Court Day

It’s official!!  Thandokuhle is now part of the Sheriff family!

Our court appointment was this morning and everything went smoothly.  The presiding officer (the magistrate) was the same man who presided over Miranda’s adoption.  He is very personable and relaxed.  He was pleased to see Miranda again and really enjoyed her American accent.  He kept asking her questions about school and friends just to hear her talk.  The actual legal portion was very brief.  I had to sign 2 papers and he signed and stamped 4 papers and that was that!  After the legal proceedings were finished he spoke a blessing over each of us.  He spoke about Thandokuhle being a bold speaker with no fear of man and Miranda as blessing others with her kindness.  I thought both statements fit their personalities.  Then his assistant prayed for our family.  I felt blessed and encouraged by them.

Here’s a photo of us with the magistrate and the social worker from the adoption agency.

And here’s another photo in front of the courthouse.

(And yes, Thandokuhle is wearing pink crocs with her fancy dress.  Turns out that most of the shoes I brought for her are too small, including the black dress shoes.  So, some other child at the orphanage is enjoying those and Thandokuhle is fine with the crocs because they have googly eyes on them).

After court we met with the attorneys who will guide us during the remaining steps of the process.  They gave me a flowchart that listed 15 separate steps to complete all the remaining paperwork!  So, court is just the beginning not the end of the process.

This afternoon we packed and wrapped things up here at Lily of the Valley.  I had to pay for our stay here.  The cost was 25 rand per day which is about $1.85 per day.  (Anyone interested in a low cost place to visit with a fabulous view and warm hugs from 120 children?)  I also was able to obtain more photos of Thandokuhle (woohoo!) and we said our final goodbyes to Thandokuhle’s house mother and house sisters.  Thandokuhle didn’t express a lot of emotion when saying goodbye but I’m not sure how much she understands about the permanence of this move.  Some of the older children were teary eyed and Thandokuhle was more emotional at bedtime.

Many children and house mothers also said goodbye to Miranda.  The orphanage social worker told us today that Miranda is the first adopted child to return to the orphanage.  Since much of the staff and many of the children are the same, they remember her and are happy to see that she is well.  I didn’t realize the broader significance of how special it is to have a child return to visit the orphanage.