COURT DATE

Today it finally happened! We got our court date around 12:05 pm. We couldn't be more excited about adding another Hanna to our group of 5. As soon as I received the email I began texting and calling to let our family and friends know. We still have 4 weeks to prepare for our trip BUT with 3 kids, those weeks will fly by, especially with Christmas shopping and decorating. We have made our trips to the doctor's offices this afternoon, gotten all of our info gathered for our visas, written our FINAL check to AWA, and are now looking a flights. We still have a few more documents to gather, but all of our embassy documents are ready, which is good. Our itinerary looks like this:

11/16 Leave for Moscow

11/17 Arrive in Moscow

11/18 Moscow medicals

11/18 overnight flight to Krasnoyarsk

11/19 Arrive in Krasnoyarsk

11/21 visit orphanage...YAY!!!

11/22 COURT DATE!

10 day waiting period

12/7 Fly back to Moscow as a family

12/8 Child medical exam and embassy

12/9 Receive child's visa

12/12-13 Apply to Russian Consulate

12/14 Return HOME!

Almost there

Our documents are officially in a plane on the way to Krasnoyarsk from Moscow. Our coordinator was very surprised that they arrived and processed so quickly, but when God is in control, crazy things can happen. Here at home we are in the planning phase of getting ready for A to come home. I am getting lesson plans finished, my mom is busy making clothes for me to pack (did I mention that her suitcase is already FULL???). This afternoon I am going through possible court questions and answering each of them in detail. We have to study these, and I am oh so nervous about being put on the spot. I am not good with words unless they have been laid in front of me ahead of time to study. All of our physicals and bloodwork has been completed, and our entire life in paper form is in the hands of someone in Russia.

Our court date is looking like Nov. 15, which puts us leaving around Nov. 9 and returning home Dec. 4. That is a long time to be away from our sweet blondes BUT, we have committed to this and when we commit, we don't back out! A needs us to be there for her, spending time with her, and I know our 3 here at home will be in GREAT hands! We are so thankful for family who is willing to go the extra mile for us during this time. Also, can I just say that we have a wonderful adoption family in this cyberworld.....a couple of folks adopted their little girl last week and she ended up being in the same orphanage as our A. They sent us pictures of our sweet gal.......she has grown and thankfully, her hair has grown out too! Let's see, my to do list is growing by the minute:

Christmas shopping before we leave (for 4 kids)

Put up Christmas tree and decorations....yes I am one of those early decorators!

Complete lesson plans through February

Pack, pray, pack and pray some more!

Still holding our breath

Last night was another sleepless night! With the kids tossing and turning and my mind going over and over the days events, I was a wreck! I am doing better, I feel terrible, but I am doing better mood wise. We did receive an update today from our coordinator (I demanded daily updates, so I am pretty proud of that) an encouraging one! The 15th of November is still available, no other agency got it today and our documents are being presented next week! I am trying to remain positive but not get my hopes up since we have been let down FOUR times before. All of our documents are in the mail and will arrive on Friday and some on Monday.

I am looking forward to a restful evening at home tonight with a cup of coffee and SURVIVOR!!! Curt will be home late Friday evening from NY, so I am pretty much exhausted right now after dealing with all the adoption paperwork yesterday, BUT, things are looking up!!! I was reminded today by a fellow teacher that since we won't arrive home from Russia until after the 1st of December, that I better get some Santa Claus out of the way....hum, didn't even think about that! I guess I will also be browsing children's toys and clothes tonight as well! Happy Wednesday everyone!

Sometimes I wanna SCREAM!!!

After the most stressful 24 hours of my life...I think anyway, I am finally at home, drinking my coffee, helping my oldest with homework and fussing at the laughter in the other room (not because they are laughing but because they are supposed to be asleep). I went in to school this morning for duty and left at 8 am to head out to FIX the mess that our agency created over the weekend. I went to the notary, AGAIN, I went to the doctor's office and then to another notary. I was feeling really good about myself and the trip and then IT happened! Yet again, our agency....tsk, tsk, tsk! Our homestudy lady J was very much on top of things and had all of our documents ready. I headed to Greenville to meet her. What I didn't know is that our adoption coordinator hadn't really looked over the documents very well and there was an issue with the papers. So, J calls me in a panic and apologizes that she won't be able to get the documents to me in time to go to Columbia because she had court with another family. My mother, the kids and I drove to Greenville and then headed to Columbia. If I was only missing 2 documents, I sure as heck was going to get as much accomplished as possible. I went to vital records and got the birth certificates for the kids, then went to the Sect. of State and had everything apostilled. At around 4:30pm, the DHL van had to be tracked down so my documents could make it out this evening. Thank goodness for my mom and aunt because they are going to get the other documents and mail them off tomorrow!!! Now, I am taking deep breaths and praying that this is the LAST holdup we will have in this process. November 15 is looking like our court date which would put us leaving around Nov 8th! Not soon, BUT at least its a reasonable date!

Not the best day

Yesterday's blog was full of hope and me being all spunky and positive. That's what I get for eating butterflies.......! Our coordinator always seems to email me bad news at the END of the day and her caption always reads "Could be good news and some bad news"! I will wait until this adoption is finalized to tell how I really feel about the lack of communication we have had during this entire process. I will do my best to handle this part with grace, we will see how that goes. Looks like I have yet more paperwork to complete....funny how we JUST found out about it today! I have been working diligently this evening and thanks to my mom, brother and sis in law for watching the kids, I was able to get a lot done. My plan is to have EVERYTHING in the mail to Russia tomorrow. Sometimes you just have to take things into your own hands. I realize that there is a reason for everything.......right now, I am waiting for the fog to clear.

Please keep Curt's uncle and his family in your prayers. He is in Texas battling leukemia and the family has been called in. So much hurt and pain in this world!!!!

Could this FINALLY be the week?

We have been away from sweet "A" for 9 weeks now.....to us that seems like an eternity! We have been waiting on a court date for close to 6 weeks, I will not comment on how that makes me feel! (deep breaths) We have been emailing and phoning our coordinator daily....yes DAILY, for updates. So, after all this waiting, and waiting and waiting some more, THIS Wednesday could be our day. We should FINALLY know our court date, and be able to plan to bring our sweet daughter home. The kids are so anxious to have her here. They have been counting down the days until October and now that it is finally here, Russia is all they talk about!!! We are trying to stay busy and with 3 active kids, that is very easy to do. We have requested to be home from Russia by Thanksgiving....we cannot emphasize that enough! Thanksgiving is just a very important family holiday for us. From the family gatherings to the shopping and putting up our Christmas decorations, we just LOVE Thanksgiving and want to be able to spend this time together giving thanks for our new blessing from God!!! I have several prayer requests for all of you in the blogging world:

The Via's who are in Uganda right now adopting their precious daughter!

A dear friend ,who we have come to love while on this adoption journey, whose cancer may have come back

My husband as he continues to lead our family and church

On a much more juvenile note.....CLEMSON rocks and well......CHICKEN curse!!!!

Night Ya'll!

We are PATIENTLY waiting.....yeah right!

Tomorrow marks 6 weeks since being in Russia. We are "patiently" waiting........and according to our coordinator we should hear something by the end of the month! We expect to be back with our daughter early-mid October. Every single day brings with it more anxiety and anxiousness. We find ourselves doing different things to preoccupy ourselves: Curt studies Russian when he misses her and I write her a letter every day to put in her adoption journey book. While we stay busy with the kids, church and various other activities, nothing can take away from the dark hole inside our hearts. We watch her videos most nights and we all cry...all of us. Most of our conversations begin with " when A gets home we are going to....." or "I cannot wait to show A this...."! In this time of uncertainty and sometimes anguish, it is amazing to see God bringing us closer together as a family, forcing us to lean on one another more than we ever have before.

What I love most about this last part of the adoption process (just the process mind you) is getting to know other adoptive families and having them become dear friends. They have been so helpful, showing us support, love and just hugging us through these tough times. God has truly lead us through this process and we will never ever be the same. The connections we have made run so much deeper than I would ever have imagined. We are connected by Christ, love for an orphaned child, country, region, city, orphanage and the longing in our hearts to not only give these kids a home but most importantly lead these precious children to Jesus Christ.

On a side note, I am looking forward to going shopping with Brandi and Brittany this weekend. Brandi's photography will be in Clix 646 in Greenwood in mid October. I am SUPER excited for her, she is so talented! We will be going to find her something snazzy to wear for that night.

I will write again on Saturday as it is our sweet A's 3rd birthday......we love you sweet girl!