It's Official: Lindsey is a Worley!

As of this morning, Lindsey's adoption is 100% finalized and official!

Getting here has been a journey for us, and for her, though we've only been part of each other's story for six months, just one-half of a year. It's weird how long, yet how short, that seems.

So, the specifics of today: My mom was able to get the day off of work, so she came over this morning to ride with us. Brandon's girlfriend Diane came over, and they followed us. We were scheduled to meet our attorney at the Superior Court Building at 8:30 this morning, but got stuck in the WORST traffic. We were all spazzing a little bit because we didn't want to be late for such an important date! (That sounded like something from Alice in Wonderland!) We called our attorney to let her know, but she reassured us that we didn't need to worry about being just a few minutes late. Lindsey's caseworker brought her good friend Deanna, and they met us on the way into the building. Because of some complicated stuff that happened, they hadn't seen each other in six months, so Lindsey practically jumped on Deanna when she saw her. (We took time for some photos of the two of them after we were done in court.)Once we got to the building, we got on the wrong elevator and ended up in the wrong part of the building, so we had to ride back down and find another elevator to ride up to the sixth floor. Finally we got there, and our caseworker and our lawyer were waiting for us. We went into the courtroom, and because there were so many of us, they decided to do everything right there instead of taking us into the judge's chambers. So they locked up the courtroom with just us in there, and brought in the judge. He was so happy do be able to start his day with "Happy Court," as he called it. He told us that when he has to deal with terminating parental rights, it's such a sad thing, but getting to do an adoption lets him see the other, happier side of things. Our lawyer told the judge a little about how our story was a "match made in heaven" and that God had orchestrated it all. How awesome is that, to have a lawyer telling a judge a God-story right there in a county courtroom?

Ken and Lindsey and I were sworn in, then answered a few question, and the judge eagerly signed the paper to make it official. There were hugs all around, and my mom came and hugged Lindsey's neck and asked me, "Why aren't y'all crying? I'm back here crying the whole time!" Before we left, of course, we did a few photos, and included the judge, our lawyer, our caseworkers, Deanna, and our whole family. A big THANK-YOU to Diane for manning the camera, even though she's part of the family as well. We went to breakfast so Lindsey and Deanna could have a little time to catch up. Tonight we'll continue our celebration with a party for friends and family. Thank you to each and every one of you who have prayed for us in this journey, and we would greatly appreciate your continued prayers, too!