Finally!

What an absolutely perfect day. The day started off very well. We all managed to get out of the house ON TIME! This is quite a feat on a normal day with just one small child. But when you throw in 4 more adults and 2 more small children, it is indeed miraculous!

We made our way to the Fulton County Justice Center where we met up Rob's Parents, aka Grandma and Grandpa, as well as Jessica and Kim. We made it through security with our cameras and found the statues where our attorney, Scott, said he would meet us. We were going to use our wait time as an opportunity to take pictures, but we no sooner got our cameras out than we were SWARMED by security saying NO PICTURES! ONLY IN THE COURTROOM! We managed to get a couple in before that, but nothing pretty.

Scott showed up right on time. He was surprised by the number of people we had to witness this very special occcasion. He pulled Rob and I aside and said, you know this is pretty anticlimatic, right? We explained to him this had been a long process that required a lot of support along the way. They all deserved to see it through until the end. If it had been a weekend or later in the workday, he would have been REALLY surprised by the number of people who have followed Aidan's adoption story and wanted to see it finalized.

We went upstairs and were initially taken to the courtroom. A few minutes later we were taken back to the judge's chambers. For some reason, the adoption finalization procedure has to be done in a secluded room. I'm banking it has something to do with Aidan being a minor, but have no idea what the real reason is.

The judge was also surprised by the number of people, but very courteous and invited every one to gather around the table. Rob, Aidan and I got to sit to the right hand side of the judge while our lawyer stood across from us. He reviewed the different petitions and documents he had prepared. Then he swore us in to make sure we would tell the truth :) After that, he asked us a series of questions, all very legal and very redundant. Nothing that truly measures what kind of parent you will be or already are. The judge signed the documents and told us it was official. I fought back tears the whole time.

After that we took a quick picture with the judge and headed back down to the lobby. Rob and the lawyer went to the clerks office to get everything stamped. That took the longest. But its done.

"I would be but little happy if I could say how much" ~Shakespeare

I relate the last 4 and a half months to being engaged. You know you are going to spend the rest of your life with someone. You live your life just like you would after you were married, but then one day there's this ceremony and some paperwork and suddenly its DONE. No one can undo this. No one can take him away from us. If I had to pick one word to summarize the feelings of the day, I would pick gratitude. There is simply no way to ever thank Aidan's birthmother for picking us to be the parents of this WONDERFUL little boy. Without her, we'd still be on a list somewhere dreaming of this day.

Instead, we spent the day as a family. We went to the Flying Biscuit for breakfast and then to the aquarium. We had a lazy late afternoon and napped. Then there was a pizza party and a very nice "Special Delivery" cake that Rob ordered all by himself from Publix.

We look at our life and say Thank You. Thank you to the doctors, nurses, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, pharmacists and insurance companies that got us this far. Thank you to Ben and Vivian for that lunch time conversation that got me to thinking, why DON'T we adopt and having the courage to talk to Rob about it, just one more time to make sure. Thank you to Grandma and Grandpa for their love and support and financial donation that helped pave the way for some of the adoption expenses. Thank you to Cristina for being there and providing feedback and encouragement as well as LOTS of clothes and toys. Thank you also for an AMAZING baby shower. Thank you to Courtney for EVERYTHING you gave us. Aidan plays with it all daily. Thank you to Nana for being there that first week, just to make sure we got off on the right foot and to Aunt Shalon for checking in with us a few weeks later. Thank you to my running girls for listening to me talk about this on run after run and for the awesome stroller that will keep us out there for many more runs to come. There are so many more people, so many more kind things that have been done for us.

No one knows what the future holds, but our dreams have come true. The rest is just icing on the cake.

As always, MUCH LOVE,

~ THE Newtons