This calls for a Celebration!!

Yesterday we were joined by nearly 50 friends and family members in celebrating the finalization of Kai's adoption. We were once again reminded of our amazing support system we had during those long months of waiting, and rejoiced with them that we are finally done! There was a combination of friends and family present, and even our family and some friends from up north made the trip to be with us. It was a really nice time for everyone to be together, complete with "citizenship" type games, a red-white-and-blue cake, and a bounce house for the kids! Kai did great at his first "big" party, and loved the audiences he could draw with his antics. My friend Robyn graciously acted as our photographer, and got great pictures for us which will have to be posted later after they're organized a bit.

Foto Finish Friday (a few hours late...)

Drinking milk from a big-boy cup...

And proof that he actually did...a little milk mustache!

Further proof was the change of clothes that occured after lunch was over! :-)

It's FINAL!!!

Earlier this week, Joe and I went before a judge, with our lawyer and my parents present as witnesses, and were lawfully pronounced as K's legal parents!!! Now, according to state law, we have the same rights "as if he was born to them in lawful wedlock". The whole proceeding took all of about 5 minutes, but it was still amazing to hear the judge's statement, and know that after almost 2 and a half years, our adoption process is finally complete! He's ours forever and always and no one can take him away!! Having our adoption finalized also made K become a US Citizen, and although our adoption paperwork is complete, now begins the paperwork for his citizenship. Next we'll begin our paperwork for his SSN, passport and COC (Certificate of Citizenship). Even though through adoption laws, once he becomes our child he is a citizen, his adoption decree is not sufficient evidence to prove his citizenship, should we need to for say... a Korean military draft. We can start all this fun after we receive his birth certificate in a couple weeks! And, before I leave you to look at photos of our special day, I wanted to say a special thank you to my parents, who have been tremendously supportive of our adoption, and made the 2 hour journey by 9am to be with us on Tuesday! Thank You Mom & Dad! We love you guys!!

Foto Finish Friday

Playing on his "new" slide. Oh yeah, and GO DUCKS!!!

Foto Finish Friday

OK, so I am totally stealing this idea from other blogs I read, but it's fun and forces me to at least post something every week. Every Friday I will post a picture from the week. It might be something exciting that happened or something that reflects the mood of our house for the week, or something I think is just plain cute. I promise, I will try to be a better blogger and post other stuff too, but at least this way you will all see something every week. :-)

For my first Foto Friday:

Kai sharing his raisins. 

Three big things: he loves raisins, he loves to share his food, 

and he loves to eat from the original package...