Monday, July 8, 2013
The Journey Part 5 - Court
Wednesday June 26th
Today is the big day.... We will go to court to testify in front of a judge - that we want you to be our son- a part of our forever family.
I thought I would be nervous, but I'm not. I'm excited to go through this next part of the process.... To get one step closer to uniting our soon family of 5. Wow! That's pretty crazy. We were 3 for 8 years. In another year and a half, our family will have grown by 2.
Slept in, treated ourself to a nice big breakfast buffet at the Sheraton. We were worried about a really bad cough that you had since the day we met you. You also had little bumps all over in localized areas. You had coughed so hard that you got sick several times over the last few days, so we decided that we would take you to a doctor. As luck would have it, there was one in the hotel and we didn't even know it! ..... Sure enough- you had an upper respiratory infection and ring worm all over your body- including on your head. Oh- $30 US never better spent! We were so relieved when we got those antibiotics into your system, but you did not like the medicine! However, we had another great tip before we left, so we packed several bottles of cough syrup, which we had already been giving you for several days. You thought you hated the way that tasted until you got the Uganda Special Brew! Oh my! (We were also warned before we left that cough syrup in Uganda was expensive and tasted awful.) It must have been right, because you actually cried and tried to convince us to give you the medicine we brought from the US instead, by pointing and grunting. Then you ran away to hide when you saw what bottle Daddy poured from.
Mr Ronald picked us up an hour early for court, just to be on the safe side , even though its only a few minutes from the hotel. Luckily we got there with a little time to spare, so we walked across the street to a very small craft market. Gabe and I already had some hand-made Ugandan sandals, so we found a pair for you as well. Our court appointment was at 1:30, and we were all there a little early. Your uncles, aunts, grande, and village leader were all there as well.
I don't think anyone even came in to make sure we were all there til 2:30. Then another hour and a half went by and no one seemed to care that we were even there. This came as no surprise, as we were warned that's how it would go, so luckily we brought your toys, lots of snacks, and water.
In the meantime, we got to know a little more about your family. Daddy had more in depth conversations because the guys were the ones who all wanted to talk and learn more about our family and the United States in general.
I spoke to the ladies a little, but they were pretty busy chatting amongst themselves in your native tong. I kept busy trying to entertain you and Gabe mostly.
Interestingly enough, I don't think Daddy, you, Gabe , or myself really ate any of the snacks that we brought. After a few hours, I did try to get you to eat, but felt others looking on, so happily offered to share. Everyone seemed pretty excited about the trail mix, animal cookies, granola bars, and fruit that we brought. I hadn't even realized that these were items that they had most likely never seen before. Your aunts even seemed to be explaining an orange to your grandmother. So I offered them the rest of what I had and kept only a pack of crackers in case we needed it for later. Well..... And my Twizzlers that I kept hiding in my purse...I just couldn't give the Twizzlers away!
I was already to kill someone for a Diet Pepsi at this point- I had to keep my sugar fix since I couldn't get my carbonated caffeine fix until we got back to the US.
I think they finally came in close to 4:00. They rushed us into the courtroom. Rush rush rush rush! Leave the bags- everyone hurry!
We get into the courtroom, sit down, and the judge then tells Ms Dorothy that he needs to excuse us for about 10 more minutes because his boss needs to see him. They herd us out of the courtroom- back to the original holding pen.
I would say another hour or more goes by. I'm in the ladies room and come out to an empty waiting room. I find that they rushed the group off again, even telling Mike to just leave me because they couldn't wait. I find Daddy and the rest of the family in a waiting room outside of the court room. So there we waited- again- after rushing- again. Finally! They came for us and ushered us back into the court room.
By now you and Gabe were pretty tired. Within a few minutes, you were sleeping in my lap, and Gabe was sleeping in his chair, sitting straight up. Seems like we were in there for an hour and a half. I'm not sure exactly, but the place was closed down, and everyone except the guards were gone when we left ..... And it was dark outside.
The judge, who is supposed to be addressed as "my lord" called up both of your aunts and then your grande. (They said your uncles were too young for court, so they were not allowed in at all.) The judge spoke to your family in Lugandan, so we never knew what was going on. He had your Aunt Joy translate for your grande since she couldn't speak English or Lugandan, other than a few things here and there. She did get pretty emotional at one point, and had to hide her face. I did not know what was being said, but I felt a wave of relief to see the emotion finally overcome her. I felt bad to see her sad, but for your sake- I was relieved. This was the 1st clear display of emotion I had seen. This proved that she loved you beyond a shadow of a doubt..... Not that I had any reason to doubt, but it just made it perfectly clear.
This process took what seemed forever. There were no computers in the room, and the judge wrote every answer by hand- literally word for word.
Then he called me. Ugh. I. Felt sure he would call Mike and figured he may not speak to me at all. (He never did call Daddy, which surprised us. But later Ms Dorothy explained that he usually only wanted to talk to the mommies.) I had been contemplating all the while on weather I would be able to address him as "my lord". I just had a sick feeling about it in my stomach. Even though I knew it was just a title like sir, I just couldn't do it. I just went with Sir, and figured he would think I didn't know any better.
Now, we had mentally been preparing for all kinds of difficult questions. I had been rehearsing all kinds of things to say- in my head all day.
So I was a bit thrown when he asked me my age. I was not expecting that one! I honestly don't think about it very much, so I was trying to think it out in my head. I was sure I was 32 or 33. I thought I was crazy until I looked over at Daddy and saw him counting on his fingers too. The judge asked me again, and I could tell he was annoyed at my delay. I took a stab and said 32. Whew! I was lucky- it turned out to be right!
Then- how long have I been married, how many children do I have- both with daddy?- do we both work- how many hours- what days- and then one that worried me a little....what made me think I could take care of 3 children since Daddy and I both work full time? Ouch! This one had me scared. Then he asked how I came to get the idea of adoption in my head. Ugh! I wanted him to ask why we wanted to adopt you! I would have told him the story about how I knew I wanted to adopt since I was a teenager. At that point, it was just an idea of doing something "good"- to help provide a loving home and a mommy and daddy for a child that didn't have it. BUT the moment I met you, I wanted to adopt you because I loved you at that moment.
So, I didn't get to tell him all of that, but I wanted you to know..... It was you. You are our chosen one, the one we dreamed of, the one we prayed for, the one we cried for! You are the one! You were no accident. We waited months for you, we prepared a place for you in our home while God prepared your place in our hearts. We came for you, son, and our lives will never be the same again!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment