court...

Today was the day that I went to court to see if Ethiopia would approve my adoption.  I woke up this morning feeling the same as every other morning here.  I got dressed for court yet again and went down for breakfast. The director meet me at the table and he was on the phone almost the entire time.  Him being on the phone is not abnormal but this is the first time I could hear him say certain words "American" "Court" "Jessica".  This was the first time that I have seen the look of worry on his face and hear the anxiety in his voice.  When he got off the phone I asked him if everything was okay and he said "This is African, we have much worries today".  We drove to court and walked inside to a room that was about 20X20 with gray chairs bolted on all sides.  The director and I were the first ones there so we sat down and waited. About 20 minutes later the entire room was packed with at least 50 people from all around the world.  I asked the director if he knew why these people where here and he said they were all adopting.  It was a great feeling to know that there were children going to be saved by these amazing strangers.  I immediately felt a connection with them. There were American, Japanese, Australians, Canadians, and others all waiting in anticipation to see if our dreams were about to come true.  So about 10 people walked in and out of the attached room within about 30 minutes.  It was so quick and the people coming out looked shocked.  I was afraid that court was being cancelled again.  The door opened and I hear "Children Nation" announced.  The director started to walk towards the door and I assumed that "Children Nation" was my case.  I walked into a room that was 15X8 with a black metal desk at one end stacked with files and 3 gray chairs sitting about 10 feet away.  The director told me to sit while he stood behind me.  He talked to the young female judge in Amharic for about 30 seconds and then the tiniest sweetest voice in English said "Passport Please" I walked over and handed her my passport.  She looked me right int he eyes with the most endearing look on her face and said...

"Please sit down so we can talk"
"Do you understand why you are here"
       "yes"
"Do you have a child of your own?"
       "no"
"Do you understand that you need to teach your child the Ethiopian culture?"
        "yes"
"Have you spent time with Tekedalign?"
       "yes"
"Do you want to adopt him?"
       "yes"
"Do you understand that if I approve this adoption today that Tekedalign is legally yours and you can not under any circumstance give up your right to him?"
      "yes I understand"
"You have a lot of work ahead of you. I approve your adoption, congratulations on your son"
       "Thank you"

The door opened and the director and I walked out through the people waiting their turn. We got on the elevator and went down to the car. The director looked at me and said "Now you cry".  My body was numb, i could not believe that 3 minutes in front of the judge was it.  Lennox at that moment was mine. The entire ride home I listened to the director  talk about how we just have to wait for the US Embassy to review the file and approve Lennox citizenship.  So it is not over yet.  I now have a son who is not allowed to come into the United States.  The US Embassy is currently taking 8-12 weeks to review files and grant Visa and Passports. 

We got back to the guest house and I went straight to see Lennox and he was sleeping so I just gave him a quick kiss on the cheek.  I picked him up after his nap and we had the most amazing time. We sat on the floor and played while he showed me more of his sweet personality.  He started to fall asleep around 6pm so I took him back to his bed so that they could feed him dinner.  Tomorrow will be my last day with him for awhile but I feel at peace with that.  I know I am going to miss him like crazy, but I need to get back to Kadin.  The nannies here are amazing and I know that they will take great care of my son.    MY SON!!!  I can't wait to flood the blog with pictures of Lennox.  Just a couple more days and his perfect little smile will be in your hearts forever.

more later
Jessica