chewy chips ahoy

Those have been my item of choice since yesterday. How could I have possibly have known that I would get a phone call last night that would take me so long to process, that even as I type this email, well, I still can't quite put the words together. I just thought my 'no news' on Wed/Thurs was enough to send me to chocolate. Hmph, this one even stumped our agency director, the orphanage director, and the social worker.

Remember back on Nov 6 when we learned that our cases had been filed in court? That is true. But then about a week or 2 ago we learned that we had been filed, again. ????? Welllll, there's a story to go with that. Sound intriguing yet?

It turns out that the judge originally hearing our case decided it needed to be moved to the city that the boys actually live in. Why we have no idea, but that's what he decided. So at some point, I think in Nov, our cases are sent to the city the live in and refiled in the court there. Apparently this week the judge there got our cases, and apparently he has not done an international adoption before. He wanted our entire dossier translated, and everything state certified and chopped (that's the stamp in Chinese that gets put on your documents). So not only does that mean that it would cost us somewhere between $500-$750 (seems like a drop in the bucket at this point) but he wants it by Feb 4, which is like 10 days away! No way--that means it has to come back here to Texas for us to do all of this or we have to redo everything. Did your mouth hit the floor yet?

So now we know why we didn't travel in December. And now we have to wait and see what happens. I think and hope it all gets worked out and he's fine with the papers he has and just grants us the adoption. We'll just have to wait and see what happens. So pray for us, pray for the boys, the foster parents, the judge, and anyone else that has a hand in this. Our hope is that God just moves on his heart and he just puts us thru.

So during the next day or 2 if you call me and my mouth sounds full it's probably because I have a cookie or chocolate or cake or something stuffed in it to deal with this all. And if I email you, just pardon the chocolate crumbs and smears you see.