I don't really have time right now to write, but I am feeling pressure to get down some of the current events before I forget them.
Easton was about 2 weeks old and we were so in love when we had Brynlee's hearing for getting rights to adopt and revoke birth father's rights. We got to the courthouse feeling nervous, but less than last time. Birth Father, his wife and grandmother were there. The court had only scheduled us for an hour, but our attorney Dustin, plugged away. He gave his opening testimony stating that birth father had failed to meet the requirements to obtain Brynlee and be considered a parent in Utah and that we requested his rights to be revoked.
They called Chelsea to the stand and Dustin very thoroughly went through many many pictures and posts showing that she had made significant efforts to give Birth Dad a chance to be a part of her life. His original argument was that he didn't believe she was his. Chelsea ordered a paternity test and paid for it all on her own. She also visited his family very consistently and people would comment how much she looked like him. Chelsea did a very good job at stating the facts and not getting upset when they questioned her. At one point she laughed at the fact that they had submitted some evidence showing that he not only GOT her phone number, but never called. She said mockingly "HE submitted this"? It only helped our case. Their attorney questioned Chelsea as to why she didn't offer to have Shane take both Brynlee and Maverick. She claimed that he didn't want Brynlee it would be asinine to see if he wanted Brynlee AND Maverick.
They asked Andrew up on the stand to help establish that there is a relationship between us and Brynlee. He was asked to describe their relationship, he said she is "my little girl". Their attorney cross-examined him and asked what he would do, hypothetically, if his daughter was taken from him and the mother was trying to keep him away from her. (This was my favorite part) With conviction Andrew answered that there is not a world that exists that I wouldn't see my daughter, I would do everything it took to see her. Don't we live in a modern world with technology? Don't we have cars? Phones? I would see her! They asked me to state my relationship with Brynlee and I said she was my little girl and sweetheart. Gratefully they didn't cross examine me.
When Birth Dad got up, they tried to show Chelsea to be negligent to be hiding Brynlee from him, but there was so much evidence to the contrary it really didn't stick. He claimed that he didn't know she was his, that Chelsea moved around a lot, that every time he tried to see her, Chelsea would take her away. He also contradicted the information that was given to the court that his family would have let him know where she was if they had known. Later in his testimony he said he had a bad relationship with his family and they wouldn't tell him where she was. Dustin, our attorney cross examined him and asked him why all the documents that he submitted had Brynlee's name spelled wrong on it (trivial, but interesting). He asked how to spell her name. He tried and failed 4x. He said that he didn't call because his phone had bad service, his car wasn't working, his family wouldn't tell him where she was etc. etc. When Dustin asked him what his relationship was with Brynlee, he said she is my birth daughter.
When all was said and done, we were grateful that the judge was ready to rule. It seemed as though he had made up his mind in the beginning, but respectfully heard the testimony. He said that it was disturbing that he would allow the relationship with him and his family to stop him from seeing his daughter. That he blamed Chelsea for not allowing him to see her, but that it wasn't Chelsea's responsibility to make that happen, it was his and there was no evidence in anything submitted or heard that he took any initiative on his own to show effort to be the dad. He stated that he could tell by the look on Birth Dad's face that he had made the right decision and how much he loved her.
We were in tears and victorious inside. We got to keep our sweet little girl!!! When the judge ajourned, they took off and I turned around to see my whole family in tears and smiles. We were all so grateful to have our Brynlee with us. She had already touched our lives in so many ways, we couldn't bear to see her go. What a RELIEF!!! My anxiety for months started to subside and I was anxious to go home and give her a big fat hug! We quickly let the family know that couldn't be there how great it was. We felt so validated.
We celebrated with everyone at Pizza Pie Cafe afterward. Chelsea had gifts for all the kids and was able to have a moment with them, she cried. She was so happy to have everything over with too. We ate and celebrated and hashed out the different points that we had witnessed. Retold our favorite parts. It was a great night, we were so happy.
