May 31- COURT!!!

Woke up at about 0800, slept fairly well after taking Ambien last night. Karl's foot is purple but not too swollen and doesn't hurt. Went to eat at around 0845. Really nervous for court today. Rackaways met us in our room at 0945 to drop off their luggage and we met Benjamin to go shopping at the post office and Tamoca. We spent  $1000 birr on coffee at Tamoca! We have lots of gifts for our friends and family. We bought a beautiful painting, 2 Ethiopian flags, and another giraffe carving. All negotiated by Benjamin of course. He is the best!! We didn't realize how efficient shopping with Benjamin would be. We were back at the Addis View by 1045! The Rackaways and ourselves hung out in our room for a bit, looking at pictures of Haiti and talking. We then decided to have "lunch" (coffee and cake of course) at the cafe. We waited as patiently as possible and at 1330 Benjamin picked us up. We arrived at court at about 1340 and couldn't find our liaison but were guided to the PACKED waiting room. There was nowhere to sit, no A/C, and big signs that said SILENT on the wall. Our liaison showed up shortly thereafter saying, "are you nervous?" We all nodded our heads (silently of course). She said "There is nothing to be afraid of. The judge is a woman and she is gentle." So we waited and waited. At about 1430 an older Ethiopian man offered me his seat and the man next to him let Andrea and Maddie share his. So nice to sit down. EXTREMELY ANXIOUS. Sat next to a woman who has been living in Ethiopia for 3 years with her husband who is a pastor. They are adopting a 17 year old girl who was with them. Hard to talk much due to the SILENCE sign on the wall. Finally at 1500 on the nose, "Brothers and Sisters" was called. The Rackaways, our liaison, and us go into the judges quarters and take a seat. She checks our passports and begins firing questions. "Do you have any kids?" "How long have you been going through the adoption process?" "Have you completed your training?" "Wil you teach your children about Ethiopian culture?" "Have you met the children?" "Do you realize that once the court approves it is final?" "Do you still wish to adopt these children?" We answer appropriately with our hands clasped tightly together and then she says, "All your paperwork for court has been approved, however we are still waiting for a letter from MOWA." Then all of a sudden we are being shuffled out the door. I have no idea is we passed or not. In the hallway our liaison assures us that we passed but we are all still wary. Benjamin is waiting for us and takes us directly to the care center. ALL the kids are playing and surround us. We hug our boys who come running to us! I then go to the office to see if we can call Yared to get a final answer. Yared talks to me and then calls MOWA and calls back and says "They are yours!!!" Both families passed court!! The kids were all eating a snack when we left the office but when they were finished Karl and I snuck Ajura and Ahmi into their room and gave them their T-shirts that matched ours, necklaces, and photo books. They were so excited! Ajura then plays with the camera and was looking at our Haiti pics out of nowhere spelled "B-A-N-K." I then asked him to spell the letters on our T-shirts and he said "S-P-E-A-R-S." We are so proud of him. Ahmi was wild but would run around and then jump into my lap and put his photo book in my purse for safe keeping. Beginning to trust us! I also got another kiss on the cheek. IN LOVE! After two hours our driver picks us up and Rackaways immediately leave for the airport. We will miss them! They have been great traveling companions. We Skype and Facebook to share our good news. Have a good dinner at the hotel (I had fasting firfir- very spicy but good!). At dinner, we ran into the Belgian couple ( who I failed to mention earlier, who we rode to court with). They  also passed so there was congratulations all around. They are adopting a 7 year old and 5 year old. Very nice couple. Phew it has been a day!