Isaac's finalization day was a wonderful one! It is such a relief when the judge signs the paperwork, making your child OFFICIALLY and LEGALLY part of your family. With Korean adoptions (as it is now, anyway--things may be changing soon), when a child comes home, his or her official guardianship is with the U.S. adoption agency. Likewise, the child's legal name is still his or her Korean name--and he or she does not become a U.S. citizen--until finalization. Knowing that the adoption is official and final is so wonderful--not only for the deeply meaningful and emotional reasons of a new member being legally added to the family, but also for the practical reasons, including legal name change and citizenship (although these also are deeply meaningful and emotional as well!). So yeah ... it's a big deal and a happy day! ;o)
Another factor in the timing of all of this is the adoption tax credit. Many people outside of the adoption community are unaware of the adoption tax credit--which is pretty significant (to the tune of $13,000 for 2010), but in order for us to file for it on our 2010 taxes, the adoption had to be finalized in 2010. We were really cutting it close, as our court date was December 22, the last day before Christmas break for the judge, if I remember correctly. We originally had an afternoon appointment, but it was changed to the morning--for which we were very grateful.
I will say that our finalization process is not one I remember fondly. It was highly stressful, and a lot of tears were shed on my part. Unfortunately, I don't think this was necessary, but the attorney's office we used seemed to think that we were in need of an additional FBI background check--despite the fact that we had USCIS clearance (which you HAVE to have to adopt internationally), and our fingerprints didn't expire until January of 2011. There is a lot more to the story, including but not limited to my driving all over Atlanta with two small children to get additional fingerprints and various documents notarized and then delivering them in person to the attorney's office, Tanna's leaving work on more than one occasion to try to make the fingerprint thing happen, and at least one breakdown on my part in the middle of a police station (someone had told us to go to the wrong one, and we raced through rush-hour traffic to get there--and even ran through the parking lot with two kids--before closing ... only to find out they didn't do adoption fingerprints there). Good times, I tell you, gooooood times.
But you want to know the best part? Our attorney's office had very clearly expressed its perceived urgency of the situation, wanting us to get these things done as soon as humanly possible so the proper documents could be overnighted to the FBI (even though there still probably wasn't enough time to get a background check returned in time for court--the attorney's office said at least it would be in process, should we have to get a new court date in the new year). So we jump trough hoops to get fingerprints--and also received a very nice favor (after I started crying at the police station) to get said fingerprints--only to find out, several days AFTER I drove them to the attorney's office myself, that they had indeed NOT been overnighted! Oh, and, by the way, maybe we didn't need those after all (which is what we and our adoption agency had been saying all along). Ugh. We discussed this with our adoption agency, other adoptive friends who had been through the finalization process (which, by the way, none of our other adoption friends' attorneys ever mentioned another background check), and even a judge (family friend) in another state, seeking advice. I tried to talk to anyone at USCIS or the FBI about whether we really needed an additional background check to finalize (you can imagine how lovely those conversations were, right?). We had even discussed if trying to finalize before the end of the year was even worth all of the stress and anxiety it was causing. Anyway, all of that is to say ... we finalized and everything went well in court, but the process was not a happy time. (Believe it or not, I am actually giving you the short version here.)
So as we approached our finalization day, I was very anxious. Our attorney's office had expressed its concern about the lack of this updated FBI background check (which was not necessary). So I obviously was worried that there would be a problem in court and that things would not go smoothly. So in preparation for our morning court appointment, I gathered together all the paperwork I thought would be appropriate to show to the judge, should she have any questions about our background or Isaac's. We and our friends and family had been praying and praying (and praying!). I did not sleep well the night before our court date.
Tanna left for work, and I got the kids and myself ready. Our plan was to stop and pick up Tanna at work, and then we all would drive to the courthouse together (instead of just meeting there). On the way to pick up Tanna, we were listening to Christmas music. Some of you may remember that one of Kate's favorite Christmas songs is the chorus "For Unto Us a Child Is Born" from Handel's Messiah. (No joke!) In 2009 (the year Isaac was born, by the way), our church gave out a CD sampler of Christmas music, which included, as Kate calls it "Unto Us." She started asking to listen to it by that name when she was 2 years old--and still does.
So on the way to pick up Tanna to go to the courthouse for Isaac's adoption finalization, we are listening to "Unto Us."
Unto us a child is born ... unto us a Son is given. This is such a meaningful Scripture (from Isaiah 9), and I already had thought about the double meaning for us last year, especially the "unto us a son is given" part. (I realize that might sound weird to some or that it doesn't use the "correct" adoption language, but it was meaningful to me.) So as I listened to "Unto Us" that morning, I was grateful that our son was with us, but I wasn't prepared for how God would speak to me through another part of this song that I had listened to countless times.
And the government shall be upon His shoulders ...
Did you get that?
The GOVERNMENT shall be upon HIS shoulders! It was a clear reminder of what I knew already--God is bigger than the government, which rests upon His shoulders!
Tears filled my eyes as I drove down Interstate 85, rejoicing in this Word from the Lord that we had nothing to worry about--that even if things didn't go as planned in court that morning, God was with us.
The government shall be upon His shoulders!
But things went well that day--and unto us a son was given! We are forever grateful!
