March 12, 2008

I have been assured by a few people in my life that tomorrow is a lucky day, and right now I am okay with pure luck helping us through court. I am pretty sure our paperwork is in order, since I personally checked, re-checked, and re-re-checked it all. But, there is this period of time when it left my loving hands and was haphazardly tossed into a mail bin - then sent to government officials for authentication stamps, translated into Amharic, sat around some more, and only then finally took the long flight overseas. This is where it probably sat on someone’s paper-pileup, gathering coffee cup ring stains and random doodles from the desk’s occupant. I can only imagine the trip it has taken. And then there is Tesfanesh’s side of the paperwork… well, I can only hope that is all in order. Much to my obsessive-compulsive dismay, I had nothing to do with any of that. Must… try… to… give… up… control… of… everything… ! (Can you hear the pain in my voice?)

So, here is a list of reasons why tomorrow is a lucky day:

- It is my favorite aunt named Cindy’s birthday – happy birthday!

- Per my sister – it is the season premier of South Park. And doesn’t everyone think of Eric Cartman as a chubby, foul-mouthed good luck charm?

- It was this day in 1894 that Coca-Cola was first sold in bottles. Maybe we should all enjoy a cola tomorrow to appease the giant conglomerate soda gods - they may have an ‘in’ with the adoption gods.

- 1968, Mauritius achieved its’ independence. Though, to be honest, I didn’t dig any further into this fact to see exactly who they achieved independence from. But, I am sure this is a lucky omen. At least for the Mauritiusans.

- It is a Wednesday, and Wednesdays have always been lucky days for us in this process so far.

- It was this day in 1831 that Clement Studebaker was born. I don’t really know anything about Conestoga wagons, or the automobiles that were named after him after his death, but I do know he had a mansion named ‘Tippecanoe Place’, whose name makes me laugh. And laughing also assists in good court-day juju.

So, Ethiopia is eight hours ahead of us here in the Midwest, and although I don’t know what time our case will be heard, I am assuming it is in between the hours of 8am – 5pm. So that means sometime between midnight tonight and 9 am tomorrow the decision will have been made. We probably won’t find out until Thursday or Friday, because information seems to move at the pace of a snail, but at least we will know a decision is done. All we can do is sit, cross our fingers and toes, drink a Coke, and wait for our news. And we all know how good I’ve become at waiting…

To all whose court dates are also 3/12 – I’m sending BIG wishes your ways, too. Our kiddos have been in the Care Center long enough, it is time to bring them home.

Peace.