Court Date!!

I am happy to report that we received our court date this week! July 7 is the big day!! I was pleasantly surprised as the date was actually a little sooner than I anticipated - that's the kind of surprise I like!

We are optimistic about passing the first time, but also want to remember that our chances are about 60%. (40% of families do not pass on their first try for a variety of reasons....paperwork, a necessary party not making it to court, judge wanting further investigation into the case, etc.)
As I have told you before, our case is an abandonment case. For about the last 2 months, Ethiopian courts have not been approving abandonment cases because of an ongoing investigation. Well.....great news......they will once again hear these cases as of July 2!! So, we will be one of the first families to go through court with an abandonment case after the investigation. We hope that all will go smoothly, but are mindful that this adds an unknown element to the whole thing. We are thrilled, though, that the courts will be again hearing abandonment cases before our court date - what a blessing!! (if they hadn't, they would have temporarily closed our case on that day and we would have had to wait for a new court date)

Ethiopia is 8 hours ahead of us, so while we sleep on Monday, July 6, a judge will hear our case in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Please pray with us that everything will be in place and that we will have a successful first court date. We appreciate all of you that take the time to read the blog and follow along and especially those of you who will join us in prayer to bring Elijah home!!

Assuming we pass, we will hope to travel at the end of July!! WOW!! We'll also get to share pictures of his cute little face with you.....can't wait!!