Neh!

Monday

It’s court day! Our appointment was first thing in the morning and we were told to meet our ride at 8:45 AM. We wouldn’t need anything but our passports. Luckily we were going to court at the same time as the other adoptive family in Ethiopia from our agency so we had a peer group to keep each other company. We were picked up by 2 people whom we had not previously met that work for our agency in Ethiopia. One was the court advocate and the other a social worker. When we inquired about what to expect the court advocate simply stated, ‘just follow me’. The social worker said she wasn’t sure as she just started working for our agency a week prior and hadn’t been to court yet. Sweet! (enter your own sarcastic comment here)

After about 15 minutes of driving in what seemed like circles, our van pulled to the side of the road and we were told to hop out. In between two street stands was a shiny (well sort of) chrome door with a group of police officers sitting out front. We were loosely frisked before entering and climbed 3 floors of a dark stairwell. I found it odd, that we walked through a metal detector at the restaurant the night before, but the courthouse only had the resources to support a simple pat down. As we passed each of the lower floors the halls seemed to be lined with people. We reached the third floor and walked to the end of hall way and entered a room that reminded me of the waiting area at the Secretary of State’s office. It was filled with an eclectic mix of people, about 40 of them. Thank goodness for the European family sitting in the corner who looked like they just came from the Casino in Monte Carlo or I definitely would have felt overdressed in my khakis, white polo shirt with a tie (I had to keep cool) and blue sport coat. There were signs in the room strongly suggesting silence and we were told that this is best advised. I quietly inquired with our advocate if all the people in the room were there for adoptions and he confirmed. There was only one other American contingent and the rest appeared to be from a mix of countries.

So we sat waiting, with each pair of nervous eyes meeting the next, likely thinking the same thing I was…”I wonder what’s their story?’. After getting tired of trying to find something to look at I remembered I had my phone in my pocket. Thank you Angry Birds! After about 25 minutes a door in the side of the room opened and the first of the people seated in the room were beckoned into the judge’s chambers. As the door opened and closed it was preceded and followed by a loud clanking deadbolt lock. The first couple emerged about 3 minutes later and appeared content. Somebody rattled off some Amharic and our advocate collected our passports and disappeared into the judge’s chamber for about 10 seconds, then he peeked his head out and waived all of us into the chamber, both us and the other family. The female judge asked us 5 or 6 basic questions about our intent, our preparation, and our understanding of the finality of the adoption. The other family and ourselves, answered as a whole, kind of like when the youth group takes profession of faith after finishing catechism. Then she signed some papers and said, congratulations. At this moment we became a family of 5 in the eyes of Ethiopia. Now I have to admit, given my surroundings, I wasn’t really struck with emotion, but then again, I’m a guy and at that moment in time I was more focused on my exit plan and the emotion would likely come later.

So we returned to the van with a sigh of relief and were told we were now going to pick up a new family who had just gotten into town and we were going to go shopping, we’d visit the orphanage again to see our new son mid-afternoon after nap time. What?!? I have a sport coat and tie on and have only brought my passport and enough cash to get out of an emergency, as advised by our agency in America. Have I mentioned yet that this was going to be an adventure and that I would have some learning by way of being flexible? To make a long story short, we survived shopping. At this point in time, we put our heads together with the other families and told the driver that we want to have lunch back at our hotel. A few phone calls later and he received approval to take us back to the lodge. You see, all of the shots are being called by our contact “Charlie” who was not with us and our only contact is through the drivers cellphone.

We returned to the lodge, freshened up, walked down the street to a have a bite and get to know the “new’ family a bit and then packed up to go see our new son! This time since all the kids would be done with naps, we packed the arsenal of toys from beachballs to jump ropes to bubbles. When we arrived Hambisa was well rested and happy! We had about 30 minutes alone with him and the nurse (yeah, sweet, there’s a bonafide nurse at his orphanage mon-fri who also speaks great English.) Guess what, he’s a legit 10 month old boy who likes to crawl, put things in his mouth, swing around in our arms and explore. I took him outside while Whitney talked shop with the nurse, this lady and the other caregivers are truly God’s blessing. They care for these children like they are theirs and then have to turn them away to adoptive families. Hambisa has been at this orphanage since October and is the longest standing child there to date. The nurse admitted she will miss seeing him go, as she does all the kids, but then restated that this is how success is defined in this orphanage. Anyway, back to my time with Hambisa. It was important that I hug him and kiss him and begin to explain to him about how much he is loved by not only us but also all of our friends and family back home who will care for him in a fashion he can’t understand. The truth be told, he didn’t understand a word I said because, well, his caregivers only know Amharic and while he is responsive to some Amharic dialogue, he doesn’t know English. So I simply started singing him our “good night” songs that we sing every night with the boys and “johnny appleseed”. Half way through the songs, the emotions finally caught me and all I could do was stand outside next to the razor wire and hug Hambisa and cry.

I was pretty much dried up by the time Whitney came out and at this time the other kids came out as well. I handed her Hambisa and got to the other order of business, some serious playing with the other kiddos. We blew up beach balls and blew bubbles. We also brought some board books with pictures and simple English. Surprisingly, it was the board books that captures all of their attention at the same time. Beautiful kids folks, beautiful kids.

So soon enough our driver emerged picked up one of the kids for a while and then said we have to leave. We returned to the hotel at about 5 PM to capture our thoughts before walking to dinner with the other family, who had gone to visit their new child a different orphanage that afternoon. Good night Sweet Hambisa Scholtens!