Welcome to the Family!

It's official, Grayson is now our son under the eyes of the law. The court hearing for his finalization was this morning and we now have the documents to happily say he is our little boy. The judge was wonderful. He had obviously taken the time to read our paperwork because he knew about our wedding (which had been discussed in our homestudy) and he knew we wanted a more "official ceremony" documenting Grayson's finalization. As a result, he said the hearings are usually conducted in the judge's chambers, but since we had wanted something more formal, he had arranged for our hearing to be in an actual courtroom. He talked about how unique adopted children are in that a family chooses to love them even after getting to know them and learning all about them. He also talked about how especially unique adoptive parents are and how special the family relationship is. We were very touched by how much the judge truly seemed to care about the whole process. After the formalities, we were able to come up behind the bench to take a few pictures. We then went to pick up the official documents proclaiming the adoption.

By the way, Grayson is also taking a few steps. He started this morning at my parents' house and has taken a few more since we've been home this afternoon. All in all, it's been a wonderful day!!