On Monday morning the phone rang. I saw that it was the adoption agency calling
from Michigan. The court hearing that
took place earlier in the day in Ethiopia had taken place and we were anxiously
awaiting the results. I took a deep breath
and answered. It was Sally. “Good news,” she said. I took a deep breath and let out a big “woo-hoo!” The judge had approved Sofani’s case and had
moved it to the second phase – our day in court to approve the adoption.
Evidentially the Judge read the letter Staci and I
wrote her. The letter not only detailed
our plans to keep Sofani in touch with Liya, his biological sister in Texas; it
explained how I met Sofani and how this was clearly God’s plan for our family. At the end of the letter we threw out a
request that may have appeared a bit bold, but we wanted to give it a shot
while we had the Judge’s attention. Here’s
what we said:
“We
would respectfully request that the courts do everything in their power to
expedite the adoption process for Sofani to our family. Sofani is older than the other children in
the transition home and we’re certain that he was as disappointed as we were
with the delay. We are willing to do
whatever it takes to bring Sofani to his new home in the United States. We appreciate your consideration and thank
you for the opportunity to make Sofani our son.”
What Sally told me next made me laugh. The Judge set a court date for us next
Wednesday.
Luckily we have all of our documents ready to
go. Staci has been packing for
weeks. She even bought a new dress for
court (of course). We just booked our
flights this morning. We’re leaving Sunday on a flight that will take us to
Addis via Germany. We are scheduled to
arrive in Ethiopia Monday night and I’ll have the honor of introducing Staci to
Sofani on Tuesday. I can’t wait.
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