I have had a few people ask me when Joshua's birthday is... and I have been stalling before I answer that question.
As part of the adoption process, Joshua was assigned a birthdate. That date is November 27, 2007. (Remember that Joshua was most likely born in his home. He was not issued a birth certificate at that time. We were unable to meet with any members of his Ethiopian family so we have no idea whether or not that date is something they would agree with.) Based on his size and development, that is a reasonable date. But I am really struggling with celebrating a "random" date as my precious son's birthday.
So... when we go through the readoption process we hope to change his legal birthdate to January 19, 2008. January 19 (2010) was the date we first saw his beautiful eyes. It is the day we claimed him as the son God had chosen for us. It is the day he was born in our family. It has HUGE significance.
In order to complete the readoption process in our state, children have to be in the US for 6 months. Joshua and I arrived home June 6 so we can not submit our paperwork to the courts until December 6... after his Ethiopian "birthdate." The attorney I have just begun working with has never been asked to change a child's birthdate before, so I am unsure whether or not the courts will grant my purely emotional request. (In our case the request is purely emotional. However there are many occasions where the Ethiopian birth estimate is quite a bit off. I know of many children whose birthdates have been changed as a part of readoption. But they lived in different states and had "better" reasons.)
So, what we have decided to do this year is celebrate on January 19. Besides the fact that I ABSOLUTELY have to celebrate in a BIG happy way on THE DAY I first lay claim to this beautiful child, I think Joshua will have more fun celebrating his third (yet first) birthday after taking part in a few more family parties. Afterall anticipation is half the fun of a birthday!
So, the temporary (and hopefully forever) date we will celebrate Joshua Gebeyehu Chad D's life will be January 19, 2011!
