Today is THE DAY

Today is National Adoption Day and Lucas's adoption was finalized in Washtenaw County Probate Court. Wait, I didn't say that loudly enough...LUKE'S ADOPTION WAS FINALIZED TODAY! (In case you don't remember the timeline from our very first post, since June we have had joint custody of Lucas with the court, and, well, the court hasn't been doing its share of waking up with him at 3 AM, so we applied to finalize the adoption now that all the post-placement visits by our adoption agency are finished.)

Anyhow, the whole process today was a blast. There were scores of people at the court: Kids running around everywhere, tables stocked with play dough and coloring books, bagels and donuts to snack on, free stuffed animals lining the window sills -- and of course everybody having a great time, including the judges, who had bunches of colorful balloons hitched to their usually staid benches. They even make an exception to the court's usual "no cameras" rule for people involved in adoption day, and you can bring guests into the hearing with the judge. (Luke's grandma Jackie flew in from San Diego for the occasion!)

Our hearing was first and only took about ten minutes, and Jill was teary-eyed pretty much the whole time. David had a foot-wide smile plastered on his face, and Lucas was absolutely transfixed by whatever it was that that interesting judge was saying. Then we waited with all the other families for some remarks from the head of the County Probate Court, who adopted two kids of his own many years ago, and a short and inspiring speech about adoption from a Michigan Supreme Court Justice. The adoptees were given bags of gifts from the court staff and multiple stuffed animals (Luke's new teddy is adorable).

Now we're headed to a celebratory dinner at the place we've nicknamed Court Date Restaurant, where we've celebrated other milestones in Luke's adoption. This was his final court date, and we'll add November 25 to our list of anniversaries to celebrate in coming years.

One other thing - - Mom, Dad, and Lucas now share the same last name! Until now we needed to use Luke's birthmom's last name on official documents, health insurance, and even airline tickets, but we now have our first official document with Luke's new last name -- his Order of Adoption -- and a new birth certificate with his new name is in the mail. Hooray!