Court date is scheduled

Hi everyone,

Our court date has been scheduled for October 13th at 10am. Although we’ve already been to Russia once and have met our daughter, all of a sudden this seems so much more real. If all goes well, we will be home with our new family finally together by the 1st week in November. It is hard to believe and seems like it is going so quickly.

We will be leaving for our 2nd trip on Friday October 9th (just a month away). This trip will be somewhat easier since we know what to expect – what we’ll see and what our schedule will be like. We are nervous about our court appearance, but I am sure Irina will prepare us well. She took good care of us on the last trip.

I have Hannah’s photo on my laptop screen and am falling more in love with her each time I see her. We are really excited to see her again. Before we leave, we will find all the age appropriate toys stored in the attic. We had given all of Emily’s toddler clothes away, but our neighbor has kindly offered us all her hand-me-downs, so Hannah will have lots of fun clothes waiting for her.

We would value your prayers as we prepare for the next trip. There are a few documents we need to gather and we need to apply for our visas (fortunately, we have lots of time and won’t be biting our nails waiting for the passports to arrive the day before we travel). Leaving Emily is difficult for all of us. We miss her terribly, but know she is well cared for and thoroughly spoiled by my mum.