Court Date #1 and Counting

Well, my dear readers, April 7 has come and gone and I am not yet Mareshet's mother.  We did not pass court today because AAI has a new lawyer and unfortunately, the Power of Attorney papers I originally signed have the previous lawyer's name on them.  The judge would not proceed without the new POA, which is fortunately on it's way to Ethiopia.  If God allows, we will have a second court date 10 or more days from now.  I'm just praying for a quick resolution. After all, there should be nothing preventing us from passing, unless the Ministry paperwork is not submitted on time (which for no reason other than this is the method to the madness, it cannot be completed until after the POA arrives.)  I did have some warning last week that the cases in our Court Group would likely not pass.  I therefore got most of my bumming done over the weekend.  And, this does give me more time to gather the supplies-- see below for the Wish List.

Yesterday as luck would have it I ran into a friend of my former husband.  He and his wife are from Ethiopia and we often run into one another at the park.  He told me that they are expecting and after the usual and customary exclamations, it led into my telling him about Mareshet.  I am always a little tentative about telling Ethiopian friends about the adoption, recognizing that adoption is a little bit imperialistic even under the best circumstances. However, he was immediately encouraging, and exclaimed over Mareshet's picture: "she's so cute!"  With a great deal of pain in his voice, he recounted how, on his last trip to Addis, he saw a young girl carrying an infant (a sister? daughter?), asking for birr from motorists.  He said, "As soon as we drove off, I regretted not asking her if she had a family.  I still think about her, I can see her face so clearly, and I just wish I had been able to take her out of there."  We spoke a bit about how vulnerable kids are who lose parents, and then he gave me his cell phone number so that I could call him as soon as Mareshet comes.  I felt so grateful for his acceptance ("she's from my old neighborhood!") and I left the park feeling lighter in spirit.