Today was our court appearance in Nashville IL with Judge Hatch, our lawyer Kim and the Guardian et Lidem for the kids. I have never been in a court room so this was a unique experience for me!
Our purpose today was to readopt Ella so that her "birth/adoption certificate" could be on file in the state of Illlinois.
The other purpose was to legally adopt Theo and officially change his name from Jeong Joon Seo to Theodore Seo Eckert. Since our lawyer is based in Nashville, we were set to appear at the Nashville Courthouse.
My mom joined us the courtroom - this was terrific since the kids were running around the court room during our process. I am sure this is not typical courtroom behavior!
After a 15 minute exchange of swearings and agreements, we were done! Judge Hatch is originally from Belleville so we chatted a while. Then he gave the kids 2 little teddy bears and we headed out of the courthouse.
We enjoyed shopping a mini-farmers market on the sidewalk outside the courthouse. We bought beets, potatoes and apples - of all things!
The early 1800's courthouse and quaint small town had us feeling like we walked out of movie scene. But then again, in some ways, traveling around the world a couple times and jumping thru immigration hoops can feel like one too.
We are thrilled to officially be the parents of Theo Seo and to have Ella's adoption paperwork within the USA. Now we are on to applying for Theo's citizenship . . . . better go figure what's next!
5 comments:
Congratulations!
Paprocki's
congrats to you all!
THE SCHMIDT HOUSE
Doesn't it feel good to know it is offical and the paperwork is almost finished.... Theo is a wonderful addition to your family!!!
The Biehls
Yay! What a wonderful occasion! So glad it went smoothly!
Congratulations from the Peusters!
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