We have a date!

After three years of waiting, we’ve finally been given a court date to finalize the adoptions of our littlest sibling group of five. Later this month, if all works out, we’ll be standing before a judge.

And then we want to celebrate!

Share your celebration ideas and experiences!

We have adopted several times in the past and have developed a sort of “traditional day” already. But I’m wondering if we could add or change something to make this one a little different, just something to make it a little “different special”.

In our county, the adoption hearings are attended by the families in person. (I know some states do the adoptions in closed hearings and let you know by phone. In our county, we do have to attend the hearing, which I think is a neat experience anyway.) The hearings are always scheduled on Mondays. Not only that, but they are always all scheduled at 9am. What this means is that your hearing will likely not actually BE at 9am. All of the families are to report at the same time and wait outside the actual courtroom until your family is called. Even with the wait, the hearings tend to go quickly and most families are usually finished by 11am.

After the hearings, we head straight to the photo studio. We are now a “brand new family” according to the law, so we get a brand new family photo done. (This is fun because we like to wear matching clothes for our family pictures – so we wear them to the court hearing and then for the rest of the day also. Even with complaining, this tends to be more of a “bonding thing” for the kids, a real statement of belonging.)

Last, we go out to eat. I’m not sure why, but most of our family and friends do not come to the courthouse (we invite them?), but they do show up to join us for a lunch and we have a big group celebrating yet another family adoption.

Court, family photo, lunch. It’s a fun day. It is our family tradition and there’s a lot to be said for that.

Yet, I’d still love to hear what has worked well with other families’ adoption celebrations…