Remember Me Red

Friday, May 31, 2013

Last Day of 1st Grade

Last Day of 1st Grade
Today was Maya's last day of 1st Grade!  She took a little while off at the start of the day to come to Ciana's readoption.  After that we went to Scratch Cupcakery to celebrate both the readoption finalization and the last day of school.  We didn't tell Maya we were going there and when she walked up to the door she jumped up and down she was so excited.  Looking back at the pictures of her from her first day of 1st Grade, I can't believe how much she's changed this year.  She is really growing up fast.  I think especially now that we have Ciana we look at Maya and it's hard to believe she was that small just a few years ago.  She had a great year in school.  She is reading well beyond her age level.  She is one of the most advanced spelling groups and she excels in math as well.  She is also a great writer.  They have writing time every day at school and she brought home her writing book yesterday.  It was fun to read through what she would choose to write about throughout the year that was happening in her life.  That will be fun for her to look back on when she grows up.  I can't believe she will be in 2nd grade in just a couple of months!


First Day of 1st Grade

Readoption

Today we went to court to Readopt Ciana.  This is not a requirement in Iowa, but our agency requires it.  It is basically a readoption in the United States of the adoption that was legally final in Taiwan.  It will provide Ciana with a US Birth Certificate.  We took Maya out of her last day of school for a little while so she could be there with the family.  We met our lawyer at his office and walked across the street to the court house.  After the judge walked in, he swore me in and the lawyer asked me a bunch of questions about Ciana like when and how she came to be in our care and if we promised to care for her for the rest of our lives.  Of course I said yes!  After that the judge issued the decree that it was in Ciana's best interest to be adopted into our family.  Even though the adoption was really final in Taiwan, this was still a pretty special occasion for our family.