Day in Court

Last week I made my first ever appearance in court.  I walked up the large stone steps, pulled open the door, and was immediately greeted by two security guards and a metal detector.

Ma'am, what are you here for?  Ohhh....I wasn't prepared for such hard questions!

I...uh...I..(how do I make a short story out of this??)

Ma'am?   Who are you?

I'm Lisa.  I'm a foster mom.  I'm here for a...um...(trial? hearing? meeting?  WHY didn't I bring that paper I got in the mail?!?)

Ok.  So you want Family Relations?

Yes!  Um, Family....yes, that must be it.

Alright!  Put your purse here and walk through over there.

Yeah, and I'll adjust the "Fish Out of Water" sign I'm apparently now wearing.

The security guard brought me over to the elevator and said he'd escort me to where I needed to go.

So, you're a foster mom, huh?  My wife and I have talked about that.  We lost our only little girl and we would like to have children in the house.

I was able to spend a couple minutes talking with him and he seemed pleased to be able to talk about it with someone.

He pointed down the hall and away I went, entering into a full waiting room, thirty heads turning my way as one.

Long story short, I was in Criminal Court, not Juvenile Court, so down the street I went, back through another metal detector and into another crowded waiting room.

Thankfully, we only waited about five minutes before we were called in.  SO many people were in the room!  Let's se...a judge, seven attorneys, two security guards, two clerks, three family members, a social worker...and me.  For the first half I was shaking like a leaf.

I called Shaun on the way home and couldn't talk about it without crying.  Never mind the three kids in question, whose lives have been turned upside-down, through no fault of their own.  All I could see in that room was hurting people.  So lost, so hopeless, so incapable of changing things around on their own.  So much pain.

I stopped at the pharmacy to load up on medicine for my ailing kids who had a show to perform.  The chocolate was looking especially good after the emotional time I'd had, but I refrained...that's just not a good road to go down.  :)

Instead I spent the car ride home in prayer, seeking THE Answer, on their behalf.

In downloading with Shaun, we agreed that that hour in court probably cost the state (us!) 10K-ish.  W-O-W.

Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, because he has come to his people and redeemed them. He has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David

Luke 1:68,69