on friday morning, we shuffled around the house in pajamas, overtired after jude kept us up most of the night. we brewed a large pot of coffee, and threw on some wrinkled business casual wear. i remembered, at the last minute, to brush my hair, and hastily fastened it into ponytail. jude, happily, enjoyed being hoisted into a pair of leggings for the first time. and then we were off! off to the county courthouse downtown for h’s adoption of our daughter.
of course, we were running late. and of course, h’s mum was stopped by security on account of the scissors she had in her purse. inexplicably, the security guard then proceeded to pretend to stab herself repeatedly in the stomach, so as to demonstrate the lethal power of sewing scissors. she fake-stabbed h’s mum too. we were dumbfounded. but late. so we just shrugged and moved on.
we were a grand group in the little courtroom: aside from h, h’s mum, jude, and me, we had other supporters in the forms of uncle g, gabby & pop pop, grandmas m & n, and my friend r, who happened to be in town from LA. h & i were so grateful that the majority of our witnesses were relatives of our donor. isn’t that amazing? m & n are a wonderful older lesbian couple who have lived in small town texas through decades of discrimination. and here they were, bearing witness to the law recognizing h as jude’s legal parent. n said later to h, “we paved the way fr this”. we’re not sure whether she meant her gay rights work, or her long presence in the lives of uncle g’s parents (making them so embracing of our “alternative” family). but in either case, we are grateful.
the adoption itself took about 30 seconds. there was no gavel, no raising of our right hands. none of that pomp. the judge simply cooed at jude and signed a paper. jude got to pick a stuffed animal as a token of her adoption. she chose a beanie koala. next thing we knew, we were posing with our lawyer and the judge, as camera after camera snapped shots.
(below is one captured by my camera, but unfortunately it was way underexposed. and so i went crazy with post-processing exposure. it’s not so flattering of any of us, but there we are: fambly.)
CONGRATULATIONS!!!!
Congrats to the fambly!!!
Congratulations!!
P.S. I laughed out loud at the idea of a court security guard pretending to stab herself and h’s mum.
Yay for the fambly!
CONGRATS!!!!!!!!
Overexposed or not, we think it’s the most beautiful picture ever. Congratulations on such a solidifying moment for your fambly 🙂
Hooray!! I’m so happy for all of you, so happy that our state that denies you so much, at least gives you legal recognition of the family you already are. Someday I know you’ll be able to have more.
Congratulations to all three of you! (really, so much more than three, as you poignantly pointed out)
Yay! Congratulations!
that picture is perfect!!!
thanks for sharing your day with us…
love to the officially official fambly!
xoxo,
gypsy
HOORAH! Many happy congratulations to the whole fambly!
Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!! And such a beautiful fambily at that. I am so happy for you!! I have had 3 couples friends who have/are getting 2nd parent adoptions this week. Makes my heart smile just a little brighter despite the impending 12 inches of snow up here in WI.
HUGS all around!
awh! congratulations fambly!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! xo
I feel a little weepy today anyway, but this welled me up. And you did a great job with the processing. (I’ve found that with digital, underexposed is always easier to process than overexposed. It was the other way around with film.)
I still confused, because I’m an ignoramous about laws (go figure I married a lawyer!) You’re still a legal parent, too, right?
Congratulations! Ours was on the same exact day 🙂 we didn’t get a pretty picture with all of us though as ours took about 5 seconds and we didn’t even get to see the judge 🙂 Our attorney just came out with the signed document and gave us a big hug!
Yay for fambly! Yay for Travis County – a legal oasis within texass. So glad you were able to get this done. You are a beautiful fambly!
all the more memorable with post-processing. What an experience for all. Congratulations from deep within.
Congrats!!
Between glorious civil unions in Belfast and glorious adoptions in TX the world is looking like a better place. There’s a long way to go but thank you for what you two amazing women are doing!
Oh how exciting! Congrats!
Magic.
This is so so very heartwarming Annie. Huge congrats to all of you!! What a wonderful extra thing to get to celebrate as the year comes to a close.
Love to you ladies.
Of course it is flattering to Jude, you silly!
Congratulations to the entire fambly.
I am unbelievably happy for you. Congrats fambly!
Wow! Congratulations little Jude! What a beautiful little fambly! You’re awesome for making it happen–even in a place like Texas!