Court Date!!!

Just a quick adoption update - Mary called today to tell us we have a court date! August 5th. So for those very, very few of you who are interested (there is definitely some grammatical error in that sentence..) here's how it works:

- Our agency has matched us with our daughter (who, by the way, we are thinking we will call "Zeni" - Zeni, like "Zen - e " - it's her birth mom's name - what does everyone think?).

- Once we said yes to the referral, they send our dossier of information (everything from birth certificates to social worker reports to bank statements) to the court.

- The court sets a date to hear our case. We don't have to be at that hearing - in fact, you're not allowed to go. We signed over power of attorney to our adoption agency representative in Eth.

- The court gets all our information, a recommendation from the ministry of Women's Affairs (who has also reviewed our information), the birth mom has to appear to concede that she is not being coerced into putting her child up for adoption (unless you consider life limiting poverty coercion - some would argue it is one of the harshest and most effective ways to control behaviour there is... another blog).

- The court hears and reviews everything and makes a decision - either "yes, you're good to go, she's yours" or (much less often) "We need a few more pieces of information" - i which case they set another hearing date and we make sure they get the information they need.

Assuming they say yes, Zeni is legally ours! Once we pass court we get a date at the US Embassy in Addis. This appointment date determines when we travel to Eth, because we have to be there for that. It sounds like the embassy is a little backed up right now, so it may be another 4 - 6 weeks after we pass court before we travel. But still - that is, like, SOON! Soon enough to shop! Soon enough to really get excited! Soon enough to start to believe that this is real...

I'm not allowed to post pictures of Zeni until she is legally ours, so for your amusement (and because blogs without pictures are so boring!) here's Hayden and my folks on their most recent visit.