Today, February 21, marks the one year anniversary of our Ethiopian court date.We began this important day filled to the brim with nerves. I remember shaking as I applied my mascara and pulled on my clothes. We didn’t know whether we would pass court and take custody of our baby girl or hit some unknown snafu that would take days or weeks to correct, delaying our family union. Before we let our nervous thoughts get out of control, we opened our trusty devotional book, Jesus Calling, and were met with the perfect words for that day from our Heavenly Father.
“Trust and thankfulness will get you safely through this day. Trust protects you from worrying and obsessing. Thankfulness keeps you from criticizing and complaining: those “sister sins” that so easily entangle you. Keeping your eyes on Me is the same thing as trusting Me. It is a free choice that you must make thousands of times daily. The more you choose to trust me, the easier it becomes. Thought patterns of trust become etched into your brain. Relegate troubles to the periphery of your mind, so that I can be central in your thoughts. Thus you focus on Me, entrusting your concerns into My care.”
Below is the blog post I wrote one year ago, just a few hours after we left Court:
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Today was not just another sunny day in Addis Ababa. We will be unpacking the specifics of today over the next few days. Everything that occurred was so significant; we want to process it with God, each other and as individuals, truly treasuring and reflecting on all that took place. This you can be sure of: Monday February 21, 2011 was a good day.
Many of you back home are just waking up to start your week. Happy Monday! We hope your Monday is filled with His Presence, is seeped in trust and thankfulness and is marked by repeatedly casting you cares at His feet. Thank you so much for praying for us as you went to bed last night. Today was our Court Date and we really felt your prayers at our backs as we walked through the day. Our belief in the power of prayer has never been stronger and we urge you to keep praying for our little family. For now, a play by play:
This morning at 2:30am Josh woke up. By 3:30am I was wide-awake. We wrestled with sleep until 6:30am, when we finally pulled back the curtains to watch the sun rise. At 7am I walked downstairs to the lobby to grab some coffee. I sat on the balcony with my iPod and Jesus Calling. I was overcome with emotion thinking about the day’s events that lay before us. The Jesus Calling reading for today called for trust and thankfulness, two absolutely perfect words for our circumstances. These two words have been playing over and over in my mind for the past twelve hours and have set my focus on Jesus when emotions were swirling.
Around 8am I went back down the stairs to get coffee for Josh and, as always, was winded by the time I made it to our third story room. The altitude here is killer! I jumped in the shower, and then called my parents on Skype so they could pray for us before court. Our driver Mohammed was supposed to arrive at 8:30am. At 8:40am we decided to start walking in the direction he would be coming, because we were supposed to be at court by 9am. We finally see him at 8:45am and Amazing Race style we implore him to drive very quickly; we have a very important meeting! Our Dove lawyer calls to see if we are close; our court proceedings begin in five minutes! Josh looks back at me, “Remember our two words for today”.
At 8:59am we pull in front of the Ethiopian Federal Court and see our lawyer running towards us. He leads us up several flights of stairs and past all kinds of people, then down a hall until we finally arrive at a medium size room. It’s nothing fancy. Some have described it as similar to the DMV, but I think it looks like a mix between an empty classroom and a waiting room at a doctor’s office. We turn to our left and see the other two Dove families we met last week at Toukoul. It was so good to see familiar faces. We catch up on each others weekend activities and then marvel at the reality that we are finally here. We are at court, just about to become legal parents of our beloved children. Everyone has his or her moment of emotion, realizing that we have come so far and we are almost there.
We wait about twenty minutes, watching as thirty beautiful and handsome Ethiopians fill the room to wait (and a dozen Italians as well.) It’s overwhelming to know that for half of the room this is a very hard day, while for the other half this is a very good day. It’s tragic and redemptive all at once. At 9:20am we see a small group of Ethiopians get called into the Judge’s office. Five minutes later they come out and we hear, “SOS EE” (the name of our orphanage) get called. Our lawyer looks at all of us and says, “Let’s go!”
We walk into a big office with stacks of paperwork littering the two desks. The Judge is the most beautiful woman and I decide to start calling her The Queen of Sheba (well, just in my head). She takes our passports and leads us through a series of questions. After each question she pauses to look at all three couples to make sure we respond. Her voice is so quiet, I can hardly hear from my seat fifteen feet away. Five minutes later she looks at each couple and informs us where our cases stand. We walk out and back down the stairs to the sidewalk. Our lawyer asks each couple if they have any questions, then answers them confidently. (I love our lawyer more each day. He is respected, competent and kind. For all you waiting Dove families, take heart- this guy is good. You and your children are in good hands!)
I won’t go into the specifics of what’s next for each family, but we all stood there on the sidewalk hugging, wishing each other well, promising to pray for one another, to get together soon (one family lives in Seattle and we hope to see both families again at Embassy), and empathizing as we each go our own ways and learn to embrace our current circumstances. We are bonded forever by this shared experience.
The story of our court day does not end here by any means, but I’ll take a break for now. Stay tuned for more stories, reflections and updates tomorrow. As they say here, “Ciao!!”
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More on our “Mercy Month” memories coming soon.
