Deja Vu

Yesterday we went downtown for our appearance in adoption court to readopt Sadie. This isn't required, as her adoption is considered final in China, but it enables her to get a birth certificate issued by the state of Illinois. It's much easier to get a copy should she ever need one in the future from Illinois than from China.

This is the same place we went for Sam's initial adoption hearing when he was only 5 days old. All I have to say about the experience yesterday that it was much less chaotic with a sleeping infant than with a 2- and 3-year-old (though this time the lollipops at the end were actually consumed). We took a small picture album with Sam's pictures in it, and he had a great time taking pictures with Sadie to match the ones in his book.


Sam in the waiting room....
...and Sadie. She was a little harder to capture sitting still.
Joe and Sam with the Cook County Court sign...

...and with Sadie.
The view out the 17th floor window with Sam....
...and with Sadie. It hasn't changed!
Sam getting served....
....and Sadie getting served. Sam was enthralled with this and loves to repeat "You are served!"
With our lawyer in 2006....
...and again in 2009.
Sam's judge....
...and Sadie's.
Sam really liked how all of the previous pictures were basically an exact match to his, but when he saw the judge this time said, "That isn't the right one!" Hopefully he didn't take it personally.