SAN ANTONIO — The Lee family had a looming adoption with their foster daughter, Peyton, but the timing was different than normal with the coronavirus pandemic.
Peyton didn’t want to stay in the system any longer than necessary, so she wrote a letter to the judge asking for an early adoption, which the court granted.
Peyton's father has been working overseas, and she would have been devastated had he not been able to attend, or even if they had to push the date of the adoption. So it was somewhat ironic, with the coronavirus pandemic, the way things worked out.
It wound up as a virtual adoption day, with everyone involved.
"We did it through a teleconference," Lacey Lee, Peyton’s adoptive mom, said. "My husband is in Kuwait, and we had to FaceTime him on the portal so he could hear, but it was really special with him being away, at least we were all equal and on the same field. We all got to listen in. He got to see our faces, and we got to see him cry’."
Peyton, 13, was ecstatic.
"I was really happy," she said. "I was sad my dad couldn’t be there, but we did all get to do it over the phone, and I did get to hear him cry."
The Lee family says they still plan to have a celebration party once the quarantine ends.