Well, we heard from the judge. Not actually from the judge herself, but from our agency... who heard from the in-country staff... who heard from the region's representative (aka. facilitator)... who heard from the judge.
She reviewed our court documents and only has one request. She would like our court application to be amended to further explain why we think we can parent a child with Down syndrome.
We added a few paragraphs about our work as counselors at a Special Needs Camp, our careers and education as Physical Therapists, adoption education requirements we've completed, etc. and sent it off to be apostilled last night.
Now we're praying that the Secretary of State's office does same-day service. This time we paid for 'Expedited Processing'. The lady I talked to yesterday said they have been running behind due to recent understaffing and we'd have to expedited it in order to even have a chance at same-day service.
If the completed documents can get to our agency on Thursday-- or maybe Friday-- then they can be hand-carried by a family traveling to the region for court. This option would save at least a week and the documents could be translated and in the judges hands by Wednesday. She then has 10 days to review the documents and (we're hoping) issue a court date.
The family traveling Saturday had a 5 week notice for their court date. If that's the case with us, we'll travel in June. Who knows what will happen though. The judge just might be anxious to meet the family who is actually choosing to adopt a child with Down syndrome. (To our knowledge, we're the first family adopting a Ds child in her court.)
So that's where we're at right now. We're thankful that the judge only had one request and that it could be completed the same day.
This morning our boys made "a bed for (insert Little Dude's name) " in their bedroom. It amounted to a sleeping bag on their bedroom floor, but hey, it's thought that counts. These 2 little guys cannot wait to get their brother home!
*Disclaimer/explanation: I don't think the judge's questioning is meant negatively. Adopting a child with Ds is not common in her country and she just wants to make sure we're going into it with our eyes wide open.
She reviewed our court documents and only has one request. She would like our court application to be amended to further explain why we think we can parent a child with Down syndrome.
We added a few paragraphs about our work as counselors at a Special Needs Camp, our careers and education as Physical Therapists, adoption education requirements we've completed, etc. and sent it off to be apostilled last night.
Now we're praying that the Secretary of State's office does same-day service. This time we paid for 'Expedited Processing'. The lady I talked to yesterday said they have been running behind due to recent understaffing and we'd have to expedited it in order to even have a chance at same-day service.
If the completed documents can get to our agency on Thursday-- or maybe Friday-- then they can be hand-carried by a family traveling to the region for court. This option would save at least a week and the documents could be translated and in the judges hands by Wednesday. She then has 10 days to review the documents and (we're hoping) issue a court date.
The family traveling Saturday had a 5 week notice for their court date. If that's the case with us, we'll travel in June. Who knows what will happen though. The judge just might be anxious to meet the family who is actually choosing to adopt a child with Down syndrome. (To our knowledge, we're the first family adopting a Ds child in her court.)
So that's where we're at right now. We're thankful that the judge only had one request and that it could be completed the same day.
This morning our boys made "a bed for (insert Little Dude's name) " in their bedroom. It amounted to a sleeping bag on their bedroom floor, but hey, it's thought that counts. These 2 little guys cannot wait to get their brother home!
*Disclaimer/explanation: I don't think the judge's questioning is meant negatively. Adopting a child with Ds is not common in her country and she just wants to make sure we're going into it with our eyes wide open.
As of 4:16pm, FedEx has our documents marked "picked up" from the SOS. Tonight they will make their way to the East Coast via Memphis (Fed Ex hub) and arrive on our agency's doorstep before 10:30am tomorrow. If everything passes the final re-check, then our revised court application will board a flight for EE on Saturday. Woo Hoo!
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