On Thursday morning, we celebrated the official finalization of Zeke’s adoption, or as we like to call it, Gotcha Day! The Honorable Judge Theotis Bronson resided over the proceedings, and Ezekiel Wayne Mankins is now legally our son! Parents and grandparents on Chad’s side were able to attend and celebrate with us (Janeene’s family live in Dallas). We were able to read a brief statement to the court thanking God for our Christian family and for the opportunity to pass along that heritage to Elijah and now Zeke. Afterward, the judge took pictures with us and actually thanked us for adopting Zeke! Everyone in the courtroom was very happy and we were told again, just as we were told by the court officials at Elijah’s Gotcha Day, that they always enjoy this part of their jobs the best after all of the depressing cases they usually have to deal with.
After a nice brunch with family, the four of us took a drive and were able to celebrate Zeke’s Gotcha Day by seeing the space shuttle Atlantis blast off from Cape Canaveral (we sat on the edge of the bay and watched the launch from across the water). Elijah was sure to tell numerous people that he was going to be an astronaut when he gets bigger and fly to Mars in the space shuttle, and Zeke was just grinning and soaking in all the complements (—he is a good-looking boy and maybe he knows it). To cap off a fun day back home, the 3 of us sang “Happy Gotcha Day” to baby Zekey and Elijah helped his little brother open his present (some new beach clothes).
Looking back on the last few months (which have gone by rather quickly!), we can only shake our heads in amazement and praise God for blessing us so much and for the wonderful way He continues to enrich us as a family. We would appreciate your prayers for us as we desire to raise them up to be godly young men. On another note we, please also pray for that we would be able to get the birth certificate quickly (lately instead of 4-6 weeks, it’s been taking from 6 to 8 weeks). We cannot move on the other paperwork until this comes back to us, and then we will be praying that those papers will get finished in time for us to leave the US again by May 1st.
Thanks for your love and prayers!
Chad, Janeene, Elijah & Zeke
Chad Mankins 567 Woodford Dr DeBary, FL 32773 407-221-7717
Disclaimer: This personal ministry website is provided by New Tribes Mission (NTM) as a courtesy to its members. NTM makes no warranty regarding the accuracy of the information on these pages. Opinions expressed are provided by members in good faith, but are entirely those of the member and do not necessarily represent policy, doctrinal position, or opinions of NTM. If you encounter information that you consider questionable, please e-mail the NTM web team.
GET INVOLVED
