Court

Well, yesterday and today have been interesting days. I'm going to try to capture them for you without getting too long-winded.

Yesterday, we took Zizi to the hospital to get a "second opinion" on her burn. While there, I met Zizi's mom, dad, grandmother, grandfather, brother, uncle, and several other family members. The good news is that Zizi obviously loves her family. She lit up when she saw them and instantly reached out to her mother. Her mom played patty cake with her in the doctor's office. It was so good for me to see their strong bond, but it proceeded to be one of the most awkward situations I have ever been a part of.

I was there with the owner of our foster care agency, and thank goodness she was there to speak up and take care of logistics. My brain was going in so many different directions, I wouldn't have known what to do. I won't bore you with details, but here's a little glimpse of what was going on in my head:

"I think she needs a new diaper. Should I offer to change it or just let the mom take care of that? She's starting to get fussy...maybe she's hungry. I have some dinner, but I don't know what mom would think if I pulled it out. The mom doesn't know anything about the burn recently, so I'm answering all of the doctor's questions. I don't want her to think that I think I'm better than her. I hope she can sense that I care about her and her family. ...I hope dad didn't notice a look on my face when he came over with that thug hat with rhinestones all over it."

Meanwhile, the actual visit was almost silent. You can just imagine the tension.

OK...now fast forward to this morning. We all met again at the courthouse. Zizi's dad practically met me at the door to take her out of my arms. Then, I was content to stick with the agency social workers for the rest of the day. Then, around 10:00am, the social workers both had to go into other cases, and Zizi's DFACS worker told me that I needed to go keep an eye on Zizi and make sure that her family didn't take her anywhere but the waiting room.

Wow...could I think of anything I'd like to do LESS?? Talk about feeling holier than thou and judgmental! Yikes...but I had to do what I was told, so I did my best. We had a few positive interactions. I took the family a picture we had taken of their sweet girl, and Zizi's uncle brought her to play with me for a second at one point. All-in-all, though, it was an hour and 45 minutes of awkwardness. Oh, and I forgot to mention that we weren't allowed to bring in cell phones, so I literally had NOTHING to do but sit and watch.

She finally went in at 11:45, but she was a little fussy (imagine that!), so I had to step out with her. After about 10 minutes, everything was done, and we were told to report back tomorrow at 2pm. My agency social worker informed me that Zizi would probably go home with her dad tomorrow after court, so I'll need to pack her things. My husband and I have the option of being there or not. We're still praying through the pros and cons of being in attendance.

And that was it! I drove home, and Zizi got a little cat-nap in the backseat. She's still completely exhausted, but now she is literally screaming upstairs not to fall asleep. What a mess of a day! I have so many thoughts to muddle through. Once I have a chance to do so, I'll try to blog a little more introspectively about this whole ordeal. Thank goodness it is over for today. Be in prayer about tomorrow.