Our case was heard

For some reason the boys were singing Happy Birthday all day today at the court house. It was strange and sweet.  They have never sung it before today and I did not teach them to sing it.  Maybe it was an omen?  Symbolic like today was their birthday into our family?  Hard to say.  There were several great things about today.  Some hard ones as well.  if you are considering scanning through this post to get to the part where I tell you if we have custody of the boys or not, you will not find it so just stay with me and I will tell you about the day.

7am- two sweet smiling boys wake up saying "mama, sweeties" which tells me they are ready for morning snack

8:30am- breakfast and trying to figure out our transport for the day's short trip into the city

9:40am- I am told our transport will arrive in 20mins and the boys are not yet dressed and I have not yet showered... Dad takes the boys and I take a shower

10am- we are waiting for our transport looking very "smart" (well-dressed) as the Ugandans say
10:20am- we are on our way to court but our driver doesn't know which court it is we need to get to, so I call the driver who is bringing the guardians and the social worker from Mukono and he gives the driver we are with directions.  WHICH WE ARE THANKFUL FOR
10:45ish am- the driver drops us off at the wrong courthouse. I knew it was wrong because I had been there before last time we were here in Uganda so I called our lawyer and he said the right building is right around the corner which it was. so we walked there. it was only about 1 block away

11am- we arrive right on time (our appointment was not til 12noon but we were told to come early at 11am) and we are shown into a children's playroom/waiting room that is set up for when kids have to wait for court appearances.  WHICH WE ARE THANKFUL FOR!  So we play and wait and eat snacks and hang out with the guardians and the social worker and 

12noon -wait and eat more snacks and then the boys get a bit rowdy and show off and eat even more snacks and then the boys kinda crashed because they had missed lunch and nap and they have had SO many lollypops by now.  Just after the crash we were getting calmed down and having a drink when we were

12:40pm -rushed into the court room WHICH WE ARE THANKFUL FOR! the very fact that the judge is present and wants to see us next is pretty great so we hurry in and quietly file into the room while the judge finished up with the case he was hearing before ours. the boys are quiet and do not talk or play or make barely any sounds for entire hearing! WHICH WE ARE THANKFUL FOR!

1:10pm- the judge switches to our case. picks up our file and says "I have not had a chance to read this yet" so he sits and reads it while the room is totally silent. I will not detail every bit of the proceedings of course but it was intense. He asks probing questions and really cares to know the truth WHICH WE ARE THANKFUL FOR!  He corrects and critiques the quality of the documents filed and educates us all on how things should be done better.  He doesn't seem to hold anything lacking in the quality of the paperwork against me personally WHICH WE ARE THANKFUL FOR!  He has me come and stand before him and asks me some personal questions which I do without fear or flinching and I look him right in the eye while speaking with him.  He wants to know how we will care for the boys since we are both working and so I show him THE FAMILY BOOK which I remembered to bring along WHICH WE ARE THANKFUL FOR! [thankful both for the book and for remembering it] he seemed to soften upon hearing that the entire family is eagerly awaiting the boys' return and that Norman's parents will be there next door to care for them as well. he says he will give us our ruling on September 2nd. Come back then to receive it. THIS WAS EXPECTED.  We knew that we would receive the actual ruling at a later date.  That is how it is done here.  We would like it to be sooner but at least we will have it at all the near future.
3:15ish pm- we are outside of the building calling the driver.  I pay the guardian's driver [he is also the one who took us everywhere when we were her last time] to take them home and use his cell phone because mine will not work.  The entire time the boys are loudly singing Happy Birthday out side on the sidewalk.  I hug the guardians and we all say our goodbyes.  I give dad the look and say "get ready! you take Benny and I'll take the crying one" Johnny loses it wailing and carrying on out on the sidewalk which raised an eyebrow or 2.  We walk away from the car that was taking his auntie away and he calms down after a few lifesavers from Grampa's pocket.  Even though I saved the driver who took us this morning's # into my cell phone, it is not there. So I call the house where we are staying and they call our driver for us and even though I mentioned it was a different court house he still looked for us at the other place before finally picking us up 20-30 mins later.
4pm ish- we arrive back much to all of our relief and delight!  the boys are excited to be back and very wound up from the strange day that have had. 
4:20- we eat PBJ's and head for the tub.  the bubbles in the tub work magic and we feel a bit like we are back to our routine (such as I have established it over these last 7days with them) However I do anticipate some reestablishing of routine tomorrow since they both were given a bit more free reign than they have been given so far.
5:15pm -we eat supper during which the boys roll around on the floor and run around the room instead of eating very much. 

by 6pm we are in full on bedtime routine and with Grampa's help the boys are in bed asleep by 6:30ish where they remain and hopefully will sleep through the night. I certainly plan to.