Nervous

Trip one is getting very close and I am getting very nervous. I know I will be fine but ohhh the knot in my stomach. So many things are running through my head. How do you prepare to meet a child in hopes that she will be your daughter and not have a knot in your stomach? I guess when God asks you to step out of your bubble, you have to trust him to take care of you while you are out there.

More travel details...

Okay, since I was so panicked yesterday, I will share more details now. We leave on Saturday, July 4Th. Our flight leaves at 10:10AM and we arrive in Russia on Sunday, July 5Th at 1:20PM local time. We will spend Sunday getting settled in our hotel. Then on Monday we will officially receive the referral of Julia and go meet her. Tuesday, we get to play with the baby for most of the day and have a little time to do some sightseeing. Wednesday, we will have our medical exam and sign our intent to adopt at the courthouse. Finally, on Thursday, we are free to come home. We should arrive home Thursday evening around 7:30PM. Thursday will be the longest day of our lives! We have to be at the airport at 4AM local time, then fly from St. Pete to Frankfurt to Washington DC to Charleston and still arrive home in time for dinner! WOW! I just realized how much that scares me! Anyway, I spent most of today preparing our visa applications and everything that goes along with those. Also, in the past 24 hours, I have booked our flights and hotel, bought clothes, went to a Dora Live! show with the boys, attended a fish fry at the in laws, sent out our visa stuff and now I will have a stroke!...or at least a nervous breakdown. Now, I get to spend tomorrow, updating documents and calling doctors to arrange the last few pieces of our dossier. Anyone know a psychiatrist that will do our exams for a decent amount of money? The only guy I can find that is local wants to charge us $3000! All he has to do is sign one document and give us a copy of his license...I don't think that is worth $3000. I found another guy that charges less, but he is in Fairmont and we would have to make two trips to him. I could really use your help, if you know of anyone!

Give me a ticket for an aeroplane...

We leave on July 4Th for Russia!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am so excited and overwhelmed I don't even know what to write. I will let you know more after I calm down a bit. Just pray that all goes smoothly for us!

Had To Share...

I just read this and had to share. It really touched me.

Psalm
17 You hear, O Lord, the desire of the afflicted;
you encourage them, and you listen to their cry,
18 defending the fatherless and the oppressed,
in order that man, who is of the earth, may terrify no more.
The Holy Bible : New International Version. electronic ed. Grand Rapids : Zondervan, 1996, c1984, S. Ps 10:17-18

Cheaper Travel

I just did some checking around and I have great news! We can afford to travel to Russia in July. (This is extremely good news as we have to go whenever they tell us to whether we can afford it or not!...I would hate to sleep on the street while we are there.) Hotels drop considerably. There are two hotels I am watching closely, Courtyard by Marriott and Sokos. Airfare is up a bit when compared to this spring, but down a little when compared to June. Also, as time goes by it will continue to get cheaper. So, hopefully our second and third trip will be even less. Speaking of which, I am REALLY praying we won't have to make the third trip. Would you join me in that prayer? It is rare these days, but the judge has the power to wave our 10 day appeals period. If she were to do that, we would be able to bring Julia home on the second trip. It would make our second trip longer, but would save airfare and travel time of the third trip. But, I think you all know that I will do what ever I have to (I was willing to make the four trips that our first referral was going to require). Anyway, it would be a wonderful blessing and a great surprise ending to this journey.

Bump

We have received word back from our IA docs that the bump on Julia's head is most likely a benign juvenile thing that should resolve itself. Great News!

More info...

I have received several questions that I forgot to answer in my previous post, so I will answer those now. First, our agency is estimating travel for the first to middle of July. Which is great as that is her birthday. We are hoping to be able to celebrate it with her. Also, regarding her pictures, she does have a "growth" on her forehead, in her hairline. We are still waiting for the dermatologists that work with our IA docs to give us a guess on it. The Russian docs are calling it a "fatty growth" and say that she is fine, come and get her. (I thought that was funny.) We hope it is just some type of noninvasive cyst that can be removed at some point in the future. (Like the one I had.) We aren't too worried about it. Anyway, if you have any other questions that I forgot to answer, just let me know.

Julia...

We have accepted our new referral!!! Her name is Julia, pronounced Yulia in Russian. We obviously haven't had much time to think about it, but right now are leaning toward keeping it. I really like the name Julia (with a J not a Y). She is still having some growth issues, but we are planning on taking care of that!!! (Enter southern fried, home cookin' and of course Old McDonald's!) She has bright blue eyes like Andy and Luke and either dark blond or light brown hair (I can't decide which.) Either way, she is a doll!!! I have already found a baby picture of her on the MoE website!!!...priceless!!! The only thing that bothers me...she has that same "come and get me outta here" look that most babies do in an orphanage photo. I hate that! Anyway, we have made peace with the loss of our little Hope and know that God will take care of her. So, from now on, I will focus on Julia and our future with her. Thanks to everyone for your concerns and prayers and please continue to pray for our journey!

New Referral!

We have our new referral info. She is tiny, but within normal growth ranges. At first glance, she seems healthy and beautiful! Until last month she was in an orphanage that was underfeeding her. But, she was recently moved to a new orphanage and they said she is already starting to gain weight. (BTW, they are closing her old orphanage!!!) I have sent her info. on to our IA docs and will let you know what they say and what we decide ASAP. Please continue to pray for us!

We Have News...

I haven't posted sooner because I really don't know what to say. We have lost our referral. On Thursday, our agency called with some very disturbing news. They said as they were getting the paperwork together for us to make our first visit (this includes a medical exam of the baby) and the neurologist diagnosed our baby with Cerebral Palsy. They called us with this info. and our options. Well, on Friday all of those "options" went out the window. They said our coordinators in Russia, thinking they were doing the right thing, went to the MoE and got us a new referral as we didn't sign on for a "special needs child." Well, since this was a special case the MoE granted their request. In Russia, you can't have two referrals at the same time when you only requested one, so obviously this means the old referral is gone. Our little Hope is now longer ours. I guess the good news, if you want to see it that way, (I really can't right now.) is that we have a new referral. However, I know nothing about her. Our agency wants us to take the weekend to basically grieve, then they will give us the new info. on Monday. But, we will still, once again, have to send this new referral info. to our IA doc (who I am sure is getting tired of hearing from us by now, but loving the "donations" we have to keep making). Our agency is saying that if we accept her, she is paper ready (no waiting another 5 1/2 months) and we should travel the first half of July. Please pray for Hope. I hate the thought of just leaving her there, but it is out of my hands now. She is in God's hands. Silver lining...God's hands are much better than mine.