Appointment Date!

March 12th!!!!! We got the email today from our facilitator - we will be spending Spring Break in Ukraine (and then some). We are so excited! Maybe it won't be so cold. :)
If everything goes as planned, here's how it works: on March 12th, we will be presented with files of children to choose from. We will need lots of prayer here as the age/gender/health bracket we are requesting is often difficult (we are requesting a girl under 5, healthy to mild, correctable health conditions). We will choose a child to visit and within a day or so, head out to the orphanage where she lives. This could be a car drive away, or a multi-hour train ride - it just depends on which region she is in. Once we meet her, we decide to officially accept the referral and begin the legal adoption process. If for some reason, we feel we cannot adopt her, we can request another appointment at the SDA (this could take several days). We are praying that the Lord will lead us to our daughter the first time! It takes several days to get a court date set. Once we have court, and the judge approves our adoption, there is a 10-day waiting period before we can take custody of her. Scott (and probably me too) will come home during this time. Then the return trip to pick her up and get her visa and passport takes a few days. It's possible to be home with our daughter within a month, but there are lots of potential delays, so it could easily be longer. We are praying for no delays - I know it's going to be hard to be away from the boys for so long! Anyway, that's pretty much the "nutshell" version of what we will be doing in Ukraine. Do you remember Planes, Trains, and Automobiles? It will be like that - but in Russian! :)