Finalization

This weekend we flew home to Atlanta because we had our court date in Greenville, South Carolina yesterday, March 5, 2012. I know, I know, we didn't tell anyone that we were in town because we just didn't have the time to see everyone we love. Please don't hold it against us, we just didn't want it to be a stressful weekend trying to be here and there and everywhere. Instead we spent Saturday with family, doing a little shopping, eating, playing and just being us. 


Here are many of the highlights of the weekend..... (beware of photo overload)


Madelyn's first airplane trip. She was awesome on all four planes! Tip of the day: if you fly later in the evening, the plane isn't full and they will let you carry on your car seat. Which ended up being such a treat so late at night. 

Cousin time. They couldn't get enough of her when we first arrived. They followed us everywhere, including the bathroom to bath her.

Play time. 

Nail time. Which included me getting my very own pedicure by Jordan and McKinzie.  

                                       

The result. 

Sunday after church we headed straight to SC to stay with Devon's family. Devon is our birth mother and I'm so glad that we can be more opened about who she is now that things are final because she is worth writing about a lot. We feel so comfortable in their home and we can honestly say, they are our family. We love them and they love us, even when Cony sets off the house alarm at 6:00 in the morning. Devon has a 2 1/2 year old son who is pretty much the sweetest boy I've ever known. He really took to loving on Maddie and building towers made of shaving cream and soap for her to knock over. When he woke up (from the house alarm) he was holding a picture of Maddie and Gracie, which just warmed my heart in a way I can't put into words. He couldn't go to sleep without a picture of Maddie and in my book he won the best brother ever award. 

Monday morning we headed to the court house pretty early to be safe we weren't late. My mother was lucky enough to come with us and Devon, Gabrielle, Grandma Celia and Grandpa Tom also came, which meant the world to us. We didn't know what to expect but our lawyers warned us they would be asking us certain questions and it would be in a small room. I took that to mean, the judge would be asking the questions and we would be in his office. Not even close. The courtroom was an actual courtroom (duh!) but on a really small scale. Both Cony and I had to swear to the tell the truth and sat in a witness chair while our lawyer and guardian ad litem asked us questions. The guardian ad litem is the person who represents the child in court and is asked by the judge if she sees fit we be granted to be parents. Our lawyer wasn't able to make it so he sent one of his associates and when she asked Cony who was in the courtroom to support us, he pointed to Devon's family and mentioned she was our birth mom. Come to find out later, she didn't know that was "Devon" and seemed a little irritated that we didn't warn her. Lynn, the guardian ad litem knew so we just assumed. Apparently it's not very often they have the birth mom at the final hearing. But we don't keep anything from Devon so it didn't seem like a big deal.  

Yesterday was so full of happiness and joy. A day we'll always remember and a day we'll always celebrate. We feel honored to have so many people rooting for us and honored that we have a lasting relationship with Madelyn's birth family. Miracles are happening all around us, but they seem to happen after a lot of heartache and hard work- so if I may give another tip: don't give up!