Ladies and Gentlemen, We Have a Court Date

So remember how last week I said it can take anywhere from 1-4 weeks for the judge to issue our court date, which should be 3-8 weeks out from the date we are notified? Well, the judge took 1 week and our court date is in 3 weeks and 3 days. Now subtract at least 5 days, because we have to be in country by the Thursday before. Oh, we may need to take away another day, as Thursday doesn't seem to be an easy day to get a flight in; and yep, we (just David & Amy) leave the country in about 17-18ish days. But it's worth it, because we get to meet A in 20 days!

No, our calendar really isn't this open. Wouldn't that be nice?

You may also remember I mentioned that A does not come home with us, or even get to know us especially, on this trip. Every country process is a little different. Families adopting from Ethiopia must appear first in the Ethiopian national court. Once approved, a few more documents are gathered (official declaration letters, his new birth certificate & passport) and the case is submitted to the US Embassy in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia's capital. The Embassy there reviews our file and, once satisfied, issues an interview. We will then return to Ethiopia to complete the process and bring A home. This could be 2 months after our court date, or 4 months, or...

Agencies differ in their approach to the adoptive parents' involvement on the first (court) trip. Our agency prefers that children under 10 not know which couple specifically has been matched with them until the parents are scheduled to return for the final (Embassy) trip. We actually prefer this method because we'd rather A not associate us, as his parents, with leaving him. Certainly, we are excited about meeting him and the other children living in the orphanage. Of course it will be difficult returning home without him, but we've heard from a few other adoptive parents that this orphanage does a wonderful job with the children. We expect this will help some.

One of the projects to be accomplished before we leave (in 17ish days) is a photo album, which will be used to familiarize A with our family, home, etc before we arrive in Ethiopia for the final, Embassy, trip. One of the pages will feature A's room here, however it currently looks like this:

Impressive, isn't it?

So you see, we have a few more projects in addition to prepping, packing, immunizing, mothering, fathering, teaching, doctoring; you get the idea! Where is that blank calendar? We do appreciate your prayers, encouragement, and support. Thankfully, I have some wonderful ladies who will be helping me over the next few weeks. There are more posts we still hope to share before this next leg of the journey, but we may have to throw in a little Amharic because that's another To Do. Jiggeri yellem (Chigger yeh-LEM => No problem!)