Between Court and Homecoming

Our family sits in limbo for the next few weeks.  We legally have a new son, but we can not bring him home yet.  When we traveled to Ethiopia, we were required to present ourselves to an Ethiopian judge who would decide if we were going to be able to adopt our son.  She had already reviewed all of the paperwork and had a few questions to ask us before approving the adoption.  Once she had asked her questions and was satisfied with the answers, she informed us that we had passed court and she was approving our adoption.  We were, at the same time, relieved, overjoyed, and saddened.

We were relieved and overjoyed that we passed court and it was now certain that A was going to be our son.  We were saddened because we now knew that we would leave a part of our family in Ethiopia until the U.S. Embassy was ready to allow us to bring him home.

Over the course of the adoption process, I have loved seeing how adoption mirrors God's plan of salvation.  There are numerous places in scripture where we are described as becoming children of God when we receive God's gift of grace and mercy through our trust in Christ's sacrificial death on our behalf.  Most everyone is familiar with John 3:16, which states that Jesus is God's only "begotten" son.  So, if Jesus is God's only biological son (to use adoption terminology), how are the rest of us children of God?  We are adopted.  God has adopted us as his children.  He has one biological kid and millions of adopted kids.

Romans 8 (from biblia.com) describes exactly where our family is in this adoption process:

 14 For all who are eled by the Spirit of God are fsons6 of God. 15 For gyou did not receive hthe spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of iadoption as sons, by whom we cry, j“Abba! Father!” 16 kThe Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, 17 and if children, then lheirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ

23 And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have uthe firstfruits of the Spirit, vgroan inwardly as wwe wait eagerly for adoption as sons, xthe redemption of our bodies.

We, as a family, are in between verse 15 and verse 23.  We have now legally adopted our son, but we can not yet be with him.  The legal adoption has occurred, just as the moment of salvation is our legal adoption as children of God, but the adoption has not been completely fulfilled.  The adoption of our son will be completed when we return to Ethiopia and take custody of him so that we can bring him home to be part of his forever family.  Our adoption as believers will be fulfilled when Christ returns to this foreign country, Earth, and takes us home to be with the Father as part of His forever family.  May God speed the fulfillment of both adoptions!

Our Day in Court: Final Day in Ethiopia

Ethiopia day 5

Our final day in Addis Ababa had arrived.  We certainly had conflicting emotions.  We were a little nervous because our court appointment, where we would hopefully be approved to adopt our son, would occur after lunch.  We were looking forward to getting home to the kids and seeing them again.  We were sad to leave the other adoptive couples whom we had gotten to know, as well as the wonderful guest house and agency folks who worked so hard to make us feel at home in a foreign land (truly living out Leviticus 19:34:  you shall treat the stranger who sojourns with you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself...).  There was a chance we would get to see A again, so we were excited about that possibility.

Our day started with yet another wonderful breakfast at the guest house.  After breakfast, we returned to the Bethany office for our cultural training, which covered history, food, politics and the wonderful olfactory and gustatory experience that is the coffee ceremony.  I had the pleasure of meeting Tendai, the Bethany director for Africa.  He talked with me about possibly helping out with some medical training for some of the orphanages.  I hope to have the privilege of serving in that capacity.

We then had the opportunity to shop for crafts and spices from local vendors before heading back to Lucy restaurant for lunch.  Today, I decided to try their ravioli, which turned out to be just the right amount to satisfy my hunger.  My appetite was a bit limited since court was still upcoming and I was a little nervous because I did not know what to expect.  The fact that our family might expand by a seven-year-old depended on this court date.  

We arrived at the court building about 2 minutes after our scheduled time.  Since we are American, our group was a little worried about the fact that we were not early.  The Bethany staff don't seem to be surprised by this American anxiety with time.  On Friday, when our new friends Mitchell and Teresa were scheduled for court, Teresa asked, "It's 1:45 now, what time do need to be at court for our 2 o'clock appointment?".  Abel, always gracious, answered with a smile "2 o'clock".  Having had previous exposure to the flexibility of African time, we had a little laugh with Abel over the question.

We arrived at the courtroom and were struck by the fact that less security was in effect at court than when we went to dinner at Yod Abysinia.  We had to go through metal detectors to enter the restaurant, but there was no such security at the courthouse.  After a short wait, all four couples were called in to the judge's chambers at once.  After answering a number of brief questions, the judge proceeded to inform us that we passed, along with 2 of the other 3 couples.  The third couple did not pass simply because a particular piece of paperwork had the gender of the child listed incorrectly.  After court, Firew, the Bethany worker took us to a coffee shop for a celebratory macchiato while we waited to be picked up again.  You periodically have to take a leap of dietary faith while in Africa, and this was such an occasion.  Foods and beverages that have been boiled or cooked are generally safe, so coffee is usually o.k.  The debate with a macchiato is whether the milk is pasteurized and, if not, did it reach an adequate temperature to take care of any bacterial organisms.  Four weeks later, I can say that no problems have yet arisen from this particular leap.

After our macchiatos and coffees, which collectively (for 4 couples and Firew) cost around 5 bucks, we all went to the hospital to visit Jay and Noelle's boy, who was doing better.  Following the hospital, we returned to our son's orphanage and were able to spend another hour or so kicking the soccer ball around.  Amy thought that A had figured out that we were going to be his family and noted that every time A got the ball, he kicked it to me.  Being male, I am much less observant and did not catch that fact.  I was aware, though, that my lack of soccer skills became obvious.  When it was time to leave, we were able to tell A good-bye and give a quick hug.  

We returned to the guest house to finish packing and ate dinner again with group.  Since we didn't have the chance to print the medical letter for the embassy earlier in the day, I handwrote a letter, to which Chris added his thoughts and concurrence.   We gave our handwritten, notebook paper letter to Jay and Noelle and then finished our final preparations to leave.  We had a group prayer before heading to the airport.  Birtukan prayed for us this time.  I couldn't understand a word of her Amharic prayer, but it was powerful and passionate.  Three (couples) of us were on the same flight and had a little extra time at the airport to socialize before boarding the flight for the trip home.  

As we boarded and settled in, we wondered how long it would be until we could return to this beautiful country and be reunited with our new son.  We wondered how difficult it would be to wait for the invitation to come back, knowing that A was now legally ours.  We have discovered since our return that it is definitely not easy to know you have a son halfway around the world that you cannot yet be with.  A few hours into the flight, I looked over at Amy to find her in tears.  I knew what was wrong, but I questioned what triggered the tears at this point rather than at takeoff.  She told me that she had just looked at the map tracking our flight path and our plane was just exiting the African continent. 

Once we reached Frankfurt, we had a short opportunity to say good-bye to our friends before we all headed to our respective flights home.  It was terrific to get home and be with our kids again, but we cannot wait to return to claim our son and have all of our family together for the first time.  We hope our kids will be able to make the second trip with us, but we are not yet certain if that will be possible.