Favorable Court Resolution!

I won't keep you all in suspense any longer! In short: we went to court and they ruled in favor of letting us adopt "Wallace" and to be named as his parents on his birth certificate and to change his name to Zephaniah!

Now for the longer version, the "juicy" details:

We quickly woke this morning rushing to get ready and dressed. Our facilitator thought we'd leave here at 10 but good thing we rushed because actually his morning visiting time is from 9 until 10am so we left at 9am to the orphanage and took him, with a caretaker, to get his picture taken for his passport and also for a picture of us with him to leave as a gift to several parties/entities. I tried to snap a picture of the picture (we only got 3 copies and need all three to give-away) - but it is so glossy so reflections and all - it does not turn out so great but here is my best shot:

We were supposed to exchange some currency and then go back to our apartment for a short time but it took a long, long time to find a bank that would exchange money with us because apparently a new law just recently went into affect on Friday or something which made it difficult to find a bank willing to change money with us because we didn't have a visa (which shows legal permission to be here. We are not required by law to have one because the duration of our time here is short).

After that we stopped for lunch where our facilitator lead us to. It was a beautiful building and the food was quite good. I will have to add pictures of it later. I'm glad it was somewhat of a relaxing atmosphere for my heart was anticipating the day's events. After lunch our driver took us to pick up two women who were representing the "inspector" (for social services) and orphanage lawyer, basically. It is a common practice courteousness to give these people a ride to court. When we got there we walked up several flights of stairs and waited for a few minutes in the hallway while papers were being gathered and other people were arriving. Our facilitator was telling us what possible questions we might need to be prepared to answer, in addition to other things we went over this morning. Then we were shown into a small room, smaller than our living-room at home (which is not very big). The judge sat at her desk in the corner of the room and invited everyone else to sit. She read some court proceedings, our rights, and part of our home-study that says our motivation for adoption. We were asked to state our names, dates of birth and address. Then the two ladies introduced themselves. There was also in the court-room two jury members, a court clerk, and a court reporter. The only two men in the room was Scott and one of the jurors. The inspector and lawyer both stated (in a nutshell) that the minor child was abandoned at birth/in hospital, had special needs, was available for adoption and that no persons in this country have adopted him or shown interest in adopting him thus far and so they both agreed that adoption by us was in the best interest of the child. Then we were asked to stand and speak (make our petition). Scott was a little thrown off because things had gone very fast and he thought we were at a different part so he deferred to me and I was not prepared to speak! After a couple "ur", "ums" and a silent prayer, "Please God, speak for me!" - I stated that we have met this child and already we love him as our own son. I stated that we have a faith-based belief that adoption can be a wonderful way to build a family and that Scott's little sister, whom we love, was adopted. Our facilitator sort of stopped me there so she could translate all I said before I said more. She translated and then, before we could add to our statement, the judge asked us all to sit down. Then we took a short recess and said good-bye to the very nice two ladies who had recommended adoption for "Wallace". A short time later we were invited back into the court room. The court reporter was unable to hide her smiles. My heart was beating as the judge began to read the ruling or, rather, resolution, which was to grant our petition to adopt "Wallace", have our names placed as his parents on his birth certificate, and to change his name to Zephaniah. Then they congratulated us and we thanked them and walked out to the hall again. Our facilitator congratulated us and then we waited for a short time so she could get a draft of the resolution. We cannot pick up the final court (decree) resolution until the mandatory 10 day waiting period is over, on October 7th. So it is not quite official yet - but today we do indeed have much to celebrate and thank God for: a favorable court resolution! We are so thankful that it all went well. This was the judge's first adoption presiding over! The usual "inspector" was also unable to come so a different lady had come in her stead. I'm breathing such a sigh of relief! Here is a picture of us in front of the court house doors:

Tonight we ask you to pray for our friend Maryanne, who had stayed with us in region this duration so that our children would be cared for while we had orphanage visits, ran errands and have court today. Tonight she and our facilitator will be on the train so we ask for prayer for her safe return home. We are so grateful that she was able and willing to help us last-minute and be so patient and kind with our children. God bless and keep you, Maryanne!