Adoption Day!

I woke at 5:45 AM to make coffee and was able to enjoy twilight and an orange sunrise before waking the dragons (both big and small) around 6:30. We were out the door right at 8AM, high-tailing it to the Hamilton Courthouse.

“I hope Donald Trump is there and that he’s our judge,” Zoey said. “If he’s not our judge, I’m not talking.”

We made it to the courthouse by 8:30AM and were soon joined by lots of family: from my side came Mom & Dad, Amanda, Aunt Teri, Grandma Matlock, and Grandma and Grandpa Barnhart; from Ashley’s side came her mom and dad, Rachel and Evelyn, and Jessica and Ella.

We were ushered into the courtroom with Judge Roberts presiding. He pulled a Q&A with Ashley and me (mostly me), and then he asked Chloe to come up to the stand. She loved it, of course, being in the spotlight, but her attitude got the best of her and the judge subtly called her out on it. Zoey was invited to take the stand, too, but she was too nervous. The judge didn’t mind.

He announced that he was going to finalize the adoption and invited Chloe and Zoey up to sit in the judge’s chair and bang the gavels. They got a hoot out of that, and everybody cheered. Dad wept, overcome with emotion. He signed his name to the adoption papers and the girls officially became mine: now they are Chloe Nicole Barnhart and Zoey Olivia Barnhart, and Jonathan and the grandparents were rendered legal strangers and all their court orders were made null and void.

We milled about the courtroom for a bit, and the Judge showcased some crafts from his office made by individuals with developmental disabilities (he loved that I was in the field). After leaving the courthouse everyone met at Cracker Barrel for brunch (I had fried catfish, hush puppies, and brussels sprouts and kale salad). The girls received gifts from everyone, and Ashley’s Mom and Dad got my parents mugs that said Grandpa and Grandma.

Everyone parted ways just as heavy rains began to move through, and though it was only 2PM by the time we got home, we were downright exhausted. We passed out for several hours, and I had miralax and orange juice for dinner (I need to work the last few meals out of my system). I played Birds of Steel with Chloe and my father-in-law; he loves the game and enjoyed discussing World War Two aviation with me. My favorites are the F4F Wildcat and the P47 Thunderbolt; the chubby planes are my favorites. Zoey went down to Kentucky with Ashley’s parents and Jessica and Ella spent another night. Ashley and I celebrated upstairs with Appleseed Cast and sage. Here's a collage of some of the pics taken of this, the second best day of my life (after my marriage to Ashley, of course!):