Day 6:                                                      SHE IS OFFICIALLY OURS!

Woke up after a very restless night of sleep for both of us with our minds racing! I'm not sure how it's possible to feel nervous and at peace at the same time, but those were my emotions exactly over the last 24 hours. We were picked up by 9 this morning and headed directly downtown Addis for court. It was quite a drive amongst the morning rush hour traffic, and I have to say now that I am extremely grateful for traffic lights! Even red ones now! There is only one intersection in Addis that has a traffic light. Who proceeds first through the remainder of the intersections in Addis depends on who values their car most, who is the quickest at accelerating and braking, and who has the most guts basically! I prefer to look out the side window rather than through the windshield on these crazy rides through  town. Once we arrived at court, we proceeded to climb 4 flights of stairs which in Addis is quite a feat I must say! At about 8,500 feet of elevation, we have definitely noticed we don't feel quite as fit as we thought we were. We were led down the hall to a waiting room full of people, both native Ethiopians, and also several other adoptive families (we assumed because of their skin color and the process we observed). This was an interesting experience, as our driver briefly introduced us to a man, and then walked out (to move the van we assumed). We had absolutely no idea who this man was however, as friendly as he was, and so we decided to continue with the theme of our trip: to go with the flow!  We eventually came to the conclusion that he was the social worker to help represent us.  The judge's chambers were just to the left through a small door through which one of the court employees would occasionally peep her head out and "shhhhh" as loud as she could to keep the noise down. The first thing I ached to know as I walked into the waiting room was, "Is she here?" Was "G"s mom sitting in this very room? I scanned the faces and my attention was drawn to two women in particular who both did not have the look of someone from the city. I told Aaron that if I had to guess it would be a younger woman wrapped in a bright green scarf because I thought the shape of her mouth resembled "G's". A woman right next to her however, caught my eye and bowed her head, placed her hand on her heart, and smiled. At this point, I wasn't so sure anymore that I had guessed correctly. As we waited while others passed before us, the woman in the green scarf was called into the courtroom, and as soon as she walked out, our name was called. It was then I knew that we had the privilege of seeing "G's" biological mother for the first time. We had little time to think or process this though, as we needed to appear before the judge. The time with her was actually quite brief, but we needed to make it clear that we understood that our decision to adopt "G" was final, that we have educated ourselves about the effects of international adoption, and that we would commit to raise her to know about her Ethiopian culture. The judge stated that she had heard everything she needed to hear, and she was just awaiting our final documentation (our MOWA letter). We had learned from another adoptive mom shortly before we were called in, that MOWA was due to deliver letters to court later that day, so this was not a surprise to us. Our social worker assured us that we would remain at court to see if our MOWA letter would arrive with the delivery, and that we could leave with our driver to go back to Hannah's Hope. I was a little disappointed that we didn't officially pass right away, but was hopeful in knowing that more letters were going to arrive today. This was an exciting, unusual, awkward, surreal moment, as "G's" biological mother rode in the same van as we did back to the orphanage. I so wanted to be able to communicate with her, but all we were able to do was exchange shy smiles. She is from the Kembata zone of Ethiopia, and so her first language is not Amharic, rather an entirely different language particular to her region, so the very limited knowledge I have of Amharic was not useful to me in this situation today. We rode back to Hannah's Hope through a not quite as crazy Addis, listening to "G's" birth mother converse with her translator. And all I could do was pray that God would bless the meeting that we would have shortly. We finally arrived, and as we got out of the van, I immediately took her hand, squeezed it and then kissed her on each cheek. She smiled shyly and we held hands as walked into the office building of Hannah's Hope where our meeting would be. We all had a few minutes to get situated and as the translator from Hannah's Hope finished some business. All we could do was look at each other and smile. We had written "G's" birth mother a letter and made her a small scrapbook of pictures we had of "G" and our family. These were both translated to her which was quite a process, because every bit of information had to be translated from English to Amharic to Kembaten, and then back again if she spoke. She seemed very receptive to what we had written her and would nod her head and smile sometimes shyly, sometimes sadly, sometimes with more joy from time to time as she listened to our words. And at other times she would whisper quietly to herself. "G" was brought into the room shortly after our meeting began and was handed to her biological mother to hold. I was so grateful that "G" stayed calm for the most part and fussed for only a short while. She calmed down quickly though when she was given a bottle. It was a very special moment, bittersweet really, for me to watch her have one last chance to physically love this little girl that she had given birth to. We were then given a chance to ask questions of this special woman. I am so thankful God gave us this opportunity—it was an incredible moment that I will never forget as Aaron and I were able to personally thank her for the gift of "G" and promise her our love and commitment to her child. I am so thankful that God gave us this gift that we can pass on to "G" as she gets older so she knows this part of her story and identity. We experienced such a mix of emotions today, that we really can't put them to words completely: sadness for this mother and her absolute sacrifice in love to save precious "G's" life, joy as we  celebrated the fact that "G" is ours now—a part of our family, and other feelings we really can't put a name to yet.

After our meeting was finished, we had to leave Hannah's Hope if we wanted an opportunity to visit Bethzatha, the orphanage "G" was first at when she arrived in Addis. We met many more beautiful children in need of families who were extremely excited to have visitors, and just someone new to pay even the smallest bit of attention to them. The orphanage's director gave us a tour of the facilities and led us upstairs to where the babies' room is: the room where "G" slept some of her first nights in Addis. As I turned around, my eyes were drawn to a phrase painted on the wall above one of the little white metal cribs, "I am my Father's daughter…" and was struck at how true this is for "G" and how this has been so evident in her life thus far. She is a daughter of the King. She has a plan for her life that has already been determined by the Maker of all things. We are so humbled that God chose us to be part of His plan for her.

Once again God's providence was evident as our visit to Bethzatha made us run behind schedule and the fact that we left our briefcase at Hannah's Hope resulted in us making a quick stop there before returning to the hotel.  Aaron and I wanted so badly to find out if we passed court today, but were not hopeful as the office closes at 5:00 pm and we returned around 5:30 pm.  Praise the Lord, at the very moment we pulled up to the gait Almaz pulled up in her vehicle.  Almaz came up to us and asked how our day had been and we informed her that all seemed to go well, but were still anxiously awaiting word back from court.  Almaz proceeded to tell us that she received word that everything was fine and that we passed court.  I immediately had a huge rush of emotions as I came to the realization that "G" is legally ours.  Tears of joy flowed as Aaron and I embraced and gave thanks to God and to our friends with us for their prayers.  To Aaron, all the joy and congratulations following an anxious waiting period, felt just like the experience following the delivery of Anaiya and Landon.  It really drove home the fact that we are now proud parents of 3 beautiful gifts from a loving and faithful God.

We ended our joyous visit to Hannah's Hope with a short visit with "G" to kiss her good night.  She was already bathed, bundled up in her pajamas, and sleeping in her crib.  She looks so beautiful when she is sleeping.  It is our prayer that she continues to sleep so soundly when she comes home with us.  Unfortunately, our unexpected visit to the nursery resulted in some children waking and crying, but not "G", she slept through it all.  We were very grateful to the special mother's for their patience and understanding, as they had to work frantically to prevent a domino effect of crying children.  After saying good night we headed back to the hotel elated with the news, exhausted from the day, and a little sad realizing we only get one more opportunity to see her before we have to return home. 

It was a blessing to be able to experience just one more small part of her story today in visiting Bethzatha, but heartbreaking at the same time in knowing that this is only 1 orphanage out of thousands around the world full of children who long for a home and a family. There are so many precious children just here at Bethzatha. We experienced more at Bethzatha today, but I'm having a hard time processing everything just yet and putting it to words. We do know however, that God is a God who sees. Our heart has been broken for what breaks His, even more so after today. We will defend the cause of the fatherless. We will not forget.

And so…tomorrow we have to say goodbye and leave a piece of our hearts in Ethiopia. We trust God in knowing we will be brought back to this beautiful country in HIS perfect time to bring "G" home permanently. We are so thankful for the many prayers we know have been lifted on our behalf: it has never been more real to us—we are so excited to share more stories with you over the next weeks. Until we return…

Blessings,

Aaron and Susie