Travel plans and estimated timeframe.

If anyone has not heard yet- We have our appointment date for June 16th!! I thought I would give a timeline or estimate of a timeline for those interested. Please understand though we are again going to a whole 'nother country and our timeline might not be theirs.

On June 14th we leave for Joshua's country. We will arrive in the afternoon on June 15th. We will attempt to recover from time change in time for our appointment the next day. At this appointment we will be asked questions such as why do we want to adopt this child etc. We will be shown his file and given limited information. Basically we are given a referral to meet him to either accept his referral or not (not is NOT in our dictionary).

Usually the referral comes the day after our appointment so I would expect it on Friday around 5p. We then make arrangements and take a train to Joshua's region. I believe it is about a 12 hour ride. This is hopefully done on Saturday. I am not sure whether we will be able to go to the orphanage on Sunday or if we have to wait till Monday but I fully expect to have him in my arms on the 20th. I will get more limited information from the orphanage and then there will be paperwork for us to gather at that time to accept his referral. Once we accept our facilitators will work to petition to get a court date. We are praying court comes in 2 weeks but again we are at their courts mercy on when we get a hearing. During our wait for court we will be able to visit Joshua twice a day which we plan on taking full advantage of.

When our court date comes we will go before the judge and ask to adopt Joshua. There will be more questions by the judge and ultimately we pray he rules in our favor. There is a wait period after court of 10 days. Some regions waive the wait period but many do not. Joshua's region almost never does. We can either fly home during the wait period or stay there.

Tickets to fly one way are expensive. At one point we were thinking of coming back right after court. Our main reason was because of Jacob. But if the time frame holds we are now thinking of just staying during that 10 day wait figuring staying and paying the apartment might be cheaper than a whole new set of tickets the second trip. We are also hoping that by this time- Jake would basically be OK. Meaning by seeing us and having us leave again a couple weeks later might do more harm than good. It also gives us the extra time to bond with Joshua. He has never had someone tangible always able to count on and I certainly do not want to poof be gone after 2 weeks of daily visits. After the wait period, will be our "gotcha" day where we spring him out of the orphanage for good. We will get all paperwork needed from his region and head back to the capital for his medical exam, visa application etc. Best case scenario is looking like we land back in the states around July 20th with our newest son.

Now this our plan but is subject to change. Just like anything with this adoption we have to roll with the punches and adjust accordingly.

Right now the stress is preparing to leave in 12 days. I really have approximately 7 days for getting ready for travel. Tomorrow my 14 year graduates from his 8th grade and there is a night service and on Sunday my 18 year old will graduate from High School and has his commencements. We also had to order money which is not as easy as i thought it would be. Apparently we can't order new and have to order the money and they have to check each bill to make sure it is not older than like '91. No tears or marks at all. The earliest they can do this is next Thursday but most likely Friday. If we do not have enough bills we might not have enough time to scope out the other banks for their bills. Advice for others who are adopting... do not wait till you have a travel date... call banks ahead of time and ask how much time they need in advance.

Please pray for us.. pray for our youngest son who is really going through a phase where mommy and daddy are the bomb and cries for anyone else. Pray that God watches over all our children while we are gone. Pray that I can gather my thoughts long enough to get organized for travel. Pray that our trip goes smooth and we are able to bring Joshua home quickly. Just please pray! I am a bundle of nerves and a total worry wart. We are so excited to be traveling to bring him home yet we are a bit sad about leaving Jacob. If I could wiggle my nose and it was done I would so be wiggling it.

I also ask that you pray for the Saders who were submitted shortly after us and might have an issue with their dossier that may delay things a bit. They have worked so hard and pushed through some delays already and really need some prayers to keep pushing forward.

Pray for the Taylors that their social worker works quickly to complete their homestudy so they can rescue their son. He has been in an institution for almost a year and really needs to get out of there soon. His momma recently found out that he was in a not so good (putting it mildly) institution and he will be the first adopted out of it. Pray that God continues to guide her family and she can get to him quickly.

Pray for the Burlinghams adopting Andriy. They are awaiting USCIS approval and still need a lot of funds for their adoption. Pray they get approved quickly!