Major Distraction

To be honest, yesterday was one of the lowest of my lows. Trapped in the court system in Ethiopia for the 3rd time (but who's counting). I was so tired, emotionally and physically, that my brain was mush. I didn't think I'd be able to quit thinking about all the drama and get some sleep. Well...I was pleasantly surprised! As I was getting ready to tuck Lily into bed, I noticed that a helicopter was hovering low somewhere nearby. Really low and really nearby. I looked out the window and saw the helicopter searchlights shining on my front lawn while a car I didn't recognize was pulled up in front of our house. At that moment, three police squad cars screeched up to our house and approached the car with guns drawn. Uh...hmmm. We turned out our lights, calmed the kids down, and watched the drama unfold. There were two people in the car and they both fled---over our fence, through our backyard, and over the other fence! They were gone in just a few seconds, but the police stayed for several hours. So did the helicopter. It hovered for at least 20 minutes with our house completely lit up. The officers left their cars, with lights flashing, on the street while they searched our front and back yard with their flashlights. Carver kept yelling, "This is awesome!"

To me, the funniest part was that the whole neighborhood and anyone driving by our house had to think we were raving ax murderers or cocaine suppliers. It looked like the police were there to arrest us. And truly, we live in the most boring neighborhood in the universe, so it was a random, one-in-a-million event.

But it sure helped me not think about court delays in a certain country.