what does a court date mean, you ask?

I've had several people ask "What happens at court?"  "Do you need to be there?"

So here's the skinny (but I'm no expert)...

On November 4th, the Ethiopian court (a judge along with the attorney that represents us and our agency) will go through all of our paperwork and Weredesh's and determine whether or not we can be legally declared her parents.  If they say "YAY!" then our paperwork is sent over to the embassy in Ethiopia - this can take up to 3 weeks.  We would then travel December 7th.  If they say "NAY!" then we would be issued another court date not too far from the original one.  Reasons for not passing can be many.  It could be that we have a form missing.  It could be that they want us to fill out ANOTHER form that was just added.  It could be anything really.  From what I've seen, it seems like most people pass the first time.  But there are surely no guarantees.  So we haven't purchased any tickets yet, due to these reasons.  However, I'm currently researching flexible tickets because I'm a little worried about holiday price hikes.  We'll know more in just 18 days.  :)