For the last 3 months, Gladney has been a managing conservator of Emeline and at that time we had no legal rights to her. However, we were able to make all medical and personal decisions regarding her care. This part of the process usually takes 6 months, but any family Gladney feels is ready to finalize their adoption early is allowed to do just that. The process happened so quickly, but we were always fully aware of how very lucky we are to be finalizing our adoption in only 3 MONTHS! It's definitely not the norm.
On Friday, September 14th, we completed the final step in adopting Emeline and our journey to our daughter is now officially over. She's ours in every sense of the word. On Friday, September 14th, a judge declared us a forever family and Emeline Elise became what we have always know her as - a Simpson.
It was an overwhelmingly emotional day for me. I cried tears of joy when we met with our attorney before the hearing, I cried tears of joy for every family I watched complete their adoption process and of course those tears were flowing as we made our promises to love Emeline forever. We've all been through similar experiences and we've all fought harder than we've probably fought for anything else in our lives, to bring home our child. To see this process complete and these families become whole is just such an awe-inspiring, amazing experience.
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| That Thursday night I had a special surprise planned for Kris. |
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| His parents had not yet met Emeline and we have not seen them since January. So... |
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| I planned a surprise trip for them to come see us and witness our adoption finalization! Kris was shocked and so happy to have them there! |
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| Friday morning we met with our birth mom for breakfast. She hasn't seen Emeline since she was 5 days old. |
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| We witnessed such sweet moments between them. It's always so good to see or hear from our birth mom. She's family to us and we just love her so. Without her, none of this would be possible. |
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| Emeline and Grandma Belinda |
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| Emeline with both her Grandmas - she is one loved baby! |
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| It was Adoption Day at the courthouse and the court room was decorated with lots of stuffed animals - at least one for each child. |
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| A look at Adoption Day |
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| The start of our hearing! |
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| I think we are both in shock that this moment is finally happening. |
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| She's always aware of the camera. That's my girl! |
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| Me staring at Emeline so no one sees my tears as Kris promises to be her daddy and love her forever. |
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| My turn to make my promises. Let's just say it was hard to mutter the words... |
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| Forever Family - 9.14.12 |
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| The Simpson Family |
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| Even Emeline was thrilled to become a Simpson! |
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| She started sucking her thumb that day. So sweet! |
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| Celebrating lunch at Reata with our family and friends. |
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| Every time we went to Dallas/Fort Worth during our adoption process, we stayed at the Adolphus. During our final stay, my sweet husband surprised me with flowers to commemorate the occasion. |
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| And again, every time we went to Dallas/Fort Worth, on our way home, we stopped for some homemade ice cream at Coopers. Of course we had to stop again and bring Emeline. Last time she was here, she was 5 days old coming home from the hospital. |
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| Such good memories. |
Ashley this story has been so wonderful to read!!! I could not be happier for you!!!!!! You are doing a great job as a mama!!!!!! So happy its "official!"
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