Yesterday was (yet another) THE important day at court.

This was our fourth THE day at court, though. The first three times, we walked in, waiting for things to happen, and someone hadn't been served properly. Then, they had to set the court date out for another month.

It was really a pain in the ass, because Guardian Dad had to miss work, and Hubby had to miss work. I would get stressed out, and SD12 would get stressed out. My house was horrible in the days leading up to court!

Then, there were all the home visits. Children's Services was involved years ago, so we had to drag them back in. The children had a GAL, so he had to be dragged back in! Then Children's Services handed the case back off to another agency. Every single week, there was someone else in my house, judging the cleanliness of it, and how appropriate it was for teenage girls.

Let me tell you, my house is SMALL. Go find a shoebox, cut it in half, and put the shoes back in. The remaining room is about the livable floor space in my single wide trailer!

Before this whole thing started, my house was plenty big enough for just Hubby and me! Heck, I adopted three dogs, four cats, a turtle, and a rabbit! (I was alone for 12 hours a day - I wanted someone to keep me company!)

Of course, I love my pets VERY much, and didn't want to get rid of any of them, if I could help it! In the back of my mind, though, I was always scared that someone would say it isn't appropriate for the kids to be living in a petting zoo!

Anyway, BM texted me on Friday, asking if Hubby and I would pick her up for court. (A little background, here - BM was the one that we could not serve! She would give me her address, and I would give it to the attorney. The attorney would try to serve her, and she would refuse service, then call me and say her "roommate" refused it! I finally had to hire a process server, and it took two weeks to serve her!) Since BM being there wouldn't help us or the kids in anyway, I told her no.

On Saturday, the Maternal Grandmother (had custody of SD14) called me to ask for a ride to court. She had made a statement to the courts during the last appearance, so she didn't need to be there either. Once again, I didn't NEED her there, but we picked her up anyway.

Honestly, Hubby and I were worried about what would happen at court! Why did BM want to go? It doesn't have much to do with her anymore, and we didn't know if she could cause problems for us. Why did MGM want to go? She didn't need to be there unless she had changed her mind!

Anyway, the roads were bad yesterday. Hubby and I (and MGM) usually get there an hour early. Yesterday, we were 15 minutes early, but Hubby had to go park the car. MGM and I went on up to the courtroom. Hubby was 10 minutes late.

But Youth advocacy got there later. We were due in court at 9 am. Our attorney got there at 10. And we still couldn't find the GAL.

We were almost positive it would be postponed again! But the GAL got there at 11. And in court around 11:30.

From that point on, it was like we had a guardian angel looking out for us!

The GAL wanted a years worth of monitoring by Children's Services. Children's Services said we didn't need it - we'd jumped through every hoop before they presented it! So, when the GAL stood up, we were waiting for him to argue. Instead, he said that he agreed with everyone else!

MGM went up to talk to the judge, and said that this is the best thing for the girls. She was long winded. But she didn't change her mind!

I have a piece of paperwork, now.

It says
"SD14"
"SD12"
"A lot of blah blah"
"The court hereby ORDERS that custody of the above named children is granted to "Hubby" & "Smellissa"
"more blah blah"
Judge's signature 12-16-13

Hubby and I both cried. Then, we picked up SDs at their school and took them out to eat