Friday, October 30, 2009

We Have A Court Date!

Our agency emailed us yesterday to inform us that our court date for Ava is November 12th! This was great news!!!!! We had thought since we hadn't heard anything about a court date at this point, that we would be assigned a date in December or even later.

The court date is an important step in the adoption process because that is when Ava will legally become our child and be a Jarvie forever! We do not have to be present for the court date....we have signed a power of attorney form so that our agency can stand in for us.

In order for us to pass court we need a couple things to be in place:

1. All paperwork (dossier, agency paperwork, orphanage paperwork) must be complete and correct. If anything is missing or wrong, we do not pass.

2. Ava's birthmother must attend the court date. If she does not show up, we do not pass.

Our agency has told us we have a 50/50 chance of passing this first time. If we do not pass on Nov. 12th, then we will be assigned another court date 4-6 weeks later and we try all over again to pass court. I know families that have passed the first time and I know families that have had many court dates. Let's hope we are in the 50% that pass the first time!!!!

If we pass, then we could travel 4 weeks later, which would be BEFORE Christmas. That would be the best Christmas gift we could ask for. There is also a chance we could pass, but travel after Christmas. Obviously, we wait and see how it all works out!

I am a big believer in the power of prayer, so please PRAY that everything is in order for our Nov. 12th court date!!!!!

Once we pass, we will post photos of her on our blog.

Whew, hope that wasn't too confusing!

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Fortune Cookie

The courts opened yesterday in Ethiopia and some families have been assigned court dates already! This is very encouraging and we hope to hear something soon!

Tonight we ordered Chinese take-out for dinner. Madeline's fortune was great! It said "Happy event will take place shortly in your home." I am going to interpret that as we'll be passing court soon. The day we pass court will be a "happy event in our home" because Ava will legally become our child at that point. I think we need to eat fortune cookies more often........that fortune put me in a great mood!

Monday, October 12, 2009

Court delayed and a little shopping!

The Ethiopian courts were supposed to open Oct 6th. That was delayed until Oct 12th. Today we received an email that they did not open today, but should be opening tomorrow. This type of thing used to frustrate me, but now I have come to realize this is just they way they operate. We hope to hear something soon about our court date.

The girls and I did a little shopping for Ava over the weekend. We purchased a stroller and car seat!!!! It is beginning to feel like Ava will actually be here soon. Olivia has been rolling the stroller all around the house "testing it out"!

We were able to send in 5 questions about Ava to our agency. Each month, they will answer our questions and send us updated photos. So, we asked basic things this month.....such as her development, eating schedule, sleeping schedule and updated measurements for her weight, height, etc. I am hoping we won't have to send questions for long and that soon she will be home with us.