May 5, 2011

One year ago today nothing eventful happened in our adoption. Though we went to the ministry two times to try to speak with the minister about our referral she was in many meetings and unavailable. It was disappointing but also understandable that there was a lot of business happening and they had things to do that didn't include our first priority.

We did get to go to the courthouse though. 7 of the families in our travel group had their court appointments this day and we were able to spend the time with them. This included a lot of waiting. We tried to not be in the way, with our large group, while waiting on the front patio of the the courthouse. When the judge was close to hearing their cases we were all moved to the back of the building. Outside the back door was a haphazardly terraced area, about 4 levels where our group sat with other local individuals and some prisoners to await the judge. It was very interesting and beneficial to us to see what the other families were going through since we would have our court day soon. Our power of attoneys gave us some information on what to expect then one of them accompanied each family into the judge's chambers to present their case. We heard similar stories from each family as they completed their meeting, usually about 5-8 minutes per adopted child. It was pretty exciting to be there for their experience.

We didn't make progress this day but we were overjoyed for these 9 children who were one step closer to their families. We hadn't met any of the children yet but had seen so many wonderful pictures, heard stories of their time together each day and knew how much it meant to the parents that tomorrow they should get their ruling.

It was a good day!

And today we had Isaac's 2nd Birthday Party. He has been so excited telling everyone he was having a Mater Party! He loves to say he is 2 now. He has had such fun waiting for this day, but he is still thinks it is always Addy's Birthday and not his :) Addy is his sweet friend from Rwanda, they lived in the same room and we were so blessed to bring both kids home last May. Her birthday was in Mar and he still thinks birthday belongs to Addy, he will go get her picture when we mention birthday. So today we just talked about his Mater Party. It is so sweet.

Water fight in his Lightening shirt:

Not quite sure about that candle:

Jeff & Isaac having some ice cream:

It was a good day!

Sheri