Day 5 - Court - Dec 22nd, Thursday

I woke up happy nervous today, and couldn't wait to have breakfast and get going. We arrived at the Gladney offices at 8:45 for 9am court. A note here. Gladney tells you in their travel package to be flexible in Ethiopia. Schedules can and do change quickly even court times. At first before we left it was the afternoon, then the day before it was am, then pm, and by the evening before we were back to am! Go with the flow! We played with Heather, Rolyn, Davis and her Grandma's until the attorney got there slaying dragons and Rolyns job was to catch the princesses. Both Grandmas did a very impressive job with the dragons I must say. We drove over to court, and by now it was all beginning to hit me. On the elevator ride up to the 3rd floor the tears started flowing. (Although I'd packed a ton of kleenex I'd managed to forget them all but when the doors opened Heather had an extra pack.) The reality of where we were and what was about to happen was suddenly very real and there was no way to hold back this time. We walked into the waiting room and found seats together. The room is a large, bright, square room. There are large windows along the far wall, and beneath them is a 12-18" high platform/stage that people sit on when there are no more chairs. There was no announcement that court has started, in fact it's sort of unclear whether or not it has. As you walk in the room there is a door leading into an adjoining room on the left hand side wall at the far end. This is where the judge is. People seemed to be going in and out, but no cases were being announced in our room. The room was a mix of Ethiopians and what seemed to be adoptive parents from other agencies. A couple of different Ethiopians asked us if we'd like their seats which was very kind of them and it took a bit of politely assuring them the guys could stand. I was sad though to see a couple from another agency take some other people up on their offer and took their seats. I have to say I was saddened and shocked. We are all equal people and in fact we are visitors in their country. Just my opinion, but I think I can stand perfectly well, and most especially if whoever is offering me a seat is older. Alright, I'll move on now. We were prepared for a long wait, but probably within 30 minutes our saw our attorney frantically gesticulating for us over by the judges office. We raced in, then got ushered out again, since they had some business to take care of before we went in. So nervous. Finally we went in. The judge is at a table facing the center on the room with her back against the far wall. There was another table on the wall opposite the door where perhaps an assistant would sit. We went left and sat in the chairs against the wall, H/R et al went right and sat on the chairs opposite the judge. A nice bright room again. Some families had warned us that they found court to be anti-climactic because court was so quick. It was fast but given that's what I expected I found it not the least bit disappointing because of what it all represented. Expect it to take a couple of minutes, there is no symphony or fireworks when you're done, you just leave! She asked about 3 yes/no questions such as "Have you met your children?" "Do you understand this adoption can't be reversed?" "Do you know other Ethiopian families and will you help them understand their culture?" "Have you had training for this adoption?" "Are your friends/family knowledgable about your adopting and are they supportive?" Ok, I guess that was 5, but all she expected was yes/no answers. Then she either says "They're Yours!" or you need your MOWA letter and you thank her and leave the room. I loved it and that few minutes will always mean a lot to me and was emotional for me certainly until we left the court house. We left fully expecting the MOWA letter later that day or the next.

We back to Bejoe and got changed. The other families that were staying there were all gone to the coffee ceremony and then off to embassy. We decided, on Solomons recommendation, to go to Lake Kuriftu instead of Dreamland, and I must recommend that. The drive was really interesting because it got us further out of the city to see other things that I was really glad to see. It wasn't quite the 45 mins that we thought, in fact more like 1 hr 45 mins! There was a lot of traffic getting there and the last 20 mins or so were on dirt roads, so sore on the behind but great to see. Families around here got around by horse and buggy, sometimes so many people on the buggy they were hanging off the sides and backs. It was on this drive that we called Belay and found out about the MOWA investigation and that we had no chance of becoming official parents to the girls before we left ET. Absolutely crushing and upsetting. It made the rest of the afternoon very hard and we were very distracted from the beautiful surrounding of Lake Kuriftu. It is a beautiful resort. Certainly nice enough to be an appealing place to stay for a weekend. The restaurant was really good and a lovely place to sit, eat and take in the afternoon. It would be a nice place to hang out for the afternoon if you had other families with you too. After lunch we walked around the resort. There were stone bungalow type rooms there, with covered patios that had built in stone chaises covered with cushions and with outdoor fireplaced. After a couple of hours we were ready to go back - our hearts just weren't into it. Poor Solomon thought we didn't like it though! On the way back he took us by Dreamland. It's also on the side of another lake, but very basic and not a particularly appealing place to sit and hang out, especially if you saw the alternative where we ate. It was slightly quicker getting back but there were an unbelievable amount of belching trucks, taxis and cars. The air was noticeably thicker by this time in the week than when we arrived. Perhaps it was just me noticing it more but I don't think so.

Luckily when we got back to Bejoe all the families were there and when they heard our story there was a tremendous about of hugs and support which was really appreciated and helpful. If you follow the FBI list an interesting fact here. None of the 4 Gladney families that were at Bejoe with us were on the FBI list, so perhaps it's closer to 50% than 75% as I had always wished when we were waiting? Anyway, after we all listened to Christmas carols on my Mac for a pick-me-up, we went out with them all to celebrate. Serenade was SO good. It's reputed to be one of the best restaurants in ET and I'd agree. We managed to drag our drivers in with us because with out them our trip would have been so much less, and not close to enjoyable. Our table ordered about 5 appetizers, obviously entrees, several bottles of wine and desserts for almost everyone. The food was fabulous (mediterranean with a touch of morocco would be by best guess) and so was the service. Dinner came to the whole of $11 per person. It was almost embarrassing how much the dollar bought, very much illustrated at that moment. Only one driver had eaten there before, and my guess is most wouldn't have spend their money there when they had it. It was very humbling. After saying that I would say on our next trip we'd eat there a lot more because the food was much better value than many of the other restaurants we'd had food from. We hear there's a great Indian restaurant on Bole Rd which we're going to eat at next time too.