Thomas Family: An Orphan No More!!!

Thursday was court day for us. August 5 is the day that Ella officially became a Thomas! We had breakfast at the GH and were ready at 8:30 but really didn't need to be ready until 9. Job came and got us and we went to court. Before we left the GH, we prayed in our room. Brent prayed and then I prayed specifically for our MOWA letter. We felt great about the birth family part of our case because i had talked with Duni the day before who said we had a letter from the police saying they couldn't find her birth mother. When we got to the court house we waited for a while. Duni got there and told us that MOWA had called and said our letter wasn't there but that the courier was going to go back and pick it up because it was ready at their office. Duni said that never happened and I told her about our prayer that morning. She said it worked! What an AWESOME GOD we serve who cares about the smallest detail! We went in when it was our turn and answered the judges questions. The judge looked at our passports and then asked us if we had other children. She looked up and saw Garrett. She then smiled and said, I see that you do. We then told her about Ryan, our 5 year old at home. She asked how they felt about the adoption. She also asked about our families and how they felt about it. She asked how we had prepared for adoption, about being a transracial family, and asked why we chose Ethiopia. She then asked if we had met our child and that if we understood it was irrevocable. We told her yes and she then said ok. She is yours! Those were the best words we heard the entire time we were in Ethiopia! We later found out that the judge had approved us before we had even gone in to give our testimony! What an awesome God we serve who gave us great favor that day!

We then went and celebrated with Job at Kaldi's Coffee. Kaldi's is just like Starbucks. After coffee we went and saw the newest member of our family! Ella Woyneshet Thomas is no longer an orphan! Praise God!!! After the TH, we went and had lunch at Lucy's.

After lunch we went to Kids Care orphanage. We had so much fun with the kids! They loved stickers and tried to share their candy bags with us. A few of the orphans clung to us. They loved having their pictures taken and then looking at them. One of the little girls was about 7 and asked if I would be her mom. Talk about having your heart broken in two! We are asking God what He wants us to do. After the orphanage, we went and hung out at Yebsabi with our new friends, Shay Sanderson and her sister, Stephanie. Later that evening, we went and had a traditional Ethiopian dinner complete with dancing. It was pretty good food and the dancing was incredible. We were all so tired though that we quickly wanted to go home and sleep.

Here are some pictures from Thursday!