I haven't typed any of my journal since April 12, if you want to go back and read what had happened up until that time. My journal has been at Mom's and I keep forgetting to bring it home and type it into the computer.
March 28th after court
Sad news - we did not pass court today. There is paperwork missing on both of the boys and the MOWA letter is not there either. They say the paperwork will be easy to get and our next day at court should be around April 17th and Sue and the orphanage director are positive we will pass the next time. We do not have to come back again for court. Sue said once we pass, it takes about 2 weeks for the info to be processed before we even have a chance for an Embassy date. Sue said the most notice we would get would probably be a week. So, now it will for sure be May at least before we get to bring them home. I was hoping for April. It was so nice to be able to meet Sue whom I have talked to so much.
We left for court around 9am. Dereje picked us up. We had stuff for the babies packed and ready to take them. He said that the Nanny at the guest house would take care of them. Who knew? We were wondering how to go shopping without them and now we find out that are ladies here who babysit. So we paid her about $6 or 100 birr. That is how much Sue suggested. Sue invited us to eat supper with her tonight and her husband and another man who was here going to adopt. We had the nice lady here stay with the boys. She said she was spending the night tonight anyway.
Back to court... Seems like every building here is 4-5 stories tall. We climbed up 5 stories to the "court room". Standing room only and we even stood outside for a while in the hallway while waiting for a space to stand inside. As we walked down the hall, I recognized the orphanage worker who we had met on Friday. And beside him was a woman who looked exactly like Abenezer. I told Aaron that had to be his birth mom.
Sue sat down on a bench and talked to the girls for a long time while Aaron and I stood, a little nervous, having fallen in love with those babies already. Around 10:15, they called that lady in and after 5 minutes, she came out and a man opened the door (who we did not recognize) and motioned for us to come in. Aaron and I looked behind us, not knowing he was talking to us.
The judge was a younger woman dressed in all white with a white scarf all around her head. She sat behind a plain desk and asked us a few questions.
1. Do you have other children?
2. Are they agreeable to the adoption?
3. Have you met Abenezer and Tariku?
4. Do you understand that this adoption is irreversable?
5. Have you completed education on international adoption?
6. Do you plan to teach the children their culture and about Ethiopia?
She then went into a long explaination about paperwork and police reports, etc. Then looked up at us, staring at her with blank faces. She said "you didn't understand any of that, did you?" We said "no". So she explained slower and we got the gist that there was paperwork missing, we went back out and then the orphanage director that was in there with us explained better. There is some paperwork that I understood them to say that the orphanage had, but didn't bring today on Abenezer because they did not know it was needed.
Then they needed the police report in Tariku's case saying that birth parents had not been found. The orphanage director said these can be obtained in the next few days and our MOWA letters weren't there either. So, they are all saying we should pass around mid April.
More to come on court day
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