Court date

Our attorney just called with our finalization date for Emma's adoption: April 30th at 8:45am!  Hooray!
When we were waiting to finalize Harrison's adoption we were both a bag of nerves.  We wanted so badly to know that he was officially ours in the eyes of our agency, the US government, and the Korean agency and government.  I think I spoke with our old attorney's paralegal twice a week every week during that time (as our hefty bills could attest).  We had issues with that attorney and we had to battle our county court for a copy of the full and final adoption decree which took forever.  Our county has laws on its books that were written for closed domestic adoptions, but which encompass each and every adoption they handle.  Those laws state that it is illegal for the court to let the adoptive parents know the names of the birth parents, which is information that is included in the full and final decree, so they will not release the full and final decree without you first petitioning the court for that documentation.  Petitioning the court can take months, as we found out the hard way.  The funny thing is we have to provide certain documents to the court for the finalization, and those documents that WE provide have the names of our kids' birth parents on them.  (It is really messed up.  Someday I will take the time to write a post about adoption laws, who they actually serve, and why we should be more active in trying to change them.)  If we lived ten miles north, in a different county, it would be standard practice to receive a full copy of the final adoption decree. 
With Emma's finalization we're using a new attorney and we've been very calm about everything.  I think with Harry we were nervous that something would go wrong or that we would lose him somehow.  This time I have much more faith in the system, no matter how strange it all is.  We had to petition the court again, but I think it will work out just fine.  We've had to wait a long time again, but when you have two kids under the age of four you much less time to focus on the micromanagment of details that are really out of your hands.  All of that being said, I did feel a huge weight being lifted when I got the call this morning telling me we have a date and time. 
Once we have her adoption decree in hand we can then apply for Certificates of Citizenship (COC) for both kids (we stalled on Harry's and now it just seems to make more sense to file both of them at once).  At over $600 apiece, the COC is another undertaking in the maze of adoption, one more hoop through which we will gladly jump on behalf of our kids. 
If you are a part of our family and friends and would like to attend Emma's finalization leave me a comment and I will give you directions.