Why do I doubt the mighty and miraculous God we have, He can do infinitely more than I could ever ask or imagine.

This adoption has been a long road. So much longer than we ever imagined. I got to a point during the more than two years of waiting for a referral, where I wondered would it ever happen. I really felt as if I'd just be doing this paperwork every year on an annual basis and I would always just be dreaming of my daughter. I wanted the surprise that I heard other people talk about, "we got the call, we have a referral!" But as each month passed, and then a year, and another year - it became less about a surprise call and more about a desperate ache.

The moment we did get the call... I am not sure if I ever fully wrote about that. I was in my vehicle (parked thankfully), Jeremy was at work. I missed three voicemails in a matter of a half hour. When I listened to them and heard my coordinator's voice each time... I knew. This had to be THE CALL, it had to finally be time. Before I called her I hung my head and sobbed. It was a cry I had not yet experienced. A deep cry of relief. And we got our long awaited news. God had made all things ready.

"Your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be." Psalms 139:16

After that call and as we prepared for our first trip, I heard so many people say to me: "How do you leave her behind? It's going to be so hard to come home without her." My reply was usually the same. We had waited so long for our referral that I honestly couldn't even begin to fathom what that pain would be like. I had ached to hear of her for so long, that I could not think about the pain around the next corner.

When we returned from our trip, there was a fire in my heart. Our baby girl was waiting on the other side of the world. It was plain to see that the orphanage does the best they can with what they have. The workers were caring and knowledable and I always felt comfortable with them and handing my child back to them. But she is there and we are here. She is growing up, changing, learning to walk and becoming a one year old soon. The thought of missing that...

We returned home on Easter Sunday, not quite two weeks ago. This week we got the most amazing, incredible, wow, can't believe it, ohmygoodness, GOD SURPRISES! - news. We received our petition to court, which is a very important document and the last missing piece couples wait for, so they can submit all their prepared documents to court and request a court date. The surprise came because we received this way sooner than has been common for our agency for the past couple years. We were originally thinking we would get back to Russia around mid/late August.

We have many many documents already in Russia ready to be submitted. We had a handful of items we had to work on once we got home. This week has been very busy and full getting those documents ready and perfect for the court. We plan to drive those documents to Madison on monday morning to get our secretary of state's special seal (called an apostille) and then we will send it to our adoption agency and then on to Russia. Dossier's (the name for our whole collection of documents) can be submitted to the court and court dates requested, on wednesdays only. Once it is submitted, the judge assigns a court date - which can be any time (I think adoption cases may only be assigned for Tuesdays). We do not know how many weeks out our court date will be set for. Sometimes people get a date for a few weeks later, sometimes several, and maybe for some more than that.

Please pray with us that our documents make it to Russia in warp speed - rather, Godspeed. Any day less or more could mean the difference of a week for submission to court. And please pray that we get a quickly appointed court date. Thank you so much for checking in with our blog, keeping up with our progress, and praying for us. We so appreciate it.