Friday, April 15th, 2011
We got up on Friday around 6:30 because Gus was ready to be up. He must have sensed the excitement from us. :)
We decided to leave the house by 8:45 so that we'd have a solid hour and a half to get to Mt. Clemens. When we got into the car, Nuvi (our GPS) was telling us to take a route that we weren't going to take. She said our arrival time would be 10:45am. This had me in a panic because we had to be there 30 minutes before our time, so that meant arriving by 10:30am.
We didn't actually get on the road until 9, but it still shouldn't have taken almost two hours. I wasn't sure what Nuvi's deal was, but I knew once we were on the route that she'd like, she'd adjust her arrival time.
When we got on 696, she still said 10:45. I told Steve he had to start speeding so we'd be there by 10:30. When I looked at Google Maps on my phone, it showed that we were really close... this was at 9:30. I was so confused as to where Nuvi was taking us, since my phone showed us arriving by 9:45 and Nuvi still had us showing up at 10:45. It wasn't until we were getting off on our exit that Steve realized that he entered the destination as a via point to the last destination entered into Nuvi. Which was the KFC from the night before. So she had us going to Mt. Clemens, back to KFC, and back to Mt. Clemens. LOL
So when we got to where the courthouse was, we were looking for parking and directly across the street from the Macomb County Courthouse was a coney island (score) and it was called "Gus' Coney Island" (double score)!! I couldn't believe it! I took a picture and we decided that since we had a lot of time on our hands, we'd head inside for a quick breakfast.
The waitresses loved that Gus was there and kept coming over and talking to Gus. It was so funny that he was sitting in a coney island named the same as him. It was like a sign from God.
We finished eating and then changed Gus into his fancy court clothes. Then we headed over and went to the vital records office to fill out paperwork that we were told had to be presented before we came to court. Then we headed up to the second floor and when we opened the door, there were a ton of people taking pictures and standing around waiting for their turn.
Steve and I went inside to check in and we were met by Michael, who is the Adoption Coordinator for the county. He told us that we were first on the docket and he'd call us in, and then it'd be a quick hearing. He said that he had all of our paperwork and was familiar with our case, and would present us to the judge.
We went back out to the waiting area and P and C had arrived. We took some pictures while we waited for our attorney to show up.
Because our attorney was late arriving to court, there was a big group that was able to go in ahead of us. I think it was a wedding. Anyway, while they were in there, our attorney Deborah arrived. Then this group of people showed up and the attorneys looked frantic and went into the courtroom. It was a closed court, so there were guards inside the door. The attorney came out and said, "Oh... she's got some adoption case after this..." and said it like he was pissed off.
The large group comes out like ten minutes or so later, and then the other group walked into the courtroom. Deborah was not happy about them cutting in front of us, so she went in to see what the deal was. Apparently, there was some kind of agreement that the two parties came to and they needed a judge to sign off before it was too late and someone changed their mind.
So... that pushed us back until 11:40 until we got to go inside. When we went in, we had to sit at the table with Michael and Deborah with Gus, and then my parents and P and C sat in the jury box.
The judge asked everyone in the courtroom to identify themselves. I think she was surprised to see that Gus's birth mom C and her mom P were there too. I bet there aren't too many finalization hearings where the birth mom comes to support the child and adoptive family.
We both got sworn in, and then the judge asked Michael to speak, then Deborah to speak. Deborah said it's cases like ours that make it a great day to go to court and it's a real pleasure to work with cases like ours. Then we were asked a series of questions and then that was it. My mom recorded it on the Flip camera and my dad took pictures with my camera.
After the hearing was over, we took pictures with the judge. It was a really awesome morning. I didn't cry, but probably because I was nervous and excited. Plus we've had Gus in our custody since he was born, and have felt like he's our son since day one. It was amazing to have C and P there too though, and to solidify that we're all in this together for him.
Deborah (our attorney), Gus and Michael
When we were done with court, we headed over to Bath City Bistro for lunch. We were meeting C's grandma M for the first time. Gus is her very first and only Great-Grandchild and she lives WAY north and wasn't able to meet him when he was born. She sent us a REALLY nice email when he was born thanking us for being so open to an open adoption and for being wonderful parents to take care of Gus.
Lunch was wonderful and it was really nice to meet M. My mom and dad talked to her through most of lunch since she was at the opposite end of the table from us. We talked mostly to C and P. C graduates from high school in just under two months. She and P were playing with G as he played with ice cubes. It was really cute.
We said our goodbyes and then we headed back to my parent's house. We all changed and then my mom headed off to work to get her paycheck, my dad stayed there, and then Steve, Gus and I went to Plymouth for a special Adoption Day activity. I think every year on April 15th we'll do something special to celebrate Gus's Adoption Day. This time, we went to Creatopia and painted a plate to commemorate our very special day.
We finished our plate in about an hour and then headed over to Outback in Livonia to meet everyone for our very special family dinner.
We got to Outback first, and then my mom and dad arrived, then Scott, Christie, Alex, and Lily, and then my cousin Jessica (Gus's God Mother) came with her husband Mike and their daughter B. It was so nice to be surrounded by family and the only thing that would have made it any more perfect would have been if my brother Dave had been there with his family.
We said our goodbyes to everyone and then headed back to my mom and dad's. Gus had slept maybe an hour TOTAL all day and was exhausted. We spent a little time playing before bed and then turned in around 9:30. It was an amazingly awesome day!!
>^..^<
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