Step by step, we are walking toward our sweet girl!

Hi, friends!!  It's time for an update because things are moving and grooving!  Hip hip hooray!!  Last Monday, we received word that our dossier (all of our official paperwork for the adoption) had been signed by the Minister of Justice in Bulgaria and was sent on to court.  We had been waiting 7 long weeks for this news, so it was greatly celebrated!  The very next day, we received an email that our court date had been set for March 31st!  This is the day that the judge will look at all of our paperwork, with our adoption agency's lawyer present, and will grant (or not) legal adoption of Sadie to us.  If the judge decides not to, it will be because more paperwork is needed.  If the judge grants us the adoption, Sadie will legally be our child forevermore!

So, we wait with excitement, joy and a little trepidation for one week from today - the day, Lord willing, we will officially become the parents of a beautiful little girl with a little something "extra!"  Would you join us in praying?  For the judge to be generous in granting us the desire of our hearts, for the paperwork to be complete and in order, and for all to go smoothly and well?

After the adoption is granted, there is a 7 day waiting period before the adoption is finalized and then a 3 to 5 day period in which the court decree is obtained.  After the court decree is in hand, the adoption agency will apply for Sadie's birth certificate and start looking at travel dates for our pick up trip!  Most likely we will travel sometime at the end of April or beginning of May, but we likely won't know the dates for sure until mid April.  Our trip to Bulgaria will be somewhere between 7 and 12 days.  If the social workers who are working with Sadie agree to take her to Sofia to get her passport done early, we will be able to do the shorter trip.  We are hoping and praying that they will generously agree so that we won't have to be away from the boys for quite so long!

Over the next month, I will be buying last minute things that we need for the trip, putting the finishing touches on Luke and Sadie's room (it's getting more and more "girly" in there!!), fitting in as much school with the boys as I possibly can, and packing!!  It's going to be a full and exciting month.  We are filled with emotions that range from sheer joy to nervous anticipation.  Our life is about to dramatically change and, as much as we are preparing for it, there are just some things that we will have to take one day at a time.

We covet your prayers!  For us and for Sadie during the transition, that attachment would be smooth and that she would meld in to our family beautifully, for her birth mom who is about to say a final "good bye" to her child, for her foster mom who has graciously devoted a year and a half of her life to raising our girl, for the week to 12 days in Bulgaria where we will truly get to know Sadie, for the airplane ride home, and for the boys as they adjust to life with a sister.  So much to pray for, but what good news it is to hear that, "All things are possible with God!"

Thank you for walking this journey with us, friends.  We would not be at this place, so near to the end of the adoption journey and so close to the beginning of a new life, had it not been for you.  This child is not just coming into a new family, but is coming into a community filled with love.  Because of you, I believe that God will use her in mighty ways for His kingdom and His glory!