"30 days and a wake-up!"

My Marine Corps buddies would recognize that saying; it's what "short-timers" in the Corps said in their final month before discharge.

It's hard to believe, but we're just a month away from becoming a family of seven.  At this exact time one month from now, we'll be at court in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, where a judge will decide whether Tommy becomes our son or not.

As we understand it, the court hearing is more than mere formality; it's the Ethiopian government's way of protecting against fraud and child trafficking.  So, they take it pretty seriously; the judge asks questions about why you're adopting, how you'll help preserve his culture, etc.  It's a stressful event! 

Then, sadly, we'll have to leave him in Ethiopia after our court hearing to give the agency time to work with the US Government for a immigrations paperwork and a passport.  The great news is that when they're finished, Tommy will not only be our son, but a naturalized US citizen.  We'll merely have to do some more paperwork with the State of Ohio after he gets home.

They say it could be 4 to 12 weeks before we can get back over there to bring him home.  Recent experience is that it's been taking about 8 weeks.  If that continues to hold, we could have Tommy home for Easter.  For now, we keep praying.