Part 4: Our first court date 

I’m skipping many, many details that I will go back to. But the day arrived for our first court date.

Court is always stressful, and especially difficult because you feel like you are watching what is likely one of the worst days in a person’s life. And this was true of this birth momma. She loved her boy and she was totally distraught being separated from him. As we all stated our names and waited for the judge to address the room, my heart was just so heavy for the situation. Sitting in silence just waiting to see what would be decided this day, the judge began to speak. The first words out of her mouth were, “Mom, why didn’t you give this child a name? Why is his birth certificate blank?” His mom gave some answers and the judge directed her to correct the birth certificate with her lawyer’s help. I sat there in silence just amazed thinking, “This baby doesn’t have a name? That’s why God said to give him a name, to show that God saw him, God knew him, and God had a name for him.” I was just totally blown away.  

We would go through a series of court dates over the next two and a half years and at each one came more requests, directives and orders to have his birth certificate corrected. For the 945 days he spent in the care of the state, he was nameless. He was without a legal identity. Simply put, he didn’t exist. But on August 11, 2025 the judge, with the signing of her pen and with a loud voice pronounced, “It’s official.” In that moment she granted him his legal name, his new identity, she gave proof to his existence. Of course, we will never forget that God’s eye was on him. He gave him a name, an identity, a future first.