SHOCKING COURT DATES

God is ridiculously good! We received a court date - NOVEMBER 7th!!! The judge approved our 2 Ethiopian court dates to be combined into 1 date!!! We are leaving to see our babies next week!!!!! Unreal. We are in shock.

Here's my best attempt at coherently communicating our news today...

• TODAY :: Received a phone call at 8:00 this morning from our case manager letting me know of our court dates. They normally just email this information, but because it's so last minute she needed to call me to see if it's even an option to go this soon. I screamed on the phone and then started crying! Of course, we said "if it's at all possible, we'll go!"
• November 4th :: We plan to leave next Thursday for Ethiopia. CRAZY! A very generous person has gifted us with miles to pay for our tickets. Overwhelmed by radical generosity.
  
• November 8-9th :: We will visit our kiddos for sure, but we'll spend as much time with them as we are allowed.
• November 10th :: COURT! In the morning, the judge will see the police or any bio family to confirm these children are eligible for adoption. We go to court in the afternoon to testify before the judge. We hope to become their legal parents on this day!
• November 11th :: We will fly out of Ethiopia.
• November 11-13th :: We will take a 48 hour layover (or so) somewhere in Europe together. We want to use this moment in time to wrap our heads and hearts around our new family as a couple. We feel like taking a couple days before we step back onto U.S soil, to baby preparation craziness will be good for our souls and family.
• Court to Embassy Timeline :: Our case manager told us this morning that it's "very realistic to believe that we'll have them home by the end of the year". It's been taking between 4-6 weeks between successful court dates and Embassy to bring them home. This reality is beyond me. Mountains being moved. Systems being changed. Policies revisited. Amazing act of God. Having our adoption finalized in 2010 has been our prayer for MONTHS, but I really stopped believing it could happen! We were told in August not to expect court dates until 2011. So all this is a huge mental shift...exciting and overwhelming and sooooo good!
  During this 4-6 weeks, our kiddos will receive their U.S passports, visas, birth certificates, immunizations, and prepared to come home.
  

Pray for the seemingly hundreds of things that we need to do between now and next Thursday. My mind is swimming. My face is glowing. My heart is racing. Amazing. THANK YOU for your prayers and support.

I can't believe I get to hold and kiss Baby T and Lil' A in less than 2 weeks. Shaking with amazement...