Major win - 5 years in the making

Spring of 2017 my wife and I had been married for less than a year when we heard from a family friend about a 6 year old kid who needed a place to stay. Since it was just the two of us and we had an extra bedroom, we made the decision to welcome her into our home. It didn't take long for her to unofficially become part of our family.

Long story, some drama happened, and we became her legal guardians.

We've since added two more little girls to the household the old fashioned way, and she loves being a big sister. Seriously the most fun loving and big-hearted kid I've ever known. She was my intro to being a dad and I couldn't imagine life without her in the family.

Now she's 11 years old, and this morning we had a court hearing where she was officially placed in our home for adoption. Finalization should happen in February, but all the hard stuff is done.

This is something we've been hoping and praying for but weren't sure it would ever happen. We waded and waited through a whole lot of E36 M3, stress, and anxiety to get to this point... but holy crap we made it through.

I'm not sure how to begin processing it all. Heck I'm not sure how to convince myself that it's actually real; but eating egg rolls and re-watching The Mandalorian with the kid seems like a good start.

Hug your kids, hug your family, hug your dogs/cats/ducks. Look out for each other. In the end, that's more important than a whole lot of other stuff.

G'night, all.

Awesome, Congrats.

Yep, being a Dad is the best and most rewarding job in the world.

I'm shedding a tear of joy for you...really.  I've waded through that E36 M3 and know how long and hard the journey is!

So happy! Happy for you two and so happy for her! 

Thanks for the sharing and thanks for the update. 

Awesome news!

Now she is officially your daughter, and will be forever. Wonderful!

This is great! Very happy for you guys!

Congratulations!  What a great story for all of you.   We adopted a girl that turns 20 this month.  

Since she's from Korea we've told her she can contact her birth parents if she desires at some point in life then she told me we were her Mom and Dad and wasn't interested.  Then I cried.   
 

m

In reply to BlueInGreen - Jon :

That's a wonderful story. Congratulations!

There is nothing better that you can be than the Daddy of a daughter. 
 

Congratulations to both of you!

Good work.  Congratulations.

Who's cutting onions? Why are we cutting onions in the bedroom?

Much congratulations. 

In reply to BlueInGreen - Jon :

Super hero's exist. The day you took her in to your home you became one.   

So awesome! Congratulations to all of you!!

Words cant explain what it means to bring a child from a bad situation and giving them the family and life they deserve. 
 

You, John, datsun310 and anyone else who has done it, you are amazing. 

That's beautiful. 

Congratulations to you and to her! Thank you for sharing. 

mtn said:

Who's cutting onions? Why are we cutting onions in the bedroom?

See you're supposed to steer clear of cutting directly into the root, but someone did that in the bathroom. Those devils...

I love this story!  Enjoy your family!

Congratulations!

That's awesome! Congratulations!

Congratulations! This is a HUuuuuggggee win. 

Outstanding news!  Good job for your whole family!

Fantastic!

Datsun310Guy said:

Congratulations!  What a great story for all of you.   We adopted a girl that turns 20 this month.  

Since she's from Korea we've told her she can contact her birth parents if she desires at some point in life then she told me we were her Mom and Dad and wasn't interested.  Then I cried.   
 

m

Then you went and made me cry reading that you dirty rat.