It's Official x4

  
In March, we officially accepted the referral of a precious 3 year old boy - "G". 
 
In June, G was officially our son according to Ethiopia Law.
   
In Aug, G was officially our son according to US Federal Law and was issued permanent residence status.
  
Today, G was officially our son according to our state law and was issued US Citizenship.  It was another wonderful day in our famiy's life.

We arrived at the courthouse at 9:40ish.  We immediately found the "readoption group".  8 families were scheduled.  6 were in our group - 4 Ethiopia, 1 Uganda and 1 domestic.  The groups are not normally that big, but everyone was trying to get in before the end of the year, and the judge was kind enough to come in special for us.

As we walked up, we immediately recognized some fellow AGCIers, Missy and Mark.  It was great to see them.  They are about 8 months ahead of us, and they had adopted an older child as well.  So, it was nice to compare notes and get some helpful hints.  We also ran into one of "S" work friends, Rob, who has 2 adopted children of his own.  He was there to support some church friends who were readopting and asked if he could come back to the judge's chambers with us.  We were glad he was there.  He was able to take pictures for us.
  

We are patiently waiting our turn out in the courtroom. 

 

It's our turn in the judge's chambers.  (Our lawyer is across from us.)  The judge immediately made us feel at ease and like we were the only case he had that morning.

 

It's official.

Afterwards, we waited outside for the rest of our group.

As I was explaining about today for "A", she couldn't understand why we had to go through the re-adoption.  "I thought he was already my brother."  "Will I have to answer any questions?"  "If we aren't doing a good job, will he have to go back to Ethiopia." --- All so cute.

It is done.  Look at that smile!!

In celebration, we ate lunch at Mellow Mushroom, and then ended the day with an Ethiopian dinner.  It was perfect!!