Day 8: Final Order Granted

Shane and I woke up early to video chat with Owen and Cole. Today was their first day of school and we wanted to wish them luck. Cole is a 3rd Grader at Turtle Lake and Owen started 6th Grade at Chippewa Middle School (it was Owen's very first day as a Middle Schooler!) It was rough not being there to see them off, but we chatted with them again after school and it sounded like they both had a good first day.

We had a relatively lazy day here in Georgetown. The only thing on the agenda was our 3:30 pm court appointment so we spent most of the day at the Marriott. Shane did some work and took advantage of the gym while Aria and I spent our time in our room. She's been eating a ton, but eats so very slow. She can easily spend most of the day nibbling here and sipping there. We can't wait to see how much weight she puts on by the time we get home.

We grabbed lunch at one of the Marriott's restaurants and headed back to our room. Aria napped while we prepared for our big court date.

Soon it was time to throw on our Sunday best and head to our very important meeting with the Chief Justice. Aria looked adorable dressed in her pretty pink dress.

Quincy picked us up and brought us to the High Court. It's a massive set of buildings that form a square with a green space and open air parking lot in the middle. There were a number of security guards walking around, but no one was manning the metal detector or stopping to search people as they entered. It was quite surprising to see how lax the security was.

Sadie was going to meet us outside the Chief Justice's Chambers at 3:25. At 3:35, we started to get worried. Neither Sadie nor the lawyer from the CPA had arrived yet and our meeting was supposed to take place at 3:30. We simply could not miss our appointment with the Chief Justice. She is a very busy lady and we were lucky she agreed to squeeze our case in. Moments later, everyone appeared just in time and we were asked to enter the Chambers. Sadie, the CPA's lawyer, and a representative from the CPA took a seat at a large round table where the Chief Justice was sitting.  We were asked to sit on the chairs along the wall instead of at the table with the rest of the meeting attendees. Less than 5 minutes later, we were being congratulated. Our Final Order was granted and Aria was now legally our daughter!

Now we must wait for the Final Order to be issued. Sadie is hoping that it will be completed by Thursday. We still have soooo many steps to complete before Aria can come home but today was a HUGE step in the right direction!