The Low Down

It's been a tough few days. In preparation for the first court date on November 28, I had prepared myself for not passing court. I was 90% sure I was not going to pass on the first try because so many families have not passed on their first date. So when I received news that MoWA was ready to issue it's opinion on November 28th - with one exception - they couldn't find Beamlak's dossier file and they needed to review it before their final approval. A few days later I found out that they couldn't locate the file and reality hit hard that this could be several months' delay if they required new originals for the file.

Luckily - they issued a court date for me without the file - January 14th was my new day. After they notified me that they had found her file, I was 99.9% confident that we would pass this time around. Truth be told, dangerously, I didn't even consider not passing as an option. MoWA was ready to issue the opinion the first time around, reviewing the file was just "supposed" to be standard.

On Tuesday, January 13th, my worker informed me that our court date was not January 14th but was the 15th. Okay, so one day. A little disappointed, but hey, at least it wasn't a week off! At the same time, my worker lets me know that the in country staff are extremely confident that everything is in order to pass court the 15th. My biggest concern was another mistake in the day of the hearing (it actually being on the 14th and no one showing up), but she assured me that there were other cases to be heard that day and if for some reason our court date was on the 14th, they'd be there.

Okay, so I'm not expecting to hear anything on the 14th and thus just kind of left my phone in my bag most of the work day, didn't even think to check to see if I had any missed calls. At 2:30 pm my phone rings and it's my worker - really not expecting a phone call from her? I found out that she had called earlier in the day but I hadn't checked my phone for missed calls - go figure.

I answered the phone and there was no hint of excitement in her voice at all - I'm just thinking maybe the wrong day again... okay. Nope. MoWA had notified Gladney that they would not be issuing their opinion on the case tomorrow (January 15th) because a document was missing! What? I admit, I completely fell apart. And the reality that court dates were already being issued for April made me sick.

My worker apologized profusely. In fact, she stated that 1-2 days before court dates the in country staff reviews the files and "grades" them on a scale of 0-100%. If a dossier is graded a 0% they believe there is no chance of the family passing court. If the dossier is 100% they are extremely confident that there is nothing that could come up in court that would cause another court date to be issued (non approval). She stated my dossier was given a 100%!! And yet it STILL didn't pass. I just couldn't come to grips with MoWA's new request... but I did manage to ask a few questions.

What document? Has this been requested before? I can't go into detail about the document but YES this document has been requested before. All I wanted to do was ask why the document wasn't in the file then if it had been requested before - even though I realize just how difficult it can be to get "just" one document.

The document that MoWA has requested is a difficult document to get and it may take a long time to get this document as it involves a lengthy process. She said that they were already working on getting the document and will keep me updated with the progress... but still I knew I wasn't going to pass the following day. She said she would still call and give me the news officially tomorrow (January 15th).

January 15th arrived and I had stayed at home - well actually in bed all day and so when she called all I was hoping for was a quick court date and news regarding attaining this additional document. LUCKILY, considering what court dates have been given as of late, I received a quick court date, the last week of February (exact date is still not known). That I'm truly thankful for. Now, my BIGGEST concern is the completion of the document they requested - its going to be difficult to get it within a month considering the situation (sorry can't share any details), but I'm hopeful that Gladney will do their best to make sure they complete the document as soon as possible. I just hope it's in time for court.

I've finally been able to adjust my expectations for this delay. However, I was hoping to call Beamlak last Friday morning with the date of my arrival, I couldn't make that call and I'm still trying to prepare myself to call her without breaking down to tell her again just how much I love her, miss her and that we are all working hard to bring her home.

Thanks for all your support blog readers :)