a big one.
a miracle came to fruition today and we were given the gift of our third son, solomon matthew ephraim cain.
in case you were wondering, solomon's given name was ephraim (EH-frem is how they say it in ghana) kwadjo (means monday born) otoo. since our oldest son is named ethan, we knew we couldn't keep ephraim as his first name...see? we told you the name change would make sense. and the name change was granted today by the ghanaian judge along with FULL ADOPTION rights!!! wooooohooooo!
the day started early. we woke up at 5:00 and were ready to be picked up at 6:00. really, we were out in the lobby waiting for the driver at 6:10 because, ya know, we have this african time thing down. ashley is fully convinced that she *is* ghanaian. anyway....:)
we eventually made our way to the children's home to pick up solomon for court. ida had spoken briefly with the manageress the night before, but we were not able to confirm whether there would be a house mother to accompany us to court or not. they are understaffed and undergoing training right now! so yesterday, we stopped by koala super market for some of the formula they give solomon and diapers....we did not want to be unprepared to care for our little man! especially since we did not know if we would wait one hour or four hours for our actual court hearing. fortunately, jane had just come off the night shift in the nursery and was willing to accompany us.
we arrived at the high court building in accra around 8:30 and waited for our lawyer (naa), the bethany christian services program manager (solomon obeng), and the representative for the department of social welfare (turned out that the head of social welfare for this region actually came!) to arrive. by 9:00, we were all seated in the small and very hot room of high court 12. the judge came in and heard 3 other cases before us. solomon (the program manager) told us that we would likely be heard by 10:00am or not until 2:00pm. since ben was in a suit and tie and poor little solomon would be ready for a nap, we prayed for the 10 time table. our little guy did well...we brought toys and let him crawl around a bit. but then, he was tired. this was when we were glad the house mother jane was with us.....apparently, solomon likes to rock himself to sleep, but if you hold him, he will cry himself to sleep. good to know!
jane took him outside the courtroom, but we could hear his sad, little cry. after just a few minutes, ashley went outside to help. she was able to quiet him down while jane prepared a bottle. within a few minutes of eating, the poor little guy gave up and slept all the way through the most important day of his life thus far. :)
God was kind and the judge invited us back to her private chambers just an hour after we arrived (about 10:00am). the room was small, but we managed to fit the judge, her clerk, our lawyer, the head of the department of social welfare, jane holding a sleeping solomon, ben, ashley, ida, and big solomon. whew! everything had been prepared very well by our team beforehand so the proceedings went quickly and smoothly. our lawyer essentially said that we, the applicants, had provided all the requested documentation and were eligible to adopt the child. then the head of social welfare said that solomon did, in fact, qualify as an orphan and had proper relinquishments by his birthmother, that solomon had special needs because of a hole in his heart, and that he felt we were well-suited, willing, and the best future for solomon's life.
wow.
after the judge heard both representatives, she spent a few moments writing her verdict before she shared it. as soon as she finished writing and we saw the big smile on her face, we knew that God had answered our prayers and given solomon to our family. the judge said it was her great pleasure to grant the intercountry adoption to us with full parental rights and the permission to leave the district with the child. WOOHOO! we shook her hand and held back tears as we left, holding the little boy who was now a cain forever.
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the pictures below are of the judicial system high court building, ashley holding a frightened solomon in the car (he's only driven in a car a handful of times and his heart was beating so fast!), ben walking to court with solomon and jane, waiting inside the court, ida (our social worker) holding solomon after the hearing, and us with solomon, jane, and ida after the hearing!
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