WE GOT OUR COURT DATE!

We finally got the call this morning informing us of our court date.  The case manager said "Jeannie, I have some amazing news for you" to which I replied "Well, I like amazing news ... What is it?  Did we get a court date?"  She said "Yes, but what's so remarkable is that it's for the 19th - the 19th of May - two days from now!"  WHAT!!!!!!  I have to admit that I almost cussed when I heard that news.  We have been waiting for over a month to receive our court date because we had gotten our referral before our Dossier was even sent to Ethiopia.  But with a court date issued so soon, we are actually still way ahead of a typical adoption time-line.

Once I took in this good news, I asked for clarification with regard to when we could expect to travel once we pass court.  I really thought the answer was going to be somewhere between 6 and 10 weeks, but instead the answer was approximately 4 week.  WHAT!!!!!  By this time, Samir was next to me jumping up and down asking "What did she say?  What did she say?"  He told me later that he likes it when we get phone calls from Julie and Kiersten (AGCI Case Managers).  It's fun to see his excitement growing as we get closer to bringing his sister home.

As most of you know from a prior post, we have been waiting to receive our FDL (Notice of Favorable Determination Concerning Application for Advance Processing of Orphan Petition - WHEW!) from Immigration.  This is what allows us to bring "A" back into the United States with us.  Since everything has been moving so quickly with the adoption, we were a little concerned that we may not receive it by the time we were set to travel.  Not only were we concerned, but so were the case managers at our agency.  During our conversation about the court date, Julie was asking me about the status and we were strategizing as to how we could speed up the process.  But, wouldn't you know it, in the mail that afternoon was another BIG SURPRISE.  Our FDL had arrived.  WOOO HOOO!

The only thing I have left to do before we travel is get one more booster immunization, and then we are set.  Except for setting up "A's" room and the logistics of packing for the trip .... little things like that (Ha Ha).  Honestly, we have a lot to get done and it feels kind of overwhelming, but I wouldn't have it any other way!