It is OFFICIAL

Today at 10:30am at the Johnson County Courthouse in Olathe, KS, the Honorable Lawrence E. Sheppard issued an Order Granting the Petition for Adoption by Petitioners Kevin and Tamala Palmer and our baby boy became Gabriel Judah Palmer! Yes, we are now a family under the laws of the State of Kansas.



I must admit that when the Judge was saying his part about granting the Petition and the baby shall now be Gabriel Judah Palmer, my eyes started stinging and I nearly had to bite my lip and tell myself to "hold it together... don't lose it now!"

It took all of maybe 30 minutes or less from start to finish. He is now OURS!
Our attorney, Kevin W. Kenney, made this adoption process a wonderful experience.
The Judge was kind enough to snap this photo for us. Our attorney said they're "old hands" at this part of the deal. He also said that Gabriel was "exemplary in his behavior!" Gabe nursed on a bottle during the whole proceedings with all his typical squeaks and "Gabe sounds" for which he is so famous.

Afterward, we went down to the Court Clerks office and we received an certified copy of the Order of the Court which will go in our safe. A lot of the ladies in the Court Clerks office were "oogling" and making over Gabe all the while he just looked at them.

Our attorney told us that we'll be receiving a new birth certificate in the mail in the next few weeks and we'll be able to request a Social Security number for Gabriel at that point. He also encouraged us to seek the services of an accountant due to the tax credits we'll receive due to all our adoption expenses!

I took Gabe to the Dr. at 3:20 pm because he's been dealing with a cold for about 11 days now. I was really anticipating them weighing him and I certainly wasn't disappointed. He tipped the scales at 10lbs and 4.5 onces! I think I made some kind of the exclamation like "Dude, you are really packing 'em on aren't you!" I did some calculating later and he's 150% of his birth weight. He's going back in two weeks for his two month old check up and they'll re-weigh him and re-measure him then.

Today, was a MOMENTOUS day in the history of our little family. Today, it was fulfilled by what the Prophet Eric Cobbins decreed months ago that this would happen and be fulfilled! Today was a blessed day!