We have our first travel dates!

We got the news today. We will be in Kotlas on the 25th, and get to meet our little girl on the 26th. Today was my birthday, and this was one of the best birthday gifts I have ever gotten. We don't have all of the arrangements down pat, but looks like we will leave Monroe on sat the 22rd, get to Ark on the 23rd. We will just hang out until we go with our facilitator to Kotlas on the 25th. We will get to spend part of 2 or 3 days with her, and then repeat the process to get back home. Thanks again for all of the prayers. We continue to pray that we have her home for Christmas.

We found out today that our last paperwork has indeed been registered in Russia. We find out tomorrow when we travel!!!! More to come soon.

Getting closer to meeting our little girl

We have been advised to keep the calender clear between the 20th of August and the 30th. There are no guarantees, but we are hopeful that we will be able to travel during those dates to meet our little girl. Remember, this is just the first of probably 3 trips, and we won't get to bring her home this time. We are so excited to be this much closer to getting to bring her home. Please pray that we will get our travel dates, and that everything will go smoothly making the arrangements for that trip. Thanks again for all of the prayers, and we will keep you posted.

We finally got our hands on our psyche evaluations. Hopefully we will have them to Dallas by Monday and then on to Russia. Thanks for the prayers for patience, and pray that we get to go to Russia soon to meet our little girl.

Things are still moving along. We have had some additional paperwork to submit, so we are also submitting a new version of our homestudy. Pray that all of that gets done soon and that it can get to Russia as quickly as possible. We still hope to meet her next month. We want to be home for christmas.

Nothing is ever easy or cheap. Late yesterday we learned we each needed a Psychological evaluation. We found somebody to do them when we get back from D.C. Only takes a few hours and $1000. Oh well.

When God says you are going in the right direction

Thanks everyone for your comments and prayers.

Yesterday we confirmed with Buckner that we wanted to proceed. They grilled us a little more to make sure we understood what this meant. They reviewed the life of a parent with a child that requires regular and even lengthy therapy as well as the risks of raising a child with FAE. After they agreed we knew what we were getting into we submitted the last piece of paperwork required. We were still a little nervous about making this step of faith but after reading Hebrews 11 and praying we just new that this really was the plan that God had for us.




This morning we received an additional communication from the Russian Dr. that examined our little one. D is really small, and has been diagnosed with speech delay. We really didn't know what that meant, so our pediatrician in Dallas asked us to find out how many words or phrases she could actually use. Dr. Sophia responded, "Diana understands speech, pronounces simple words, knows names of parts of body, tower of 8 cubes." What an awesome God!! We were asked to take this step without really knowing all of the answers. Then as soon as we did, God filled in some of the blanks. It is never easy to walk by faith. We never know exactly where we are headed when we sign on to follow God where he takes us, but we are so rewarded when we do. Please don't take me to mean that we never have pain, or we never wonder why? We just know that there is a peace that He gives you when you are walking with Him.




We also received a couple more photos.

Thanks again for all of the prayers.





Bryan