The Final Courtdate

 The day before the big court date I did a lot of praying. Not just praying that I would win, but that things would go the way that they were meant to go. Praying that it all would not get heated and just run smoothly. My family had lots of family prayer together. Having my dad say the family prayers was very comforting coming from the priesthood holder of my family. The next day was either going to be one of the best days of my life, or one of my worst days. I can't say that I slept too well the night before. I just held Nixxon close and kept a prayer in my heart.

Joe had last text me a few days ago with a random question of how I felt about him as a person. If I thought of him as a good person or a bad one. I had absolutely no desire to feed into these childish questions of his. It really shouldn't matter how I thought of him. He should have cared more about how his family, himself, and how is daughter might have felt about him. He was not understanding that he was in my past and I very much intended for him to stay there.

I woke up that day. My stomach was in knots. I felt like crap. I was so stressed about what was going to happen within a few hours. I slowly put on my makeup trying to make myself look very professional and grown up. I tried to make sure my hair looked decent enough for a courtroom. I then put on the new skirt my grandma bought me to wear to court which, was very nice of her. I put on some very uncomfortable pumps gave Nixxon a hug and a kiss and my mom and I headed off to court.

For some reason our court was set like 30 miles away. Luckily it is the same place that my dad works so we were able to pick him up on our way. As we pulled up into the parking lot I was a nervous wreck. I was so fidgety, sweating more than a girl that dressed up should sweat, and not to mention a little on the nauseous side. I was sending Landon multiple texts as we waited to see if my lawyer pulled up. Sadly Landon was still in the academy and only got a few breaks a day so I didn't really get to hear much from him before all of this.

Our court time was inching closer and closer and my lawyer was still MIA. I finally called to make sure that I had the right time. As I talked to my lawyer I found out that I easily could have slept in another hour and been just fine. I am not exactly sure how I had gotten like 9:30 instead of 10:30. So now we were stuck 30 miles away from home for another hour. So we just drove around. My dad asked me if I wanted breakfast. Honestly I was starving. I knew that if I ate with such nerves that I was going to have the most angry tummy anyone had ever seen...or heard. So I passed on the breakfast.

I jokingly mentioned to my dad that we should find Landon's house. He asked if I remembered where he said he lived. I remembered him saying it was so many blocks away from a certain restaurant. So off we went to stalk my boyfriends house. Leave it to my parents and I to drive around just to see where my boyfriend sleeps and such. I think we could probably fit into a creeper status at this moment.

It didn't take us long to find his humble abode. It was cute too! Just a simple little house and it even had the fairytale picket fence to go along with it. My dad honestly circled it a few times which I was surprised he did. My parents were impressed that he owned this house and it looked like he took good care of it.

Before too long it was time to head back to the courthouse. The nerves all flowed back to me. Not long after we got back to the parking lot I got a call from my lawyers secretary saying that my lawyer was on his way but would probably be late. Hearing that made me even more nervous for everything. My parents and I decided not to get out of the car until we seen my lawyer show up. Before my lawyer showed up, Joe did. He was by himself. I had to give him credit for that. I mean here I was with my parents and I was also 20. Oh well I am glad I had my parents support 100% and they would not let me go through this alone. Joes mom showed up not too much later but that was it. That was all the support he had there for him.

Finally right on the dot my lawyer came whipping into the parking lot. Nearly perfect timing. We walked in with him just in case if Joe or his mom decided to approach us for any reason my lawyer was there to step into stop it. We went through security and headed up the stairs to the court rooms.

We sat in a waiting room area since it was juvenile court and only the case being heard was allowed in. We sat far enough away from Joe and his mom. Joe's mom couldn't help but to turn at glance for a moment, then turn back. We waited what seemed like forever when suddenly I noticed a women talking to Joe. Then that same lady motioned for my lawyer to come talk with her. Turns out that it was Nixxons Gardian Ad Litem, a fancy word for someone the courts say is looking out for Nixxons best legal interest, even though this lady never made an effort to learn of our situation or know who Nixxon even is. Seemed like she made an effort to talk to Joe though, just not the child she was representing or the mother of that child.

My lawyer went into a room with Joe's lawyer and this Guardian Ad Litem. When he came back he said that we needed to talk and had a very serious look on his face. I was a little concerned. We walked into a meeting room and sat down and prepared ourselves for the news that was about to be presented to us.

My lawyer started off by saying, “remember how I said these Guardians have way too much power in these cases?” My stomach couldn't have dropped any lower at this moment, she had just been over talking to Joe so he probably sweet talked her enough to convince her of something crazy. He went on to say that this Guardian wasn't sure she was okay letting Joe sign away his rights without someone stepping into his place, not that he had really had a place this whole time. He asked if it came down to the judge feeling the same way if my dad would take on the guardianship of Nixxon. Of course my parents were okay with that. They would do anything to keep Nixxon with us like she belongs.

We soon were entering the court room. Waiting to see what the judge had to say about all of this. My heart was pounding, my head was racing, my arm pits were freaking sweating like a waterfall, and I was trying to keep it all together. I sat next to my lawyer as court was called to order. We each had to introduce ourselves to the judge. Luckily my lawyer spoke for me because me saying my name would have probably came out as “ I am MIDfjskdfjslkfdjhdsjhkeieeooeoeo “ and he would have thought I was insane or on some crazy drugs and that is really all I needed at this moment.

The started off in so many legal terms that I had no idea what was going on. I was struggling just to decide who I needed to make eye contact with, the judge, or the Guardian. The judge had a little sence of humor so I decided to try to make contact with him. He make the feeling of the room not so serious and scary.

The biggest deal that was made was about paternity being established. No one had records of our paternity test being done! I for one could not be held responsible for this since I was never sent ANYTHING from the paternity test except a text from Joe which probably didn't hold very much credibility at the moment. With both lawyers agreeing that it had been established and promising to get it emailed as soon court was over they decided to make Joe Nixxon's legal father, and then have him sign it right away. Joe and his lawyer asked that we leave the room while Joe signed the paper because it was just too much for us to be in there. So we left, and stood in the waiting room again. It took a while for my lawyer to walk out. I wasn't sure what was going on for sure, it all had happened so fast.

He walked us down to a private room to discuss everything that had just happened. As we sat down my lawyer was like well it is all over you can breath pretty much. He explained what had just happened. He said Joe seemed a little bothered while signing away his rights but his mom took it way hard and it was probably good that we were not in the room. He reminded us not to “dance in the in zone” Joe still had two weeks that he could fight it again and appeal his decision and from the way the Guardian was that we probably should not rock the boat. That was fine I was just in shock that it was finally just over. It really was over. No more court battles, no need to deal with him if I didn't want to, no more attorney fees. Oh how we all felt the relief of those 7 long months.

Joe and his mom and lawyer stood right outside the only door for almost a half hour. Keeping us inside the courthouse. It was obvious that it was on purpose too. We just wanted to get home and hug Nixxon and they were in the way. Finally they moved a little further into the parking lot and we were able to get to our car and drive off.

This is when I was so glad because when the time came for me to get married, after a year Nixxon could be sealed to both of us in an LDS Temple for Time and all Eternity. This was something I had been concerned about for so long. I had a much better shot of having an Eternal Family and having my forever fairy tale. I had faith that my Heavenly Father was going to make this happen. It is what I had worked towards for so long and now it was possible.

I had a big date with Landon that night. We were going with my family to a rodeo, and I no longer had to hide the fact that we were together. I was ready to stop hiding from Joe and his family. Really this whole thing was over. I opened my facebook back up since I had blocked anyone I felt was “on Joe's side” if that is how you can put it. I was free again. I finally had my life back, or was starting a new life with MY daughter as MY own. I had an amazing boyfriend that I could now call mine and I was finally happy again. I had found that happiness I had been looking for in a long time.

My reminder that no matter what it takes I will get Nixxon through the temple and sealed to a family

Landon and I before the Rodeo

Nixxon and I the day after court at a parade