It's Official! He's our little brother!

Finalizing Zeth’s adoption yesterday was a wonderful experience. This was our second finalization and after a more extended wait over the past 20 months than we had originally anticipated to actually get to an official Adoption Decree, the hour we spent at family court was actually surprisingly pleasant. We brought both kids so that Zana would have a chance to experience the event with us and hopefully have a positive experience that she’ll be able to relate to and may be beneficial somewhere down the road.

The honorable judge Michael Broderick presided and was such a kind and understanding man. Can’t say enough about how positive he made the whole experience from giving our very active Zeth a toy fire truck to play with (which coincidentally matched his outfit down to the Tonka label) and having thoroughly reviewed all the details of our petition which I get the feeling doesn’t always happen and ending the formal portion of the proceedings by reading some of the very generous statements about our family and home in our file from the home visits with our LDS Family Services adoption facilitator – the amazing Sally Lee. Judge Broderick invited us all to come join him behind his seat for group photos afterwards.
He was a warm and magnificent man…especially in contrast to our first finalization which felt very sterile by comparison. From his comment that this was his favorite kind of day, I left feeling like we had somehow done him a service. I later Googled his name and read about his typical day in court and the sad domestic violence cases he normally presides over, I know now why he was all smiles with us.

At Zana’s finalization, we met our seersucker suited lawyer for the first time in the waiting area and he kept calling Zana, "Anabelle" for some reason. Sally (our adoption angel) couldn’t make it that day so it was just us and this strange southern lawyer who couldn’t remember the name of the child we were adopting. Zana was 9-months old and I made the mistake of leaving the diaper bag on the stroller near the door as we entered the court room. Half way through the legal oration, Zana was crying so much I couldn’t hear anything. The judge and bailiff weren’t paying us much attention so being the novice mother I was, I stood up with Zana and walked over to grab the pacifier and calm the baby. It was just the distance of 4 chairs but it could have been a mile. The incredulous looks I received from behind the bench as I retook my seat let me know I had just broken serious protocol. I walked out of the icy courtroom with a sort of half-content feeling knowing that we had taken the first step towards being a forever family but it wouldn’t be complete until we were sealed in the temple for eternity. We have scheduled Zeth's Temple sealing for next month after school gets out for Zana and we can take another trip to a neighbor island. I'm so relieved everything went well and happy to be able to call Zeth our own for good now.
After leaving the courthouse, we went to the mall for lunch. Zana has had pierced ears since she was a very bald 6-month old but her sensitive skin got infected from the earring backs and the holes have closed up twice now. She has been begging for earrings for several weeks so while at the mall I decided to give it another try. The last time she had her ears pierced she showed no emotion at all and after hopping down from the chair announced "That was fun Mommy!" so I was not prepared for the unprecedented drama this time around.

It makes a huge difference having both ears pierced simultaneously but there was just one worker so that was not possible. After the first earring was in Zana was a terrified, rigid ball of tears and it took me 15 minutes to reason with her to relax and get the other side done. I was willing to walk out of there with only one earring in and she was considering it too but the patient worker managed to distract her with a lollipop and she relented her earlobe. I hope she remembers the drama and the pain and never wants to do this again. We’re being vigilant this time with her cleaning routine and will be getting a nice pair of small hoops without nickel-plated backs once we’re ready to change pairs this time.