COURT DATE, yippie!!!

So, we've been on pins and needles waiting for several things: news on whether or not Bedilu will be transferred to Addis, news from the Mayo Clinic MDs visit, and any updates on his growth measurements. Needless to say, it's been very difficult to wait so long with no updates and although we still haven't received news on these things, we did get a WONDERFUL piece of news which is that we've been scheduled for a court date for April 20th! This is EXTREMELY exciting for us because it means that there is progress and we can finally schedule our first trip to Ethiopia (where court is held). And we're a major step closer to getting Bedilu home. Once we pass court he will legally be our child. Chaat wrote a good explanation of how court works in his post titled "Timelines" if you want to refer to that.

Of course we're super anxious to get an update on Bedilu's health, particularly given our MD's concern, but we've learned that internet access is being limited in Ethiopia because of the political unrest that's occurring in neighboring countries, so it's made getting news from there quite difficult. We're hoping to get some new info from our agency any day now.

You may not want to read the following because I'm just going to vent about stuff that's been bottled up the last month (more for me just to get it out). It never ceases to amaze me how just when my patience is worn so thin and I think I can't bare it anymore, so much so to the point of seriously considering dropping out of this crazy process, something happens that instills a glimmer of hope again. For the last month I've been a wreck inside, thinking about Bedilu and our inability to be with him or care for him. It's amazing how attached we already feel to this little being that we've never met; the attachment started the minute we got our referral in December and read his story and saw his picture. I've also just felt really helpless and angry about how everything is being handled, but I've learned that adoption agencies (not just ours) actually have little control over what happens in the country where the children are. Of course they have some influence and can ask things,carefully request things while being culturally sensitive, but ultimately the Ethiopian gov't is in charge and it's their system, their children. It's a hard pill to swallow and not one I was prepared for when embarking on this. The local agency that we did our adoption homestudy with should have educated us better about all this and it's something I plan on giving them feedback about. The agency that we're doing the international adoption part through is a different one located in Minnesota and they certainly are doing all they can to advocate for us, but this is basically the reality of IA.