted to go back and do it again.
Also because of national adoption day being Saturday the nineteenth the newspaper decided to run a front page story and the family they chose to feature was ours! Also the Watsonville Patch did an article about us too. Here is the link to the Santa Cruz Sentinel if you want to check it out:
