Texas Recognition of Foreign Adoption

Henry and I drove down to San Antonio for the weekend. It is the first chance we have had to see my mother since she moved to the Village at Incarnate Word. She wondered if Henry would remember her after six weeks, but he immediately went to her and held his head against her and patted her on the chest while he smiled. He seemed very happy to see her.

We ate in the bistro and the cafeteria. I didn't know that Henry knew to dip french fries in ketchup. As I was putting mayonnaise on my hamburger my mother noticed that Henry was reaching to dip his french fry in it. She said he wanted ketchup but I said "He doesn't know what ketchup is." But I guess he must have learned it at the Children's Center, because as soon as I put some on a plate he started dipping the french fry in it.

We had an enjoyable time staying at Pat and Christine's home. Christine sang songs with Henry--he seems to have picked up the hand signals for songs at the Children's Center as well. He also routinely claps at the end of songs.

On Monday we went to the court house with the paperwork to file for the "Recognition of Foreign Adoption" that will get Henry a Texas birth certificate and also officially change his name. His birth date has also been officially changed from 18 September to 19 June. A big change of three months but obviously he has to have the same birth date as Ben.

My mother practiced law in San Antonio for a number of years. Judge Tanner was a judge that she was familiar with. I was worried about the complication of changing a birth date. It was made easier by finding a familiar judge. Of course the final test will be whether the state issues the birth certificate with the amended birth date, but I don't see why they wouldn't because the form I send in (which was notarized at the court house) only has the June 19th date on it.

By the way, June 19 is known as Juneteenth in Texas, and I understand it has spread to several other states. It celebrates the day in 1865 when a ship arrived in Galveston to enforce the Emancipation Proclamation freeing the slaves.

And yesterday, the day the recogntion paperwork was filed, was Cinqo de Mayo--a popular Mexican holiday that is celebrated more in Texas than it is in Mexico. The day I adopted Henry in Vietnam, the first of November, is also the popular Mexican holiday known as the Day of the Dead in which ancestors are honored.

Henry continues to expand his multiculturalism.

We left San Antonio at 4 in the afternoon, packed tightly in my Scion xB. The trip back was much swifter than the trip there, and I am back at work today. I am really thankful for my mother's help in getting the paperwork written up and filed and signed by a judge. That was really the last step in completing the adoption that made us a family.