Official Permission Granted!

This is the building where we had our meeting today. We signed papers and received a lot of papers and as of now, we have official permission to adopt Hannah! The next step is to pick a lawyer from a list, hand him the Affidavit of release and consent to adoption that we got today, and wait for our appointment to finalize the adoption in court. We are hoping to finish before Hannah's 2nd birthday, which will be on January 7th. We are very excited that we are this close now!
Hannah was very good today at the signing. It may be coincidence, but today out of the blue she started using the word "mine". No one had ever heard her say it before. I told her, I said, "Hannah, you are mine." She smiled something like this.

The lady on the left is Aleeza K. She has been involved with Hannah as her case worker since she was born. The lady on the right is Aleeza's new supervisor, Tiffany. Everyone at DFACS has been wonderful.

As I pause to reflect on this day I am thinking, "What a blessing--but also--gulp! What a big responsibility!" Please pray for me as I take on this long awaited role of fatherhood.