It's a BOY!!!!

It is official - our son is OUR son. 

No more legal red tape and we have full responsibility for this eleven year old 

bouncing baby boy!

Here he is with his teddy bear outside the courthouse minutes after finalization. The bailiff gave each of our children a great big fluffy teddy bear to celebrate the adoption.

Commemorative photo with the judge after she declared him ours.

We've come a long way from October 2011. Check out the adoption time line to the left of this post.

We've also come a long way from our first meeting with S, even his name was different then. 

First meeting June 4, 2012

Today in court we celebrated with his Guardian ad Litem, our family adoption specialist and of course the judge and the attorney. We certainly missed having our families there. It's like having a baby and no one is there to acknowledge it. I know they shared our joy of a new grandson, nephew, cousin and great grandson from a distance but their absence was definitely felt. 

It is times like these when we feel the distance the most. We had to remind ourselves that this distance - our move from New Brunswick, Canada to Florida - is how we came to find our son. 

So if we weren't here to begin with we wouldn't be missing them while adopting him. 

Clear as mud?

We had initially hoped to host a big "Adoption Finalization" celebration to commemorate S's place in our family and invite all of our Florida "family" and friends. However, given that it is 4 days before Christmas we realize everyone's schedules are already overcommitted and it wouldn't be very thoughtful of us to request that they join us for yet another outing. So we opted to celebrate quietly with our own little dinner at Stonewood. Yes I made everyone stay dressed up for dinner - S may be the only one of our children who truly enjoys dressing up. 

Sisters - gotta love 'em

His first meal as a McIntosh. Bacon cheeseburger and fries and way too much pop.

Checking out his new Bible. His adoption gift from us.

S gave each of his sisters a pretty monogrammed bangle along with handmade cards.

So the day is done and we arrive home to find our fence trimmed out in pretty balloons - I snapped this photo as he just stood there and stared at all the balloons. 

Thanks Debbie & Tiffani - we love you and your family.

From our family to yours, 

"We Wish you a Very Merry Christmas"