"Order in the court” “boom” “boom” “I hear by pronounce the young girl as Emery Cortner and a part of the Cortner family.” This marks the day that my sister became a part of my family. 
Addison was a baby when she was put into foster care due to abuse and neglect from her biological father. She had been to multiple homes in the span of two years, but none had been a good fit for her. She was an energetic girl who always wanted to play and dance and always had a smile on her face. My family had been doing foster care for around 8 years now and we have tried multiple times to adopt kids although we had around 20 children come into our home none had ended in adoption.  
In 2019 my dad got a call from an adoption center saying they have a girl that they think would be a great match for our family. My dad told them he would get back to them later that night. Later my dad called everyone into our play room and we had a family meeting asking if we would like to do this. With no hesitation, our whole family said yes and later that night a car pulled up with a girl. Her name was Addison, I was told by the case manager. It was late so I went to bed without interacting with her that much. 
The next morning when I woke up, I went straight downstairs to find my mom eating with Addison I immediately went over there and said hi before beginning to eat my mom's delicious chocolate chip pancakes drowned in syrup. After we ate, I had an idea, now that I think about it, it wasn't great one due to the fact she could barely walk, but I got a soccer ball and tried to pass with her anyway, but it didn't work. That day I realized how important parents are because seeing  that she was two years old and could not talk at all and could barely walk I realized the huge job parents are given to show us how to do basic things that before I thought where easy and simple, but throughout the years my mom has put in a tremendous amount of effort into teaching Addison how to talk. 
One year later, Addison is now a key role in our family, and it would be hard to not have her around. She brings so much joy and laughter into our family and we are starting to discuss adoption. My whole family agreed, and we began the prosses and suspected it would only take a few months.  
A few months go by, and we have heard nothing from the court and the case manager tells us it could be a while before we do. During this waiting period we also discussed a new name because my mom felt she needed a whole new start. We went back and forth on many different names but eventually we agreed on the name she has today, Emery. 
Another year goes by, and the court hearing is tomorrow, we are so excited and have been waiting almost two years for this. That night we went out to eat at Basitos, a delicious restaurant with the best chips I know. As soon as we got there, we ordered the crispy, hot, thin, flavorful chips. Two min later they are gone, and we are asking for another basket, my mouth is burning because I cannot wait until the chips cool down so when the second basket came, I at once start to devour the bowl as my brother yells at me to save him some. Of course, I didn't and now I have a burning mouth and yelling brother. My Mom tries to deescalate the situation, but I can't hear her because I'm too focused on eating my chips.  
The next morning, I woke up to the sound of birds chirping outside my window. I quickly got ready for the day and grabbed some granola bars for breakfast. We were running late, so we rushed to the car. The cool metal of the door handle sent a shiver down my spine. 
  
When we arrived, I gazed in awe at the tall white pillars of the courthouse. As we stepped inside, I smelled the musty smell of old books and papers. The hard brick floor felt rough against my shoes. I saw my whole family gathered there, their faces beaming with excitement. As soon as I saw my cousin, I ran over to him and takled on to the soft blue carpet. Our parents quickly intervened, scolding us for our behavior. As I walked in, I felt guilty for some reason maybe it was because it was a courthouse or maybe it was because it said no food allowed in, but I still had my granola bars in my pocket. When we got in the room, I was shocked to see my whole family there and as soon as I saw my cousin I ran over there and tackled him then we started fighting on the soft blue fuzzy carpet they had. Our parents ran over there to separate us they screamed “you boys stop that right now” then they gave us the look as if we were lucky this was a public place.   
When we got in the court room, I sat down in the seats directly Infront of the judge in the comfy chairs while everyone else had to sit in the back on the hard wooden benches. When the judge walked in his long silk black robe, I was so excited because I knew after this Addison would be my sister. Most of the time I was either sleeping or making faces at my cousin but then came the moment. The judge came around to my whole family and asked if we wanted Addison to be in our family and it came my turn I quickly answered “YES” I said it so loudly that the judge laughed along with everyone else in there. After that we all went outside to take pictures, we had a sign that said, “happy adoption date Emery” and she held it while we all got together.  
When we left the courthouse, my whole family planned to eat dinner together. As we got in the car, I felt surreal that she was my sister and would be so forever. When we got to dinner my cousin came over and punched me in my stomach, with my stomach rumbling and my air a little short I quickly hit him back then he said “fine we are even” we went in and saw a ping pong, me and my cousin love to play ping pong so we did. It was me and my cousin verse my dad and uncle and although we got destroyed it was still a great time. When are food got there you could smell the delicious greasy breaded chicken tenders and of course as soon as they got set on the table me and my cousin quickly ate so we could play more ping pong.as we got up to go play are parents told us we only had 10 min so we begged to stay longer but we couldn't because it was getting late and they lived an hour away. Me and my cousin wanted a sleepover, so we planned to act sad when leaving then ask for a sleepover and it worked. That night he came to my house and me him and Emery played all night then settled down to a movie with buttery soft delicious popcorn. That day was the best day of my life, and I am so lucky she is in our family. 
Three years later, Emery is now seven and finally plays soccer. She is still making us all laugh and brings our whole family so much joy I could not imagine my life if my dad hadn't got that one call. Thanks to her my life has changed forever and I am so thankful I get to have her as a siter like her.