Day of Court...March 17th!

We recently had our court and embassy conference call with our adoption agency. We are prepared for this day to be filled with some unknowns and a variety of emotions. We won't know until the day of court if we will have passed, allowing us to gain guardianship at that time. It is not uncommon for families to not pass their first court date due to, usually, a "missing piece of paperwork." So we are prepared for the fact that we might not pass court the first time, but we will remain very hopeful and optimistic.

Here is how the process works: There are actually two court hearings on the March 17th. One in the morning for Baby "M", where the court will review her documents to make sure everything is complete, and in cases where the child was "relinquished", this is where biological family members are expected to attend and testify. If everything is complete the judge will rule in favor of proceeding with finalizing the adoption/granting of guardianship. We do not attend Baby "M"s court appointment. The second court appointment, in the afternoon, is the appointment we attend and meet with the judge. The judge will ask us questions regarding our family, our adoption process, about Baby "M", as well as possibly other questions. Whether or not everything was received in the first court appointment for Baby "M", we will still testify to the court in our appointment to our commitment to his beautiful baby girl! If all documentation and testimony was obtained for both appointments, and the judge is ready to rule, we should be notified that our child, previous Baby "M", is now ours!

This is where we hope for the best but expect the worst, whether we pass the first court date or not, we will remain commitment to bringing Baby "M" into our family...no matter how long that takes.

"May your joys be as bright as the morning, and your sorrows merely be shadows that fade in the sunlight of love. May you have enough happiness to keep you sweet, enough trials to keep you strong, enough sorrow to keep you human, enough hope to keep you happy, enough failure to keep you humble, enough success to keep you eager, enough friends to give you comfort, enough faith and courage in yourself to banish sadness, enough wealth to meet  your needs and one thing more; enough determination to make each day a more wonderful day than the one before." ~Irish Blessing