Proud to be an American!

This is equal parts exciting and embarrassing.  So let's just try to focus on the first, okay?

Today we went before a Judge with Isaiah, and officially became his legal parents.  In turn, Isaiah officially became an American.

I know, it sounds strange since Isaiah has been with us for four years.  Weren't we already his "parents"?  Well, yes.  According to the Ethiopian government we became Isaiah's parents when we passed court at the end of December in 2006.  And the US has recognized us as Isaiah's permanent legal guardians, but not his "parents" since some states (including Idaho) require a re-adoption process.

Why didn't we re-adopt him sooner?  Well, procrastination for one thing.  Expense for another.  Plus, in our minds, Isaiah has been nothing short of our son, so it just wasn't an urgent priority for us.

The cool thing now is that not only are we officially family, but Isaiah also got to legally change his name (to what we've always called him), plus he will get a US passport and Idaho birth certificate.  So official!

Anyway, we are very happy that the US government now recognizes us as the family that we already knew we were.*

*Well, with one exception.  Through this process we discovered that there were discrepancies in Biniam's paperwork when we adopted him.  Ethiopia said one thing, but the US says another, so it turns out that we also have to re-adopt Biniam.  And there may be some issues with that due to his age.  So we know what our next project is!