Three Days

We're cautiously optimistic that we'll pass court on the 2nd. Is this foolish? Perhaps, considering the way things have gone the last 10 months, but what else can we do? Anything else would just drive us crazy. As it stands, we're anxious and concerned. (Anyone want to put any money on how much--and by much, I mean little--sleep I get on Monday?)

Three days. We've been waiting for so long now, it seems almost comical to be worrying about three days.

We're hopeful.

We'll put up a post on Tuesday either way.

Some Clarification

We finally found out why we didn't pass court back on the 18th.
And it just further proves the point that these adoptions are fickle (and that being a Barrett is often unfortunate).

It turns out that the family courts in Ethiopia have changed their rules--as courts are wont to do--but neglected to inform anyone of this change. This change required that a certain, specific document that the orphanages keep on premises be presented during their hearing. Since this document was never needed before (including just the week prior) our orphanage didn't bring the document--why would they? Our proxy pleaded for us to be allowed to pass since it would've been fine just last week. The judge said no (compassion and law rarely mix). Ergo, February 2nd.

But, the good news is this paper is all that is needed. Everything else was in order. The mother showed up and gave her testimony (which we worried some about). We should be good to go come the 2nd--fingers crossed.

Of course this happened to us. Nothing tragic, just more annoyance.

We've also heard a rumor that the courts are contemplating requiring the parents to be present during the court date, which would mean two trips for adopting parents, or one very long extended trip. We've dodged this bullet, at least.

Still no December update. We aren't receiving one, I suppose. If we do, we'll post the pictures.

And the saga continues

You had to know that it wouldn't be that easy, right? It wouldn't be as easy as just scheduling a court date, and everything being in order, and us passing just like that, right?

Well, that's exactly the case. We did not pass court. I get a sense this happens all the time. I get a sense that all initial court dates fail, just on principle. Unfortunately for us, our court date has been rescheduled for 2 weeks. February 2nd. I don't know if this is typical, but it's what we were given. So, we now have two more weeks to wait.

I don't do well with anticipation and anxiousness. I slept just under 2 hours last night. I suppose the same will be true of February 1st. Good to know that I stayed up all night for nothing.

We haven't been given much information on why we didn't pass. Something about documents or whatever. Who knows. If, in fact, all initial court dates are failed, then there isn't any reason necessary. I do know a letter from the Ministry of Womens Affairs (MOWA) is required, and these letters are often not written by the time the court convenes (which really makes no sense, but two separate gov't agencies communicating effectively will never happen), so it's possible this is what the holdup was.

2 more weeks. In geologic time, it's nothing. To us, it'll be a near eternity!

January 18

Five days. That's all we have left. Five days.

Our court date is set for January 18, and we're coming down the home stretch. It seems unreal, almost, like we're just waiting for some bad news to come down the pike; to have the rug pulled out from underneath us just one more time.

We've been freaking out a little, too, as we're getting close to the one year anniversary for some of our documents (most of which are only good for a year), and we're convinced they'll find something wrong at the court date (or the mother won't show...but don't get us started on that) and we'll have to start all over with the paperwork. So, we're trying to stay calm and positive.

Five days. We can do five days. It's been eight months since we were matched with Little Miss Chloe. Five days is nothing.

We just have to remember to exhale every now and again.

The last two pictures

Well, we've caught ourselves up to the present time. There are only two more pictures left, from November's update (though the pictures were taken the first week of December). We have yet to received the December update on Chloe, so the two pictures below are the most recent. This is how she looked a little over a month ago.

As you can see, she looks quite a bit older. I'm not gonna lie, it was tough to see. She's a toddler already!

Enjoy.