Finally FINAL!!!!!!!!!!

Many of you probably don't know this, but our mountains of adoption paperwork didn't end when Graham came home from Korea. Since he's been home, we've had to write post-placement reports to send back to the agency in Korea, meet with our social worker, have our finger prints taken for the millionth time, and fill out a stack of government paperwork. All those things were in preparation for what happened today....Graham's adoption was finalized!!!!!! This means that we're legally his parents, his name is now legally Graham Greer Olson, and he's now an American citizen (hence his patriotic attire)! We had our court hearing downtown this afternoon, and everything went great! Being that I've never been to juvenile court before, I had no idea what to expect. We (me, Jeff, Graham, Grandpa Olson, and our good friend Sara who was my stand-in family today since my parents are in California) were taken into the courtroom where the judge was already waiting for us. I think the judge was pleased to be dealing with a happy case instead of with troubled kids because he let us ignore the "no camera" rule telling us that "it's happy court"! He asked us some basic questions about where we live, how long we've been married, if we understood what it meant to adopt a child, and if our friends and family supported and loved Graham. I laughed to myself thinking about this blog and all of Graham's fans! To say that Graham is loved by many, is a true understatement! Then, before we knew it, our hearing was done! After the judge approved our petition he wanted to chat with us about us traveling to Korea and then made a comment about there being Ole's in the room. We laughed since both Jeff and I, as well as Sara attended St. Olaf, then pointed out Graham as the newest little (future) Ole! All in all, it was a very good afternoon. It's still hard for me to believe that I get to be Mommy to this amazing little boy. Last year at this time, was a real low point for Jeff and I. Things just didn't seem to be moving adoption-wise and we were left with so many questions regarding our timeline. Time does take care of things though, because what a difference a year makes!

Congratulations Graham on becoming an American Olson-WE LOVE YOU!!!!

Being silly before heading to court

Jeff being sworn in.

Isn't everyone supposed to pound on the table in court?

Graham was getting a tad antsy to move around by the end of the hearing!

Our happy little family with our very kind judge!

Us with Grandpa Olson

Us with Sara...Graham was VERY tired of pictures by this point!

The newest little American citizen!!!!! Congratulations Graham!!!!!