News!

I didn't say it was good, but it's not really bad either. How can it be bad when we are adopting a beautiful little guy? :) Our dossier arrived safely in EE on Monday, but it will not be submitted to the SDA until April 14. The SDA is closed the first two weeks of April. We were hoping to slide it in on March 31, but there are several other families ahead of us that have dossiers being translated. This is also not a bad thing because that means there are orphans being adopted! I guess how it works is they can only submit dossiers to the SDA on Thursdays. So ours will be for sure on April 14, and that is okay! Two more weeks. I have said that patience is definitely not my forte. I much prefer things to happen quickly and according to my timeline. But in this very stressful process, I have learned over and over that this is God's will and His timeline. Things have set us back in some areas and been super fast in others. I have to "let go and let God." I am really at peace about this whole thing, and expected it deep down inside.

Second bit of news is wonderful! We have been put in contact with a wonderful woman in Micah's city who is a member of our church. She has graciously offered for us to stay with her for about 20% of the cost it would have been for our own apartment. We will get to grocery shop and use her kitchen (another blessing to not eat out every meal!) She also has internet for us to use and be able to Skype with the kids back home. I am so excited to meet her!

We have also decided to bring Annie with us on our adventure; something we just settled on after months of thinking she was staying in CA. I have been so torn up about the whole thing, not wanting to leave her, but thinking we wouldn't be able to take her (travel, appointments there, visiting Micah, etc.) But after visiting another blog, I saw they brought their 2 yr old son and mom with them. They were able to take them into the orphanage with them and let the boys bond. I started thinking and wondering if Micah's orphanage would allow us to do that (we had read that most do not). So I contacted our team, and we were told that although they do not encourage bringing children, we can take Annie with us to the SDA appointment and to Micah's orphanage, but not to court. We do not have anyone to take with us to EE, so we thought we were at another wall. But, after a couple days of talking to other RR families we feel confident that there will be someone to help us watch her during the times we really cannot take her with us (to court and all the paper signing processes). The woman who we are staying with also said there are many young women in the church who would be glad to help. So we are set! Her passport appointment is Friday (another reason it's okay our submission will be later).

We are also getting Fischer's passport Friday "just in case" we can afford to send him out there at the end of the trip, after school is out. I'd really love to bring him to see Micah's country and all the wonderful sights/sites out there. And then he can help me bring home the kiddos :)

I am really feeling so blessed and at peace and ease about everything. It has seemed like eternity to get here, but we are really almost there. And when all is said and done, the adoption will have taken less time than a regular pregnancy! I still can't believe that part. Our SDA appointment should be sometime around May 15 I'm guessing, so we will be leaving in just about 6 weeks hopefully.

Thank you ALL again for your prayers, support, and love.