Adoption Day!

Well, yesterday was the big day!!! And what a day it was!!! National adoption day in Longview Washington is a big thing! In all the Cowlitz County Superior Court handled 30 adoptions that day, and we had 10% of them!!! They don't even hold court in the courthouse on this day. We all went to an annex building of the Catholic church, where they had gotten permission from the state court to hold court. All of the families were there together, with extended family and important friends. They had enough cake and cookies to create a sugar buzz for the entire city, I'm not sure that was such a good idea. Give kids of all ages candy cookies and cake, then expect them to go into a courtroom and sit through an adoption hearing. Fortunately, the hearings are only 10 minutes or so. They did them in some kind of order, and while we were waiting, they had a magician, 3 televisions set up with Nintendo Wiis for the older kids, toys for the younger kids, craft areas where the kids could make Christmas decorations and ornaments, (Franny made 5) and a coloring station for those who weren't about to go into a carb coma and had the attention span larger than a gnat...

As we sat in front of the judge and signed the paperwork, I was impressed by how great this all was and the attention paid to the children. During the program at the beginning, after Judge Johanson spoke, they actually had all of the children get up on the stage and give their name, and age, and talk a little about adoption. Of course, our children who are never bashful, clammed up and wouldn't say anything.

After the hearing, we got to take a picture with Judge Johanson, and then each of the children got a stuffed Teddy Bear, a mylar balloon with their name on it and a gift bag built especially for them by their case worker. Nicholle was given a single red rose as well, and I thought to my self, "yeah this is great, the kids get gifts, Mom gets a rose, and Dad gets 20 years worth of bills!!!" I'll tell you though, I wouldn't trade it for the world!!!