The Court Date is a Coming!

Two days ago we received the good news of when our court date is. This is the day that the adoption will be final and Henock will officially be our son. It is weird to receive a phone call that says "okay, May 16th is the day!"

On May 16th, we need everything to go smoothly. Three different parties will meet on our behalf to finalize the adoption. First, representatives from the orphanage will be there for Henock. They need to show documentation that he is indeed an orphan. Second, representatives from an Ethiopian governmental agency will provide all the necessary documents that say something to the effect that Ben and I are able to parent. (Well, it appears that way on paper) Finally, Alemu, our Ethiopian contact, and our power of attorney will be there on our behalf to handle all of the legalities of finalizing an adoption.

Now I need to tell you that there is a chance that all will not go smoothly. Our adoption agency has currently brought 3 children home from Ethiopia and of the three; two were delayed at this point. This is where I can insert a probability question...”according to past accounts, what is the likelihood of everything going smoothly?” I prefer to take the approach of my students and say “everything always works out, so why do we need this probability stuff, anyway?”

Anyhow, I do find it strange that on that day, I will probably be teaching some Algebra lesson while around the world an Ethiopian judge whose name I probably can’t pronounce will be changing our lives somehow. Either she or he will extend the wait and therefore tease us a little longer or will send us on a flurry to find the quickest flights to a country that our son is now residing in. Well, whatever happens on that day will still put us one step closer to bringing Henock home….and that is what we want!