It's Official!

It’s official!!  Today we appeared before the Ethiopian courts to finalize our adoption and I am happy to say that we are officially a family of 6!  We made our way through the busy streets of Addis Ababa early this morning and arrived at the courts after a short stop at a coffee house.  Upon arrival at the court, we found several other families from Europe, Australia, and the US who were waiting to appear to finalize their adoptions as well.  We were one of the last families called in and the proceeding only took a matter of minutes.  Solomon and Joseph were also with us.   The judge asked us a few questions and then asked the boys a few questions as well.  He then asked if we loved K –to which we replied, “YES!”  And then he said, “Your adoption is now considered final in the Ethiopian courts.” 

So without further ado, let us introduce you to Kassahun Galbraith!  

So….what is next you may ask.  Well, we have several more steps that have to occur before we can come home to the US with Kassahun.  We have to obtain the adoption decree, obtain Kassahun’s passport with his new name, and appear at the embassy for the visa hearing.  The steps, we are praying, will take only 2 more weeks.  We have plane tickets already booked for 2 weeks from now – so please pray with us that we do not have any hiccups in getting the remaining process accomplished and can come home as scheduled.

Kassahun is still at the orphanage, but we will get to pick him up on Friday.  In the meantime, we will be going to visit some of Joseph’s birthfamily which we are very excited about.

We are overcome with joy today to finally make our adoption official and to introduce you to our new son.  Thanks for continuing to pray with us.

Until they are home,

Dana and Jack