My wife and I have had custody of her grandsons for the past 9.5 years. Today I am officially their Dad.
I have been filling the role of Dad this entire time. But, there is something different about the feeling today.
I was doing fine until the Judge asked me if I loved them. I couldn't hold back my emotions when I said with all my heart. When we turned to have our pictures taken most of the courtroom was crying. In the past, they have been teased by other kids because of their lack of real parents. When we started down the steps at the courthouse, the youngest one said "I can't wait until the next time someone teases me about not having real parents." I said why? He said I am going to tell them I have the best parents in the world and they chose to be my parents.