Our Cup Runneth Over

Well where do weI start.  I could start up telling you that we had the best night sleep yet.  I think 7 hours straight – Yay!!!

But you don’t care about that – It was court day. 

Before I go into the details, I must say Happy 25^th Birthday to my special little girl Kate.  I’m sorry we are not there for your special day but I think you understand.  You will also be daddy’s little girl even though you have grown up to be such an extraordinary young woman. We love and miss you.

Karen & I were downstairs waiting for our ride at 1pm but as per African time that really meant 1:45pm.  We met Martha (Ethiopia social worker) for the first time as we drove to court.  She basically ensured we had our passports but that was it.  We proceeded to pickup Candy & Rob (who are adopting their first child - a 7 month boy, Ephrem) before going to court. 

 

 

The drive to court seemed to take forever winding through the streets on Addis Ababa.  It was less than half an hour.  Court was just like every other building.  It didn’t stick out like any other building that we might be uses to.

We entered into a waiting room that somewhat looked like a court room.  It had rows of chairs, a front desk for what I think would be the recorders, and behind that a large desk and chair for the judge.  There was probably 30 other people in the room. We were told court started at 2pm but there wasn’t really any assigned times for each case, it was just whoever they decide and they would call them.  We were there for approx. 10 minutes but no judge or clerks came in.

It appeared different social workers were there with several clients for each.  The court clerk would come out and motion a social worker to come and bring their clients into a side room.  The room had 2 desks with paper piled high on each desk and chairs around outside walls.  We were called with our social worker and all her 2 other clients.  We sat all together in the room until the judge spoke.  The judge was a young 30 something female – I guess I’m old fashion as I was expecting an old guy.

As lucky as I am she said Paul first.  This was just roll call I guess to see that we were there.  The other two males were called out but the wives were not which seemed odd.  They basically were doing the 3 of us in a group.  The questions were asked, and one by one we answered before the next question.  Lucky for me Karen answered the questions even though they didn’t address them to her.

Do you have other children?  How many?  Boy or girl?  How old are they?  Have you met your child you are adopting?  How many times?  How did it go? Have you researched the culture?  Do you realize after today, these children will be yours?  OK you are done.

It was at that time that all became real that Ibssa Jemal had become Ibssa Jemal Gresty.  God has been with us all through this roller coaster ride the last 4 years.  He was also there today as the roller coaster came into the station and he said Karen, Paul, Ibssa you can now disembark but always remember, I was on that ride with you.

Tears of joys, hugs of congratulations were shared as we left the courtroom.

We left discussing with Martha when we would be able to see our children.  After a short discussion Martha thought we should wait a day, but with new mothers there, she was obviously wrong.

We proceeded to the orphanage to meet our children. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ibssa greeted us with hugs that we didn’t expect. 

 

 

We only met him on Saturday for a short time so we weren’t expecting much.  The ladies at the orphanage told Ibssa that his mom & dad were here.  Wow what a feeling to hear that.  We spent about an hour with him.  It was so real, he was our child.  A child that was turned down 3 or 4 times – who could do that.  A child with special needs?  We took pictures on the camera to show him.  He swiped the screen to see  all the pictures like he had his own phone.  I showed him once, how to put 2 fingers together and then spread them on the screen to make image larger.  No problem, he done it himself may times.  I would need to fix the camera so I would take it from him and say one minute as I held up my finger – he seemed to understand.  If he has special needs, we don’t see it, we see our special child.  

We left a Barney with him and re-assured him that we would be back tomorrow.  As were loading up, one of the staff said something to Ibssa and he came over to give us another hug and a kiss – talk about melting your heart.

We finished the day celebrating at an Italian restaurant before retiring for the night and writing this.

Thanks to all for being a part of our incredible journey.  Thanks to God for this amazing opportunity