Any last minute advice or opinions for the BIG DAY??

[mbatde]

Well, we finally have our court date...We got an order to serve by   certified mail.  In the order, also, judge ordered GAL assigned to the case.  We initially got a date of 3/5 but the court didnt mail the petition back to us in time to serve by constable/sherrif so the order also extended court date to 3/12.

We mailed the petition cert mail to both the mother and grndmother in NY (GM has custody, and was the one who sent child to MA to live with us only to reneg 6 mos later and steal her back)

The mom, who really is not necessarily a party to the case at all (no custody for 9 years and little visit or contact) signed for the papers right away.

The grandmother has refused to sign for them, so hasnt been properly notified.

In the process, though:  when the GAL got the case, he called the grandmother before we even tried to serve her, gave her notice, and had them all go in for interviews.  (child, grandmother, grandfather, and mother.)  I took the liberty of calling the GAL to say, "hey, we got the info that you are the GAL, and since we are 900 miles away, is there anything you would like from us before the court date"

Basically, he said no, that he had done the other interviews, and would interview us after this 3/12 court date.  He said something negative about that we dont have an attorney.

We will have court appointed counsell once we go for the first hearing, but we have gotten custody before of another child without an attorney...so i am not terribly concerned. I do have the stupid hopes that the truth will come out and the obvious facts are all the judge needs...I know that isnt always the case...

My questions to you.....

What do you make of the grandmother refusing to sign for the papers?
Or the GAL serving them in the way he did?Was it even appropriate?
            And does it "count" as service?
What about the GAL doing all the interviews before any of them were technically served, but not wanting to interview us?

Funny, too that suddenly the child has doctor dentist optometrist and allergist appointments this week, when fri is court date and the only time she'd been to the doctor in 2 years is when she lived with us.

We're wondering if they have some kind of ace up their sleeve, or something.  It sems so straightforward tous, but i know that doesnt evenmatter...
My husband didnt see daughter for 10 years, but searched high and low and have proof of doing so.....they finally found us, asked us to take her, but once she was settled and doing really well,they took her. The mom has no way to take the child back.  No chance that will happen, and probably the mom doesnt want her back.  The grandmother has had her her whole life practically, but my husband is her dad, and she was with us for like 3 days less than 6 mos.  Doing good in every aspect, siblings, etc.  Now, she hates school,has no friends, no one to play with.  But in the 2 mos they have had her back they managed to convince her to not like us,not want to talk to us (much). And they managed to buy her everything in the world that an 11 year old would ever want.  

To top it all off, I gather that we have a new judge...plus get to drive to NY in a noreaster!  Thought the snow was over!

Anyways, if anyone has some encouraging words, they would be greatly appreciated!