The judge's ruling!

Today we received a call from our lawyer. The judge has finally made a
decision. He ruled in our favour, terminating all parental rights, known
and unknown. Our first reaction was to both cry. We have waited so long
for this, it seemed like a dream. Then came the fine print. The other side
has 30 days to appeal the case. According to our lawyer an appeal is a
waste of time, as they would now have to prove that the judge was grossly
wrong in his ruling and our lawyer sees no possiblity of them getting
anywhere with it. He has heard though that they may be appealing. He
believes this is probably because they don't have to pay their court
appointed lawyer (whilst we go on paying $300 an hour).

What this all means is that if they do appeal it may be another year or more
before this is all settled. Another year for our little girl, and us, to
make things finally legal. Our elation has been tempered by this, and we
will be praying and waiting over these next 30 days. I hope that our next
update is to tell you that no appeal was lodged and to invite you to the
party.

Hanging firm,
Coz and Joyce