"IT IS HEREBY ORDERED, ADJUDGED, and DECREED that the said child, from and after the date of this decree (today!), be deemed and taken to be the child of the Petitioners, Chad and Alicia D., husband and wife, and that the child be deemed in all respects to all legal consequences and incidents of the natural relation of parents and child, the child of the Petitioners by adoption, the same as if the said child had been born to them of lawful wedlock; and that the name of the child shall be JOSHUA GEBEYEHU CHAD D."It is officially official! We have dotted every "i" and crossed every "t"! There are no more hoops - we are without a doubt, the proud parents of a beautiful toddler! What a happy day!
I love the words I typed in bold from the adoption decree. They mirror my heart - it is filled with the same overflowing, overwhelming love and joy for ALL of my kids. I love that the court will never treat our kids as "real (ugh! hate that word!)" or "adopted." In the eyes of the court, they are all the same! What a great example the court sets on this one!
So very soon we will receive an American birth certificate in the mail for our son. After that we will head to the social security office to get his social security card and that is IT! YEAH!!!
The court decided it best to leave Joshua's birthdate as November 27, 2007. (If you remember I wanted to change it to his referral date because I have a difficult time with the date feeling made up and meaningless.) And I am totally OK with that! My heart has slowly been softened to the idea, especially during this Christmas season as I realized that the WHOLE WORLD celebrates the birth of Christ on a MADE UP day! So, I am peaceful! I think having a sort-of made up birthdate is part of Joshua Gebeyehu's Ethiopian heritage. So I rejoice in celebrating that God chose to give my son life - regardless of which day it began. The fact that Joshua is here and happy makes each and every day meaningful!
So as planned we will celebrate Joshua's birthday January 19th this year and Nov. 27 from here on out. I hope to have a play date/party with his friends on January 19 and then a bigger party with family and friends the following weekend.
"I prayed for this child, and the LORD has granted me what I asked of him."
Samuel 1:27
Or as my beautiful Grandma used to say, "my cup runneth over"
her commonly used paraphrase from Psalm 23:5
