Our day at Court

It was our scheduled day for court to gain legal guardianship of E. Our driver picked us up and we drove deep into the city. I started to feel myself get a little bit nervous.

We arrived to the courthouse and hiked up four flights of stairs to sit in a room. I noticed other Ethiopians around I believe to be legal representatives, and possible birth parents/birth family members. There were also many European couples present as well.

It was nerve-wracking as we waited for our turn to appear before the judge.

Finally a woman opened the door and we stepped into a room along with another family from our agency. The judge was a young lady, and very beautiful. I was surprised by her youth. She asked us several questions to which we answered "yes."

Then the judge said, "She is all yours."

We felt relieved and celebrated with some pizza....Ethiopian style. Although we are recognized as E's parents in Ethiopia, the adoption is not yet recognized by the U.S. This is why we must take two trips to Ethiopia. The first for court, the second for the Embassy.

After lunch we went to Hannah's Hope to visit our new daughter. I helped her with a bath and she even used the potty in front of us.

Every visit always starts out with a warm up period of 30 minutes to an hour of E being a little grumpy towards us. By the end of this visit Daddy's arms were exhausted from carrying E around. She really loves her Dad.