The Court!

On Dec 8, 2010 Rachel Beth German became our daughter legally!!! We were so excited that everything went well. Our judge's name was Marvin Bagley, social worker Jared Rees and our lawyers name was Reed Adams.

We felt so blessed!!! Our friends Steve and Lorraine came to support us and the court room was full of others that were not at court for as happy news as we were.

The hearing went something like this:

The judge and lawyer talked for sometime time with legal talk. Then they swear Jared Reese, Gus and I in. The lawyer then talked to Jared about what he saw in our home and how he thought we are as parents. He gave us higher compliments then we thought we desire but felt great that the judge was hearing the best of the best about us. Then the judge stopped the lawyer and asked him to explain what," non identifying information" meant because there were a group of HS students there on a field trip and may not know what he was talking about. To be honest, I learned as well. It all had to do with keeping the privacy of our dear birth mother. They never did mention her name but they did talked about her rights and how she signed the papers, etc. Then the lawyer asked us several questions - like - "Are you financially stable to take care of this child?" and "Do you feel like you are mentally stable to take care of Rachel?"

Then the judge did something else that was a little surprising. Because of the HS students being there, he asked if we could share our story. Gus did a great job. He talked about the love that our birth mother and we share. How kind our Birth mother is and what a wonderful experience it was during placement. After Gus was done telling the story, the Judge read the decree of adoption. Chills just ran through my body as I heard the words,"Rachel Beth German is now the parents of Gus R German and Tamra A German, etc." The whole court room started clapping and the excitement just filled the room. We then took some pictures and Rachel just was perfect the whole time. She smiled and bounced as the whole thing was going on. I really believe that she knew what was happening. She got a mom and a dad that day!

She is my daughter now in the sight of man. In a couple of weeks, we will take Rachel and have her sealed to us in the eyes of the Lord. Then she will be our for more than just this life. What a blessing!

I don't think that we will ever forget that day - we invited the Jensen's, Tuttle's, and Klair over for dinner to celebrate. Also, we felt blessed that Pop could join us as well. What a great Christmas present!