Journey to Africa: Day 16: Court - Making It Official!!!

What an amazing day today has been! This is definitely a Thanksgiving we will always remember!

This morning we got up, had breakfast, and started getting ready for our day. Auntie Bev picked us up at 9:00 to head to court. As is the case at home with some places as well, there isn't sufficient parking in front of the Randburg court, so we had to park about a quarter-mile down the road and walk. When we went through security, we found out that we couldn't bring our camera or snacks for Nicolas in with us, so we had to run back to the car and drop them off. After a second run through security (and a second look through our bags), we were allowed to head up to the family court to meet Ruth (from our Agency in SA) and Brad (our lawyer). We met briefly with the clerk to verify that our information was correct on the last few documents and then headed to the Magistrate's office for our appt. She was such a kind woman! She gave Nicolas a sweet (candy) and had a table with toys and books in the corner to keep him occupied while we did the paperwork. She expressed how excited she was for us - we couldn't have had a better experience! The whole process was done in under an hour. After court, we headed out for celebratory milkshakes. :) I had a toffee peanut butter shake that was amazing!!

After our shakes, we thanked Ruth and Brad for all of their hard work in making this process a reality and parted ways as they were heading back to Capetown this afternoon. Bev brought us back to our guest house and Nicolas changed into his swimsuit and headed to the pool! He and Kevin spent a couple hours in the pool before we headed to Auntie Beth's house for Thanksgiving. Nicolas did take a spill on the steps by the pool and got a cut on his shin, but after a little love and a Spiderman plaster (band-aid), he felt much better. :)

We had the opportunity to spend Thanksgiving with the Oasis Haven team at Auntie Beth's house.
They are such an amazing group of people!! We are so blessed to have them in our lives and also that Nicolas has had such a great team caring for him and loving on him over the last few years! Auntie Beth and her friend Claire made a delicious Thanksgiving spread - turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy, cornbread stuffing, green bean casserole, sweet potato casserole, and pumpkin pie. It was so delicious! It felt like home away from home. :)

It's so hard to believe that after so much praying, waiting, stressing, over-analyzing crying, rejoicing, waiting and did I mention waiting? :) - We are finally here! The Longstreet family is now 3! We are officially Mom and Dad. It feels so weird still to say it, but so awesome at the same time. He is our son!