She's Ours!

Last night, sometime in the middle of the night, somewhere in a court room in Ethiopia, our case passed. We officially have a daughter! Baby Violet will be 9 months old next week, and we'll be able to travel to get her in approximately 8 weeks.

We are still trying to adjust our brains from the "She might be ours" to the "She's legally an Amaro!" status, which is harder than I expected! After so many, many months of guarding our hearts... our family just grew by one. God is so faithful... and His timing is perfect in every way.

Last night, however, we slept horribly. The house was full of unrest all night... even Daniel seemingly sensed it and was awake every hour or so, crying. After a "false alarm" at our last court date, we were prepared for bad news in the morning.

I woke up early to check email and my phone. All I found was a "no news yet" email and no missed calls. Two hours slowly crept by, with new emails popping up from various sources and stopping my heart - but still no news. I had my phone with me all morning, but walked away for about 60 seconds and managed to miss The Call. Our wonderful case manager left us a congratulatory message, and Fernando and I sat on the edge of our bed staring at each other, blinking back tears.

We. Have. A. Daughter.

Ironically, the day was already going to be full of adoption related errands and events - a trip downtown to get our fingerprints renewed and a long webinar on the intricacies of adoption travel. We announced the news to a few long distance friends and family first, then to our wonderful church staff family, and then we posted it to the world via Facebook... dozens and dozens of comments and tearful congratulations piled up within minutes.

Throughout the entire day, I have been reminded repeatedly of the communal nature of adoption. Her birth community was not able to care for her, but as our family opened it's arms, our community opened their hearts. The flood of joyful responses came from every end of our lives - friends, family, social workers, case managers, government employees, pastors, acquaintances, and even complete strangers who (unbeknownst to us) have been praying faithfully for us for years.

One of the Facebook comments said it well: "Welcome baby girl Violet. A little girl could not be more loved than you are!"

Guess we should go ahead and paint the nursery! :)