We are a home a of many cultures, and Abate and Fantu are starting to reflect them all. Alan is Irish, I'm a Texan (if your born in Texas you are a Texan first) Abate and Fantu are Ethiopian. As of last Thursday Abate and Fantu are also Texans. We completed the re-adoption as required and we should be receiving Texas Birth certificates next week. Once we have those in our hand we will apply for their US Passports - Americans! They both were a bit concerned about this as they feel they are losing a bit of their Ethiopian identity. We tried to reassure them that they will always be Ethiopian first. Later that day I overheard Fantu talking to one of her friends that she was now a Texan - said quite proudly! I just quietly smiled. Texan!
During the adoption process we were able to make changes to both kids names. This is something we discussed with them last year. Abate chose to keep Alan as his middle name but to add his Ethiopian Fathers name - Abate Alan Mekonen Hennessy, Fantu took her Ethiopian mother's name as her middle name - Fantu Asnaku Hennessy. For Alan and I we felt it was a way to honor the people that brought these two beautiful kids into this world but yet never got to know them. It is a way we hope that they will still keep that connection to Ethiopia.
Abate and Fantu also now qualify for Irish citizenship.
Ethiopian, Texan, Irish, Americans.
No comments:
Post a Comment