Tonight

Tonight, while we are sleeping, or very early tomorrow morning, a judge in Ethiopia will be looking over our case (along with our new friends, the Godwins) and making a preliminary decision about our case. She (I think it's a woman, though I may be wrong) will look at Gabby's paperwork and at ours. She will make sure there are no errors, mistakes, or omissions. She will look to see if the letter we need from MOWYCA is there. She will decide if we get to travel or not.

We are feeling very hopeful that this hearing will go just fine. We don't expect there to be any paperwork problems-as long as it took to get us ready to be submitted for court, our agency surely had plenty of time to check for problems! We don't know if our letter will be there. It seems likely that it will not, but we are still praying and hoping that it is, despite what logic says. Even without the letter, we are still very optimistic we will get to travel. If we don't have the letter, we'll still meet Gabby, go to court, and testify that we want to adopt her. Then the decree will just be pending the letter arriving, and when it does, it will be finalized. Obviously, we want the letter there tomorrow (or at least by our hearing on June 2nd), because then there will be no ambiguity or wait...Gabby will be ours (after going and passing court)!! I have been repeating for many days now, "We are going to pass court and our letter will be there." Let's see if positive thinking works!

Several families with our agency are in Ethiopia now for their hearings, and a new, great friend e-mailed me after meeting our sweet girl. She said she is "a CHUNK!!!," and that she is almost sitting up by herself, is a beautiful, giggly little girl, and is a favorite of the nannies and they don't want to see her go. That made our day to hear!!

We would very much appreciate everyone's prayers tonight and tomorrow as we await the outcome of the first hearing. Please pray that we are given clearance to travel, and that our MOWYCA letter is there. Thank you!!