After months of prayer, anticipation and longing, the son who already had our hearts also gained our last name.
Introducing...
Elias Emmanuel Nelson
We arrived in Ghana on Sunday night and spent most of Monday exploring the capital city and doing everything we could to fully experience the local Ghanaian culture (shopping at the market, the mall, eating in a restaurant, visiting old friends we made last month, etc). Late Monday afternoon, our lawyer called to let us know that our court hearing had been officially scheduled for 9 am on Tuesday - just like we had prayed for. We were thrilled!
We contacted Mary right away so that she and Baby E and Doreen (Baby E's primary caregiver) could hop on an overnight bus and meet us in the capital city for court in the morning. Meanwhile, Tim and I spent the rest of the afternoon and a restless night fluctuating between excitement, anxiousness, and extreme gratitude. We couldn't believe that this was really happening!
We woke up very early on Tuesday morning in order to beat the insane Christmas traffic through the city and arrive at our lawyer's office on time. To make a long story short, we met Mary, Doreen, and Baby E at the office an hour early, but quickly learned that the judge was "resting" and would not be coming in to work after all. Her clerk had been asked to cancel all of her appointments and hearings for the day.
Tim and I were frustrated, confused, and heartbroken. We had spent so many days dreaming and sleepless nights desperately praying for this day, and now we didn't know if we would even get to be in the country when it happened. We had also recently learned that all of the government offices were closing for the holidays on Thursday, so this meant that we would now have 24 hours to accomplish what we had planned to do in a week. I was incredibly angry at the situation and, honestly, had a hard time understanding how this could possibly be God's will.
We called and booked another night at our hotel and then we decided to make the most of the rest of our day - because, really, what else could we do? After we left the lawyer's office, Tim and I walked for miles trying to find a pharmacy where we could get Mary the malaria medication that she desperately needed (she was very, very ill and was fading fast) while she and Doreen and Baby E rested. When we finally returned with the fast-acting medicine, the rest of the day improved immediately.
Mary, Doreen, and Baby E decided to come over and spend the rest of the day with us at the hotel. We took Baby E in the hotel pool for the first time, played with some of the toys we brought him, ate dinner together, and I even got to give him his first bath in a bathtub and then put him to sleep for the night. He was active, responsive, funny, and much more comfortable with us than ever before.
When the 3 Ghanaian members of our family left for the night, we felt humbled by God's faithfulness and the ways that He had met each of our specific needs over the course of such an interrupted and unplanned day. We were confident that this extra day of rest, healing, play, and bonding was a blessing in disguise and truly an unexpected gift.
In the story, Elisha and his servant are surrounded by a siege of enemies and they are afraid. Elisha prays that God will open their eyes so that they can see what is truly surrounding them. When the two men look out to the mountains again with fresh eyes, they realize that they have nothing to fear after all; they are being protected by armies of angels. Confidently, Elisha proclaims: "those who are with us are greater than those who are against us."
The lyrics in the song go on to state: "I know who goes before me. I know who stands behind. The God of angel armies is always by my side."
And then: "Nothing formed against me shall stand; YOU hold the whole world in Your hands. I'm holding onto your promises, YOU are faithful." Amen and Amen.
We must have repeated those words a million times that morning.
Just as we were called to enter the judge's chambers, a gentle Ghanaian woman who had been sitting silently next to me put her hand on my knee, out of nowhere, looked me in the eyes, and sweetly said "May the Lord be with you." That was all the affirmation that we needed to stand up and enter boldly before the judge. (Who says angels don't exist on Earth?)
Once inside the chambers, our judge was sweet, funny, and the whole hearing lasted 5 minutes, tops. When it was over, she declared Elias Emmanuel Nelson our son and granted us full and permanent legal custody of him. Hallelujah!
I don't think I have ever pleaded with God so desperately in my life. We had already come so far, but we still had one more hurdle before we could really feel like we had accomplished what we set out to do.
I stayed behind and anxiously waited (staring persistently and tapping my foot obnoxiously at the court clerk the entire time) until the decree was finally printed, signed, and in my clammy hands at 1:50 pm.
I practically kissed the court clerk and the red dirt floor then scooped up my baby so that Mary, Doreen, and the 2 of us could run across the street to wave down a taxi. We happened to get the perfect (read: crazy!) driver and Mary quickly shouted directions to get us to the Embassy as fast as possible. She meant business!
We have never been more confident in God's desire to care for the orphan (James 1:27), set the lonely in families (Psalm 68:6), and fight for those who cannot fight for themselves (Proverbs 31:8-9). He is bringing hope and redemption to so many through this story and we are honored, blessed, and humbled to be a part of it. This season of advent holds new meaning for us this year as we continue to long, anticipate, and wait for the coming of a tiny little boy.