"He's yours."

oh. my. heart!!!  how can i possibly describe the events of today before the power cuts out for the THIRD time...we are praising God for the gift of this day.  i'll start at the beginning....

we woke a bit early for our court appointment.  the three families that had court today drove together a short distance to the court building.  we were anxious and emotional right from the start (well, i was at least!)  the judge works only on adoption cases, and we were quickly escorted into a packed room.  birth families and adoptive families all together, for the joint purpose of caring for their children.  we were in the hallway and saw A.Z's grandmother approaching.  a wee women, with a dear face and eyes that convey years of struggle.  the Imagine worker introduced us, saying "this is Alemayehu's grandmother".  we embraced, and she hugged me over and over.  we both cried, and in her native tongue (Wolayta region, not sure what that would be called) she was saying "I'm so happy, I'm so happy".  well needless to say, i was emotional, as was jeff at this point.  it was a beautiful meeting.  she kept raising her hands in the air, shaking her head in disbelief, and expressing gratitude to God.  the court appt. went remarkably fast.  for some reason, all three families were seen right at the beginning.  we all passed.  the judge was a beautiful woman, with a soft spoken way about her.  she asked us several questions and finally spoke the long awaited words, "he's yours"......wow.  i walked out barely holding it together.  we went down the hall, and traveled to the KVI orphanage for a visit with Alemayehu that i was not expecting.  i knew we'd be having a visit with birth family, but didn't know that we'd see him there as well.  there he was in a hot pink sleeper, sitting with his grandmother.  she again started speaking quickly, and i sat by her with my arm around her.  i gave her the card and photos we'd brought.  we played with A.Z together.  she couldn't stop kissing him.  like over and over, cheeks, lips, etc...she so clearly loves him.  what a gift....every time our girls or jeff would interact with him, she'd start speaking again and raising her hands in the air.  she was so pleased....he was giggling and sweet again, and he showed us a bit of another side that we're sure will give us a run for our money.  yep, Layla and Hudson may be good prep for this kid....he will hold his own quite nicely, we think.  seeing the orphanage life, it is clear he has learned this. a necessary method of survival. the children are so needy.  so precious.  jeff was giving them back rubs and finally just had two in his arms, because the one was pulling the foot of the other, trying to get him down so she could have a turn.  it is heart breaking.

anyway, the details of the visit with grandmother will forever be etched in our minds. i will keep those details to ourselves for now, until Alemayehu grows and decides whether he wishes to share.   we did have two translators, and were able to ask many questions, and she was able to do the same to us.  it was intimate, and overwhelming, and a gift that i am unable to fully explain. then we had a time of photos, together with her and our new son!!  today he moves to the transition home. that is hard for us to think about but necessary too.  we will have another visit with him there on Saturday when we'll be one-on-one and can give the gifts we brought for him. i better go before the computer crashes.  i'm going to try to attach a picture that joelle captured today.  award winning, in my opinion :)

more soon we hope.  thanks for praying...

love to all,

S.