Prayer Request...for our court date & an update!!!

Today is exactly two months since we last held our little Katie in our arms!!!  It seems like it has been forever because we are in awe at how amazingly smart she is and that God has given us the honor to raise this princess!  This is an honor and responsibility that we will not take lightly!


We wanted to ask for your prayers as we don't feel that we can ever have TOO MANY people praying for little Katie Allison!  We also want to express our gratitude for all who have supported us and prayed us through the last year of this journey!  We truly feel as if God has ordained this match between us and Katie the entire time because she is relatively healthy (with a few minor issues) and seemed to take to both of us well!!!!  We couldn't be happier!!!

Today, we spoke to our adoption coordinator and she said the Russian coordinator was going to be trying her very best to secure a hearing for us to return to Vladivostok, Russia, to complete our adoption before the end of the year (maybe the last week of December) or the first week of January (before our adoption medical paperwork expires).  So, we are just praying that this be God's will so we can bring our daughter home and give her a life of love and stability she needs to grow, thrive and just to know two LOVING parents!!!!

On another note, Aaron will only be able to go for part of the time (about a week), and pursuant to Russian adoption law, one parent (that will be April) will have to remain in Vladivostok for the mandatory ten day waiting period before we can bring Katie back to the United States and home!  We will Skype and we have endured longer separations than a couple of weeks, but we ask for prayers for April and Katie's stay in Vladivostok and especially for their journey home on a two very long plane flights plus one or two smaller ones.  It seemed much harder coming back this past October because flying East to West it is daylight the entire time and your inclination is to stay awake, but we're praying she sleeps and handles the plane flight well.  When we met her in September, she seemed REALLY easy going and like she would take to everything well, but that was in her own environment, one that she is used to being in--when that changes, we have no idea how she will react.  At least, we will get some time to bond with her at the hotel in Vladivostok!!!  

April read once that taking these children who have been in an orphanage all of their young lives out into the world and on such a long journey is basically the equivalent of putting her on a space shuttle and sending her to the moon!  :-)  As funny as that sounds, we hope she does okay with the whole going through the airports and everything well, with the recent security changes.  

We do know for sure that April will be one tired Mommy when she and Katie get home and will be needing Daddy to pitch in so her body can re-adjust!  We are really blessed that Aaron will be given 21 days of leave from the Air Force that are just given as "adoption leave," and do not eat into his regular time off...kind of like paternity leave, which is paid leave (another wonderful PLUS).  So, our plans are to spend that time when we are all reunited being a family of three and getting used to being new parents.  

But instead of having an infant that sleeps a lot (or doesn't in some cases), we're being handed an energetic toddler who will know very little English.  We know very little Russian as well...so that in itself is another prayer request!  We think April is starting to "nest," as she was in Katie's room putting away clothes in her dresser and armoire so we wonder if that is a sign that we will for sure have her home soon?

We don't want to get too excited because this isn't a sure thing....but wouldn't this be a memorable and amazing CHRISTmas if we were indeed granted custody of our little Katie soon after?  

We KNOW God has worked through all of this because Katie is half Chinese and half Russian and looks like our biological child would look (not that this matters at all....but she is JUST beautiful)!


One other prayer request: April's grandmother is undergoing a heart cath this Friday as a precaution because since her hospitalization she has had shortness of breath and it's just to make sure there are no blockages.  We pray that they find nothing wrong and she recovers well.

Hope all of you are getting in the CHRISTmas spirit and God Bless all!