On Wednesday 12/2 we received an unexpected e-mail from our agency. The coordinator in Ethiopia notified them that they requested a court date in Ethiopia for our daughter's case. Yes, this is good news-we were told that generally families know in a week or two *when* the date is (and that the actual court date is typically 4-6 weeks after the date was requested). We should be jumping for joy.
But.......we also found out from our Homestudy agency (a few hours before we even knew a court date had been requested in Ethiopia)that since we need to formally update our immigration approval to reflect the older child we have accepted, as well as a few other specifics that were not addressed in the original homestudy, that we not only need to to this NOW, but should plan to wait at least 90 days for it to be adjudicated. Without the update to our original approval, she may pass court, but will not be able to obtain the visa needed to travel to the US for as long as it takes for the amendment to be done in MI and sent to Ethiopia. Then we are looking at another delay-even if all off the immigration paperwork is fine, and she can enter the USA, we need a second document provided by our home state of Michigan, that gives us permission to take the child from the port of entry into the US (likely Chicago) to our home state in Michigan. Add to that, *this* whole process has been taking about 3 months. And this isn't the worse case scenario-this will all be happening after (I am guessing) several court failures/delays, due to the region in Ethiopia where our new daughter is from.
Needless to say, this is going to be a bumpy ride. And a slow one too. So pull up a chair and wait with us!
