Wow, 1 year now

I really don't like that ticker I put on this blog. Who wants to see that its been 1 year since we last held our little girl? Its so very hard for me to imagine the little girl we are going to see again in just 2 weeks. I know she's grown and changed so much. 2 weeks till we hold her again!!! Now that feels better to say.

I really haven't been going too crazy. I have both sets of flights booked. I just need to reserve our hotel for the Moscow stay. I received our blood test results and chest x-rays, which stated that we are "unremarkable". Somehow that wording made me smile.....exactly when is being unremarkable a good thing!? Now I need to get our agency the results so they can get them to Russia to be translated.

I'm trying not to worry about the treaty whose text is now agreed upon and ready to be signed. I can't help but wonder if some surprises are going to be thrown at us, more unexpected hoops to jump thru.

Flights booked!!

for the court trip at least. I still don't know the details of our third trip yet, except for the fact that its a GOOD thing I planned on going thru Moscow myself anyways and not using the courier because the doctor that does the visa medical in Vladivostok will be on vacation. So we leave Los Angeles Thurs night Aug 5th and return Friday the 13th (yikes!!!) Good thing I'm not supersticious. We both got our blood drawn today. Steve also got his chest x-ray and I'll get mine tomorrow. I bought a new lighter-weight outfit for court. I kinda have a schedule worked out for Dylan. He's excited to get to spend time with several different people (2 grammas, an aunt and some cousins!!!) Visas are processed. I think thats the main stuff, right? I'll be taking several different size clothes with me for our little miss to see what size she's wearing. Hope some of the clothes I bought still fit...well, actually it'd be GREAT if she outgrew most of them!!! Its still not for sure if my mom can travel with me on trip 3, fingers crossed. I'm actually feeling like things are fairly under control, so that probably means I'm forgetting something BIG...lol.

Hey, I also just noticed that last post was my 100th post. Very cool that is the post that announced our long awaited court date!

I'm getting sooooooooooooooooooooooooooo excited!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We have a court date!!!!

I'm in shock. I mean, I was "hoping" I would hear something soon, but I dared not get my hopes up much. I still kept thinking they would tell me they needed more documents or something, or would have a problem with the way something was worded, or who knows. But August 11th is the BIG DAY! Any BTDT words of wisdom are welcome. I've applied for our visas and reserved some flights, but I'm not totally sure of the date we need to be there to get the medicals done & visit with our little miss before court. Now I also need to scramble around and make up a schedule of family and friends to help with Dylan. We will miss his whole first week of school, but it will all work out.

Happy Birthday Little Miss

Today should be a day full of friends and family, balloons and cake, presents and celebration. I hope someone at the baby home acknowledges this special day. In my mind I will pretend that they are. And today I also celebrate a woman who made it possible for our Little Miss to be in our lives. I wish her strength and happiness and hope somehow she knows that she made it possible for us to receive the greatest gift ever.

Special Advisor Appointed

This is another good sign and hopefully another step towards Russian adoptions moving forward. It can't happen quickly enough for me.

Secretary of State Clinton has appointed Ambassador Susan Jacobs as Special Advisor to the Office of Children’s Issues (the office responsible for intercountry adoption and international parental child abduction). The Secretary’s announcement can be found below.
We are very encouraged by the creation of the position of Special Advisor and the selection of Ambassador Jacobs. Both international parental child abduction and intercountry adoption are important to ensuring that children live within a safe, nurturing and permanent family. The appointment of Ambassador Jacobs adds a skilled and experienced diplomat to these critically important issues and will elevate the dialogue between the U.S. and other countries.
We look forward to working with Ambassador Jacobs as she begins her work.
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U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE