We Have a Court Date!

PRAISE GOD! I know that so many friends and family have been praying for our family (of four!) and specifically that we will be home by Christmas. The chances of that happening were really slim—especially according to some of our agency reps who were trying to keep our feet on the ground.


Well, I'm so thankful that we worship a miracle-making God! We got the call at about 2 p.m. this afternoon informing us that our court date is set for December 9. We will leave no later than December 6 and be able to see our children for the first time again on either December 7 (if we have time right after we land in St. Petersburg) or the next day. It would be wonderful if they recognize us, but even if they don't what a reunion it will be!!!


We will probably leave the day after court to get back here to tie up some loose ends before we bring our babies home. There is a mandatory 10-day waiting period after court before we are able to take them from the baby homes. At this point, we are unsure if the 10 (work) days includes Saturdays or not. If it does, we should be able to pick them up on the 21st—C's birthday! If not, we're looking at the 23rd. I don't want to get greedy, but it would be AMAZING if we were able to bring them home before the first of the year. Financially—thanks to taxes and a hidden benefit for adoptive families from "Obama-care"—it would be very helpful. But, God's got us this far. I have no doubt that He will provide for our needs, whatever they may be. The third trip can be about 8 days or so. So if we can get them on the 23rd, we'll be pushing a 2010 return. We'll see.


Either way, it looks like it will be a Russian Christmas for the Hunters! We should be able to be with our kiddos on Christmas! It may be in a country that views December 25 the same as any other day, and it may be in a tiny, crowded hotel room, at it may be without a Christmas tree, but it most certainly will not be without God's miraculous beginnings, and the love of a forever family.

The Winter Palace at Christmas

We're Registered! (no, not at Target...)

I meant to update my blog long ago, as we have made another BIG step in our adoption. All of our documents have been organized, translated, apostilled/notarized and put together as our official dossier. Last month our dossier was submitted to Russia. We became officially registered in St. Petersburg!

Funny... seeing that phrase "officially registered" comes with a totally different meaning for pre-adoptive parents (PAP) as it does for expectant parents. If only becoming "registered" for us was as easy as taking the scanner gun and magically putting all our essential items together in one simple list. Ha! The hoops we PAPs jump through!

So, what does this mean? Once a dossier is submitted, PAPs can then at ANY TIME be invited to travel to the region in which they are registered and receive an official referral from the Ministry of Education (MoE), a governmental body in Russia. However, many placement agencies share information on potential referrals with PAPs before they travel when they are rather confident that those families might receive that official referral once in-country.

This, too, can happen at ANY TIME...

So... if anyone is still reading this blog, I would recommend you stay tuned. Things may get interesting soon.

Regarding the brief hiatus I had recently taken from the blog, the last several weeks have been rough. We've been ridiculously busy with work and attending/hosting/participating in church events. We're dog-sitting for my parents. I might have had a birthday at some point. But, what affected us the most was grieving over the loss of a dear friend... I have no words to explain this situation via a simple blog. All I can say here is it shook many people's lives. Readers, please be in prayer for my dear friend, Carrie, who lost her husband much too soon and much too suddenly.

I'll say goodnight for now. Thank you all for being a support to Derek and me though our process. Life is a never-ending classroom, with our Lord as the teacher. I've learned a lot in the last few months. I'm grateful to continually be shown just how invaluable good, true friends are. I love you all.

HELLO? hello...? (hello........?)

 Yes, that's an echo. And yes, I've been MIA (missing in... adoption?). I could spew out all of the lame valid excuses I have, but after months of such a hiatus, I hate to bore you now. Let's just say Satan knows Derek and I are up to something good.

So, let's get on with it shall we?

We have made SO MUCH progress! Our interview with our placement agency went well, despite learning of such despicable news less than 30 minutes after our arrival. Meeting with the staff really made us even more confident with our decision to use them. I can't imagine being in better hands. While media has reported otherwise, adoption in Russia has yet to cease—at least not in the regions we may adopt from (Moscow and St. Petersburg). Our agency continues to help families receive referrals and court dates, so we're still moving full steam ahead!

I've created a new section of my blog: Milestones (see panel at right). It contains the important... well... milestones... ;-) in our journey thus far. While there is much that has been done and much that has been received that is not listed, these dates give you an idea of what we've been up to concerning the adoption.

Now that I'm getting back into the swing of things with my blog once again, I plan to recap some of the high- (and LOW!) lights of the hoops we've had to jump. Stay tuned... And, seriously, if I slack on blogging again, someone please get on my case! ;-)

CHECKLIST:
• Psychologist administered MMPI
• Compiled dossier documents (including, but not limited to):
      Notarized home study letters, licenses, etc.
      Personality/psycho-analysis results
      Financial statements
      Letters of employement
      Property ownership letter
                                     Certified marriage certificates
                                     Passport & family photos
                                     Medical letters
• Fingerprinted/biometrics
• Received I-171H