It's Official! Happy Adoption Day!!

Happy Adoption Day! January 11th, 2007





Oh, who would have guessed, who could have seen
Who could have possibly known
All these roads we have traveled, the places we've been
Would have finally taken us home
So here's to you, three cheers to you
Let's shout it, "Hip, hip, hip, hooray!"
For, out of a world so tattered and torn,
You came to our house on that wonderful morn
And all of a sudden this family was born
Oh, happy Adoption Day!
There are those who think families happen by chance
A mystery their whole life through
But we had a voice and we had a choice
We were working and waiting for you
So here's to you, three cheers to you
Let's shout it, "Hip, hip, hip, hooray!"
For, out of a world so tattered and torn,
You came to our house on that wonderful morn
And all of a sudden this family was born
Oh, happy Adoption Day!


No matter the name and no matter the age
No matter how you came to be
No matter the skin, we are all of us kin
We are all of us one family
So here's to you and three cheers to you
Let's shout it, "Hip, hip, hip, hooray!"
For, out of a world so tattered and torn,
You came to our house on that wonderful morn
And all of a sudden this family was born
Oh, happy Adoption Day!
©1992 John McCutcheon/Appalsongs (ASCAP)

Yay! Today was Maya's Adoption Day! The photos above show us at the courthouse. A couple of reps from our local adoption agency joined us in support (Linda and Becky). The 3rd photo shows our family with Linda, who was our main rep throughout our process.
Maya's hearing was at 9:15 am. The judge asked us a few questions such as why do we wish to adopt this child (we each had to give an answer), and do we understand the financial, etc. obligations that we are legally agreeing to for life. After several 'I do's (many more than our marriage ceremony!), we were granted custody of our baby and Maya was given her legal name and US citizenship. Maya made sure that she was a part of the hearing by being extremely vocal the entire time! It was being taped, so I hope that the judge's microphone picked up more sound than ours!
Though we became a forever family on June 16th, 2006, our sweet little angel is legally our child now! Maya Jasmine Rekha is a United States citizen today! It is a happy day that we will continue to celebrate every year. We are having a small reception this evening, so some of our close friends can join us in celebrating and kicking off new family traditions. To celebrate, we are having an Indian dinner, cake, and will be watching Maya's Adoption Story DVD. I can't believe that our {first} adoption journey has finally come to a close. Truly a special day.
{btw, we mailed in our application to begin our 2nd adoption journey today!!! Stay tuned.}