GOTCHA

The word "adoption" (huiothesias) means the placement of a child to one to whom it does not naturally belong. By law the adopted person has the same privileges, benefits, position, responsibilities and obligations as a natural born child.  The Bible records two lineages of Jesus, one from Mary and one from Joseph. Thus, Jesus became Joseph’s actual son, just like every child who is adopted today becomes the true child of the parents who adopt him. As Dr. Russell Moore stated, adoption creates a real relationship. As Christians we should fully understand the vital role of adoption, as we were adopted into God’s family through Christ, so that we who were orphans in need of rescue now call God, “Father” (Romans 8:15).

Today we are honored to welcome Esther Claire Savage into our family forever.  She will have a loving, supportive family to lean on for the rest of her life.  It is a privilege to us to walk alongside Esther in her life journey and see what God has in store for her.  Her US adoption hearing was quick and easy. The judge was extremely nice and an adoption advocate. He spoke to our entire family, not just us as parents. He included all the kids in the oath and talked to them about sharing their toys with Esther! We have been talking about court and the “judge” for several days with Parker and he just couldn’t grasp the concept.  When we arrived in the courtroom the judge called us all up to his stand.  The little kids could not see the judge because his bench was so tall.  He stood up and leaned over and asked Parker and Eden why we were here today.  Eden said something crazy about having bugs in her belly but Parker told him we were there to adopt Esther and that he and Eden were both adopted. When the judge sat back down Parker yells “Hey where did the boy go?” 

And that worked well!

We all got a laugh out of that and the attorney said that Parker was the only one that could call the judge “the boy” in his court and get away with it!  After we took some pictures the Bailiff gave Esther a doll and Parker and Eden stuffed Sunflowers to remember this special day. We have a US adoption decree and her birth certificate will arrive in a few weeks! It’s official – she is ours!

For those of you following our complete journey I will give an update now about Esther’s health and hearing and what our next steps will be.  Esther saw her pediatrician this week and received 4 vaccines to get her caught up to American standards.  She has gained a pound since coming into our home( I swear it has to be more than that).  She is on a “catch up” vaccine program and weight/height check so our doctor will see lots of us in the months ahead!  She will be seeing a pediatric orthopedic surgeon to look at her hips and follow up on the procedure that was done in Haiti to make sure we have all our bases covered.  She cries in pain when you massage her upper legs or hips and try to move her legs in full range of motion.  That may just be from lack of use since she didn’t walk until she was two or it might be something else so we will be thorough with our check ups. 

We visited with our Pediatric ENT this week and after excavating lots of yucky stuff out of her ear he decided we need to get tubes in her ears, remove her adenoids and do Auditory Brain Response testing. At that point we will know more about the type of hearing loss she has.  That surgery is scheduled for Friday, April 12^th and we are praying that we will have clear answers that day as to what path we are facing. Please join us in pray at 7:12am on the 12^th for a miracle that only can glorify the Lord! 

All that being said, we are SO grateful to be Esther’s family and so excited that God chose us for this journey! We ask all of you to prayerfully consider how you can welcome children with the love of Jesus this year. Begin by purposefully treating all individuals, as imperfect as they may be, as blessings – uniquely created to be loved and treasured. Spread the word about the blessing of adoption and support families who adopt. I pray that we daily grasp the importance of welcoming, loving, and protecting these little ones that God has entrusted to us.

Blessings,

Tiffany