Adoption Celebration Day 2 ~ Court and Small Party

About 8 a.m. I received a text that the girl's room was awake. Chad got up to take them to breakfast and I stayed in the room with the boys. They were sleeping good. :) But soon everyone was up and most of them were in the pool. We checked out at 11 and were on the road home.

We stopped in Chelsea to eat at he Traverse City Pie company. It was the first time for 7/8ths of us. It was delightful.

We arrived home with one hour left to get ready for the court house. It was crazy as I had not left enough time. I was ironing clothes, trying to do hair, and basically on the edge of a nervous breakdown by the time we got into the car. But everyone was dressed, and we were all there and that was all that really mattered. 

When we got to the court house Chad's family was there, as well as, the Hollowoods & Wendi, our photographer and close friend. We squeezed 18 of us into the 20 person capacity elevator and went up to the appropriate floor. 

We were about 15 minutes early. We sat out in the hallway talking and laughing. There was a sign that asked us to be quiet so every 5 minutes or so we would attempt to quiet down. But at best it was a dull roar. The court assistant came out to ask if we were all there, we told her we were still waiting on my family. They let us into the court room and the kids had a blast with the microphones. 

My tension was beginning to rise as time went by and my family wasn't there. We had all left our phones in the car because we were at court. At 3:15 they said they were going to have to start soon no matter if our family was here or not. I was starting to freak out. Pastor went down to get his phone and see what was going on. Chad tried to calm me down by saying that it really didn't matter if they were able to come or not in the grand scheme of life. It did not help much, but I appreciated his efforts. Finally about 3:25 Pastor, my mom, my grandparents, and my nephews Clayton & Colton walked in. They briefly explained that Sarah my sister had been rushing to leave and fell down my parents wooden stairs. They assumed her arm was broken. So my dad had taken her to the ER. I was so very relieved that they were there! 

The judge came in and he spoke about how nice it is to have smiling faces in his court room. He asked if anyone wanted to say something. Pastor, My Mom, My Grandpa, Chad's Mom, Seana the kid's social worker, Myself, Hope, Joshua, and Chad all spoke. Chad mentioned that we all were feeling so joyful and blessed, but that our hearts still felt a bit empty as Angel our first planned adoption, was not there. We will always feel like there is a part of our family missing.  Josh's was the shortest, but it blessed my heart. He said, "I am happy to be a Green!" Chad & Pastor both prayed, and then the judge called David up to the bench to hold the gavel as he signed, and then David banged the gavel and he was officially David Green. Next it was Joy's and then Joshua's turns.

We were officially the Green Team of 8! The judge then offered to be in our photo album.

And pictures were snapped. We milled around for a while. The foster agency had bought gifts for David, Joy, & Josh, so they opened them. We took more pictures....

Next we went to a pizza place across from Chad's work that has a little arcade. We ordered this huge pizza, and got the kids piles of tokens and sat and watched the Madness (March & children running in and out). It was a nice time to celebrate with some of our closest friends and family. 

We received reports from the ER that Sarah's arm was not broken, but was severely dislocated. They ended up putting her under to put it back into socket. (Now almost 2 weeks later she has had surgery this morning. It was NOT a dislocated elbow, but a broken radius head. It was a mess of shattered bones, that the surgeon reconstructed. She has had two crazy weeks of pain & doctors and will now have quite a long road of rehab.) 

Before we had even left the pizza joint, Wendi, our photographer had sent us 2 of the best of the pictures from the day so that we could get them ready to print for the big party tomorrow. I was so blessed that she worked on our pictures so quickly as it was the night she and her husband were celebrating their anniversary, and had no kids at home. 

I can't really remember the rest of the evening. I think we went home and started straightening up for the big party the next day. I do remember that the sun was shining, and we were all smiling. I think God was smiling down on us too.