Coach's Crazies: It's official - Kolden's a Reed!!!

"This is the day the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it." Psalms 37:4

We went to court to complete the last step in Kolden's adoption. As the lawyer put it, up until this point, we only had a moral obligation to take care of Kolden, now we're bound by the law- which is perfectly ok with us!

First we met with the lawyer to go over the specifics of the day and to double check everything. Then we all filed into the court room.

So many of our family and friends wanted to come with us, but life doesn't always cooperate. We are very thankful for all of the prayers and well wishes we had. We were also very glad to have Mymo and our friend Brant and the courthouse with us.

There were a total of 10 families finalizing their adoptions this day. It was a wonderful experience as we waited our turn, we were able to watch other families go through the final step in the process.

Once it was our turn, we all walked up to the bench. We raised our right hands, and the judge swore us in. The lawyer started by asking Shad some questions, then she turned to me and asked if I agreed with his testimony. The judge then granted the adoption to us, but there was one last formality to do before it would be over... The judge looked at Riley and said, "Ok Big Brother, here you go"

Riley took the gavel, and hit on the judges bench. Then the judge said, "Its official!!" It was such a neat way to have Riley involved in the process of completing our family!

The bar association provides stuffed animals for all of the children involved in the adoption proceedings. So, after the pictures with the judge, Riley and Kolden picked out the animal of their choice. Riley picked out a giraffe, and Shad thought Kolden would like the gorilla with the big sign "BE MINE". Of course, by the time we made it out of the court room, Riley changed his mind and thought he better hold on to the gorilla.