Finalization and the changing of a name. . .

Our biggest excitement this month was finalizing the  adoption!  It was an incredible day.   There was a judge,
 two lawyers (one for the birth father since his rights had to be terminated) and one for us, our family, my mother, sister and great aunt, and a couple of precious ones from the agency, Hannah's Dream.  How I longed for my grandmother to be there too, but that's another thought for another day.  It was amazing.  The judge entered, and we all stood, just like you see on TV.  They had some lawyer talking, and then the judge looked straight at me and said.  "Do you understand what is happening here?  Do you want to adopt this child as one of your own?"  I answered yes.  He then asked, "Do you understand that this is not like marriage?  There is no option for divorce?  Once this is finished it is final??  Do you still want to proceed??"  A somber and excited, "Yes."  He looked at Daddy Chief and asked if he agreed.  All the sudden, with authority and strength, he said,
     "It is further ordered, adjudged, and decreed that  the adoption of Baby Girl R., a minor child, by Daddy Chief and Mama Chief, husband and wife, be and is hereby granted; that said child is hereby adopted as the child of said petitioners and that the name of the child is hereby changed to Baby Chief."  (let the reader understand)
     And it was finished.  He signed, the lawyers signed, we took some pictures and we walked out 10 minutes after we had started with a new, precious, completely legal addition to our family.  It was ALMOST comparable to leaving the hospital for the first time with my biological ones.  You know that feeling?  Like, is that really it?  They are just letting me leave with this amazing, incredible, fragile, and yet beautiful thing that has consumed my heart??
     I have been pondering and praying for a while now over what that judge said.  You see, I have two different insurance cards that call our daughter Baby Girl R.  That was her legal and official name before we went to court.  Literally.  Baby Girl.  I had no say in what she was named at birth.  I had to wait.
     I was reminded of all the amazing verses in the Word referencing our name and waiting.  Revelation 2:17 says, “To him who overcomes, I will give some of the hidden manna. I will also give him a white stone with a new name written on it,”  I was reminded of Romans 8 where it says, "Not only so, but we ourselves groan inwardly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies."  I am reminded that our adoption is finalized when Jesus comes back, gives us new BODIES and NAMES.  I am reminded that Jesus is not coming back yet because he loves all people, and longs for as many as possible to turn to him.  The end of Revalation also says, "Behold, I am coming soon!”  You see, our hope is not in today.  Our hope is not in who we are now, or “who” we were born, or anything else about us in our lives now.  Our hope is in His return.  When the family is reunited, when we get to be legally and completely His because the rights of this world are officially terminated.  And when we get our new names. 

Some people don't really understand why we got on this adoption train.  It's not complicated, it's not even all that radical.  It's definitely not because we have anything that anyone else doesn't have.  It's simply because we get to see God in a whol new light.  We get to know Him better because we love this little one.  And I, for one, am grateful.  I wouldn't change it for the world.