Day 4, Trip 1

This morning Was drove us to our court appointments. We waited together with a crowd of adoptive parents from several other agencies - all Americans as far as I could tell. I had imagined a U.S.-style courtroom with a judge in a black robe, holding a gavel, sitting on a high bench, but when they called, "Mamush's family?" we walked into a plain room that looked like a small office; a beautiful Ethiopian woman sat behind a regular looking desk.

She asked us to sit down, and then asked us a series of questions - "Have you spent time with your baby? Do you understand that once made, this decision cannot be reversed? Why do you want to adopt from Ethiopia? Have you had adoptive parent training? Do you have other children, and how do they feel about this adoption? Are you prepared to deal with potential identity issues with this child? Are there other families near you who've adopted from Ethiopia?" Then she thanked us, and said, "He's all yours!" WHAT BEAUTIFUL WORDS TO HEAR!!!

After court, Was drove us to a little marketplace where we spent some time shopping. We bought some traditional children's clothing for Mamush, Evie, and Sylvie as well as some gifts we will give to Mamush each year until he is 18, to remind him of his amazing birth country. After shopping, we ate lunch at a nice Italian restaurant/art gallery. The paintings, all done by local Ethiopian artists, were wonderful! We ate pizza - yum.

After lunch, we went to Hannah's Hope to spend some time with Mamush. We visited a lot with his special mothers, and practiced our Amharic. The special mothers laughed at our poor pronunciation, and we laughed too. Mamush's special mother that speaks English the best is named Mekdes (Meck-e-desh). She is a devoted follower of Christ; she told us that the Bible is her life, and she is a joy to be around! She is also amazing with all of the children. Tomorrow Mekdes said she would sing us the Amharic ABC song; we plan to record it.

We spoke with Almaz about Mamush's name today - keeping Mamush versus Abera. She said Mamush means "baby," and that, because Ethiopians always address each other only by their first names (i.e. Mr. Nathan or Ms. Julie), it would be kind of strange to be called essentially Mr. Baby. She also told us that Abera means "he brings light." And, as that was also his birth father's name, we have now finally and officially decided to keep Abera rather than Mamush.

And as of today he is legally OURS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



A view from the building where we had our court appointment (we were not allowed to take photos of the interior of the building)



Us in front of the Italian restaurant where we ate following court



The first American made car we saw in Addis - a Chevy :)



Us with Almaz. This woman is a TREASURE, and a blessing to MANY for HIS GLORY ALONE! LOVE HER. :)