Ethiopia Day Four: Court Day

Andy and I with Sisay after we had passed court


This is the day that we anticipated for MONTHS!!!! I woke up at 1am and could not sleep so I read some of my book. Andy woke up about 3am. It was such a peaceful and beautiful morning. I wasn't nervous just looking forward to the adventure that lay ahead. We were able to view the sunrise over the mountain from our bedroom window. I must say I don't see many sunrises, so I really enjoyed watching it. As we got ready that morning, we found out that everyone else had gotten up around 3 as well. Something in the air I guess. Birtukan made us homemade cinnamon rolls for breakfast with our usual fruit smoothies!!!! YUM. I wish I was there now so I could eat her food. Abel soon arrived and we were off to pick up another family at their guest house. We soon arrived in front of the court building, which looked nothing like our court houses. Sisay, our court liason, met us at the door. As we walked up to the building, a man carrying a package approached Sisay and showed him the envelope. Sisay said, "That is the license." We didn't think anything of it as he and the man walked up the stairs ahead of us. As we sat in the hallway awaiting our turn with the judge, I saw him open the envelope. We soon learned that the judge had requested the original license from Shalom in Awassa! Bethany sent a courier 4 1/2 hours one way to get the license (overnight!). He arrived the same time we did! Had we gotten there any sooner, or if he had been delayed, we would not have had the appropriate paperwork to pass court. God was literally ONE STEP AHEAD of us. The waiting room was FULL of adoptive families with only enough chairs for about half, so we sat on the floor in the hallway. They soon came out and called the name of our orphanage which meant it was our turn. One by one they would call the name of the child and the adoptive families would go in to the "judge's chambers" which was more like a small office. It seemed like forever before they called for our daughter. Andy and I walked into the room and Sisay stood behind us. There were chairs against the wall and a lady sitting in front of the chairs, but the judge was sitting at a desk to the left of us with stacks of papers. She was an extremely beautiful Muslim woman. She began asking us questions... Do you have other children? Have you met your child? Is this the child you wish to adopt? Do you know this is FINAL? Are you prepared for cultural identity problems that may arise in the future? Have you prepared for an adoptive child? Of course, we answered yes to all of the questions. At the end she said, "Congratulation, she's yours!". We said thank you and left the room. I came out a basket of tears and hugged another adoptive parent then turned and hugged Andy and sobbed. Come to find out, Andy didn't hear the judge say she's yours so he just assumed we passed because of the way I was acting!!! LOL. She was very soft spoken and hard to hear. We were only in there about 1 minute. Andy timed others who went in and they were in there for 52 seconds, 57 seconds, etc. Not long. After hearing that we had all passed, everyone sitting around us said CONGRATULATIONS as we walked out. We all looked like a big emotional group. There were 14 of us there! As we walked out Sisay said... Let's go celebrate! So we walked down to a coffee shop and got the best macchiatos (sp?) you have ever had. YUM. We all took pictures and celebrated. We were there for quite a long time, but it was so nice to just talk as a group. After that Abel picked us up again and took us to lunch at a "mall". I had chicken fingers, I know, I went all out. But, I was starting to not feel well at all. I don't know if was all of the emotions of the day or if the altitude was getting to me or if it was something I ate, but I started feeling HORRIBLE. My stomach was a mess and I felt like I could pass out. I had brought stomach meds with me in my bag for instances like this. I took whatever I could but it took quite a while for it to kick in. While I waited at the entrance (hoping to feel better), Andy walked around the mall to see if we could find something for the boys to bring home. This mall was not like our mall. It had several levels but some of the shops were selling used things. But we did find things for them. Abel finally arrived so we loaded up the bus. We were suppose to go on a tour, but I wasn't feeling well so Andy said we either want to go to the orphanage or go to the guest house. I just knew that I couldn't ride around in the bus for a long period with my stomach like it was. Everyone was of the same concensus, so we made a surprise visit at the orphanage. This ended up being the last time we got to spend with the kids, so it was pretty special since we had just passed court and we knew that they were ours. We thoroughly enjoyed our time. The baby is the sweetest thing. She adores her daddy already! She snuggles up to me and cuddles. I am in love. It was hard leaving that day, but we knew that they were in great hands and we would be seeing her again soon. I got to see her with "her" nanny and saw how much they loved each other, so this made it much easier. We said our goodbyes and loaded up. We went back to the guest house and spent the evening there. It was an enjoyable evening. I still wasn't feeling 100%, but I got to look at Birtukan's jewelry and talk with her some more. She is such an amazing lady. My next post will be devoted to her and her work!