US Re-Finalization

On March 3, 2014 we officially finalized Ava's adoption in the US.  What an exciting day!!  It was a day filled with family and lots of love.  We had a fantastic lawyer who walked us through the entire process.  He had adopted 2 boys from Korea himself, so he really understood what this means to an adoptive family.  

Waiting for the judge to enter

The US re-finalization allows us to obtain paperwork equivalent to a birth certificate.  This paperwork allows easier access to school as well as allows us to obtain a US passport for Ava (we'll need that for our trip to China next year to meet Ava's little brother or sister!!).  It is all rather confusing since she was officially a US citizen as soon as we passed through US customs coming back from China.  The re-finalization is not something that we were required to do, but it was highly recommended to make things easier down the road.  We're so glad we did it as it was such a cool experience that a lot of our family was able to be a part of.

We had an 11am court time.  We arrived at the court house in plenty of time and it was a good thing we did...we had no idea where to go once inside!!  But we were quickly pointed in the correct direction.  The courthouse itself was a really cool old building with lots of paintings, marble, and woodwork.  Just after the Judge walked in, Ava started crying.  As I'm whispering to my mom to pass me some fruit snacks, our lawyer kindly asked if Ava could have permission to run around the court room.  The Judge replied that he learned a long time ago that he was not in control of these hearings and that Ava had permission to leave the table.  Thank you Judge!!  During the court hearing we were sworn in and then asked several questions by our lawyer and the Judge.  I don't know why, but I was rather nervous.  I've never been in a court room before and have definitely not been the one answering the questions!!  It was over quickly though and the judge came down to give us all big hugs, take pictures, and congratulate us.  It was definitely more of a celebration.  

After pictures, we all headed to Upstream were we had an awesome lunch followed by cake to finish off the celebration!!  

Our house is way to quiet now without this group filling it up