I can not begin to tell you....

How much we miss home! (It's me again btw, Michael is upstairs listening to Bambi 2 & Mulan dubbed in Russian.)

The other family (of five, 2 parents & 3 kids) left on Sunday and Tabitha handled their departure better than expected. It was actually very sad to see them leave, in spite of the tight quarters. Michael & I both enjoyed talking with the parents & we formed a parenting support group here. The three kids knew her and all played well together, except for when they'd get into mischief on more than one occasion.

We thought she'd be really bored with just us, but she's doing OK. Unfortuantely, and Matt would understand, we've now become her constant playmates. Yesterday (Sunday) went ok but we all got a little stir-crazy in the apartment. So when German came back after lunch he drove us down to Detski Mir aka "Children's World" and we bought 3 pairs of jeans & shirts to match, that actually fit our little person. She was DELIGHTED. So then the rest of the afternoon was spent videotaping "Russian Entertainment a la Masha" as she proceeeded to sing, dance, model, etc for hours until the video camera would run out of battery or film. Michael refers to this as blackmail footage for when she reaches 16 years old. She also likes to play "Hop on Pop" and wrestles ad lib, ad nauseum with Michael. She's learned not to do that with me because I play mean (too much damage to my knees and Saturday on a tour I nearly broke an ankle sliding off a step, so I have a few bruises of my own right now....)

Today we got out this morning and walked around the corner to the book store and spent 1250 rubles on kids books and puzzles ($35). She is apparently a HUGE fan of the Disney Princesses, as we got two of those books. So far she isn't too interested in working on schoolwork subjects in Russian nor English. I almost can't wait to see how she handles getting put in school back home.

This morning Martina took our file to the Russian consulate, and will return there on Tuesday to pick up Tabitha's Russian passport. Tomorrow is going to be a packing day and then we get to come HOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Brought the photo CD down here b/c Michael said that there was CD access to plug in the photos --No-Can-Do, not on the terminal I got -- of which is in the midst of a room of about 12 adolecent males playing some thirdplayer computer game. Oy, just try to think with all *that* chatter in the background..... I only bought an hour of internet time, so apologies in advance for spelling & grammar errors -- don't have time to proof before posting & at this rate photos will go up sometime after we get home. Internet access has not been as easy here in Moscow as last time for reasons I'll elaborate on later. It was actually easier in the region -- surprise! Surprise!

Quick update from Michael

Sorry for the sporadic posting... with a 7 year old, it's hard to find time to sneak away to the downstairs internet cafe! Theresa is upstairs watching kids and journaling, so I've come down to do a quick update. Most of these bullets are from Theresa:

• She's still a size 6. No real growth in weight or height since the summer camp. We're lucky, though... some of the kids have lost weight. All previously purchased size 7 clothing (including what we brought with us) will be used... NEXT winter.
• Need spring/summer clothes for home.
• Size 13 boots fit but need to remeasure feet - don't buy shoes yet.
• Loves anything 'girly' (duh).
• 47# and 46 inches tall.
• We're all eating (too) well.
• We NEED PORT WINE (getting it here, and boy is it good)
• Only one 'testing us' meltdown from her so far. (cross fingers)

Hopefully we can post more (including pictures, now that we're back in Moscow) tomorrow!

As I mentioned....

As I mentioned, it's been a day of good luck and lucky breaks....

Didn't feel like it so much when the inspector decided to question us about why we had so many cats.... 20 minutes later we moved onto new territory. We apparently made a good impression however because when it came to our 27 minutes in court (a new adoption record for Gladney by-the-way, especially with this judge....) the inspector spoke the longest and the most positively for us, nearly 10 minutes worth. The orphanage director spoke for 7-8 minutes, also very strongly on our behalf. I had to dig my nails into my hands to keep from crying when the director stated that "After Masha returned from the camp, every day she told us of how much she had liked her stay in America and how much she wanted to go back to stay with her new mom & dad" and that "every time one of their letters to the girl arrived she would ask how much longer until she could go back to her parents...." It meant the world to hear that Tabitha has wanted to come home as much as we have wanted her back with us.

The inspector, as photographed by Tabitha.

German & our translator, Irena, were both stunned that court lasted 27 minutes and so another lucky break was that this judge had some place to be at 1500pm, so there was no belabored questioning. Michael answered four questions and I answered four questions, the director spoke, the inspector spoke, the prosecutor deferred to question us, the judge said she needed 5 minutes to deliberate and returned in two, and read her decree, granted the ten-day waiver, offered us congratulations and left.

The fact that we were able to get the written decree today has so speeded up getting the other papers done that have to be completed before we can travel out of the region. [All Russians are required to travel with their passports at all times, even within Russia, so we needed Tabitha's passport to be able to leave the region.] So tomorrow all that is left is getting her passport. A photo of the courtbuilding.

As we left the city we stopped at a grocery to pick up some snacks, and I walked around taking photos within the shop. Nearly started an international incident taking a photo of fish, but German interceded and we quickly paid & left. (The infamous "fish" photo below.... )

Otherwise, I've behaved myself today. Our translator was agreeable to keeping us company while the written decree was being written, and so we toured around down-town Ryaznan. Michael took my photo with the statue of Dr. Pavlov, a local hero (yes, the same Pavlov as in "Pavlovian response".) We bought a few souvenirs, took some interesting photos of local life, and then finished paperwork errands for today.

As we drove back out to the village where the orphanage is located, I caught a snapshot of the fabulous sunset here, the last ever night that Tabitha stays at an orphanage....

At 14:58pm local time....

The judge overseeing the family court for the Pontanievo District, Ryazan Region officially proclaimed that this Court of the Russian Federation did declare that Michael & I were the adoptive parents of the child formerly known as Maria Anatolievna Myakochina and that hence forth her name would be Tabitha Anne-Marie Erwin, the patronymic was no longer required, and that the Office of Registry was authorized to issue a new birth certificate listing us as her parents.

And so begins an entirely new chapter in our lives as today we went from a family of two, to a family of three.

Today has been a day that the heavens have shined on us, literally & figuratively. We woke up to nothing but bright sunshine that has lasted all day. Our meeting with the inspector was a bit gut-wrenching, but we had been warned that she's that way on purpose to prepare us for any questions that might arise in court. We spent 2.5 hours with the inspector. Got to see Tabitha for about 20 minutes, then had to leave to eat lunch before court. The court was a very scary (due to speed) 30 minute drive away, but we were there just before our 2 pm hearing time. The judge was 30 minutes late and the hearing started at 1431pm. **Just** 27 minutes later she had her decree decided and read into the court record and we were done at court. Turns out she had a meeting at 1500pm to be at, so she declined any photos. At that point Michael & I were so relieved that we weren't disappointed to miss the photo-op.

Our good fortune continued because our facilitator was able to obtain the written court decree about an hour later and was able to visit the Registry. Shortly before 1700pm we were able to take possession for Tabitha's official adoption decree and her new birth certificate. Believe me, you have not seen two more ornate pieces of paper. Hopefully I'll be able to get photos in a few days as the papers were dropped off at the Passport office before we headed back to the orphanage to tell *our daughter* that she is officially ours! We hope to pick her new Russian passport up in the morning and by afternoon be headed back to Moscow, fairly ahead of schedule as we thought it might be Thursday before we head back.

Tonight is her last night at the orphanage to say good-bye to her group & her friends and then we take custody tomorrow (Wednesday).

We're in RUSSIA -- Trip #2

Well, Dobre Dehn Comrade! We're made it to Russia without too much difficulty, except plane seats that were too small for too long. The jetlag as usual, packed a wallop. My life would be so much easier if I could just sleep on planes. Currently we're out in the region of the orphanage.

Drove down here today. I slept while Michael rode up front. It was fine for me, a bit of a white knuckle-ride for Michael. We know they're used to this weather, but even so going 140 kph (75 mph) down frozen roads, without lane markers, in a snow storm can be a bit harrowing. There is a TON of snow here and it has been snowing off and on since before we arrived. A balmy 35 degrees in Moscow when we landed Sunday morning. Michael insists it's warmer today, my point of view is that anything below 70 is too cold, so at this point why bother differentiating....

We got to see Masha / Tabitha (M/T) for about 3.5 hours today. She is very ready to head home and was quite excited to see us. The Polaroid iZone camera we got her was a huge hit, and I had to hide some of the film for reserve. She lost her second upper tooth since our first visit, so there is a huge gap in her grin. Hasn't spouted up much, so I think the 6/7 will still fit nicely.

We have court scheduled for tomorrow afternoon, after learning Sunday night that we are spending Tuesday morning meeting with the inspector that we weren't able to meet with on the first trip. A bit of an unexpected surprise, but we're rolling with it. I suspect that since this is now our second trip here, that this falls into the category of "hoop to be jumped" and is a formality. We learned Sunday that the process is now requiring *three* trips, so at this point the camp is counting as trip #1, Nov as trip #2, and now as trip #3.

Our trip is overlapping with another family, and while it is a bit full at our host's home, it's still quite comfortable and we really appreciated having the chance to talk with the other parents about how their court adventure went. Their pep-talk was most appreciated! So then we drove down to the region Monday morning, grabbed a snack at McDonald's (where it's still home of the Big Mac, spelled in Russian) arrived Monday afternoon, spent the afternoon at the orphanage and have now checked into the "sanitarium". We got room #214, which freaked Michael out -- some Stephen King reference I think. It's bigger than last time and with less exposed plumbing. However the central heat is *overwhelming* and I suspect that we'll be using the same high tech thermostat as last time, my boots propping open the window....

All in all, still quite the adventure. My Russian brain hasn't quite kicked in yet, but we got by with M/T today. As of yet, we've got a few photos, but no way to download them at this internet cafe "in the boonies" so we'll post them when we get back to Moscow.

Hope all is well at home.

Mondays....

Isn’t it funny how just one phone call can send your day into a real tailspin? I had forgotten that today was Monday the 13th. Really, I should probably have been paying more attention since I have a long history of not having good days on the 13th.

So my morning started off with a call about 9:30am that some people at work wanted to meet at 11am, could I make it? Long story short, instead of the raise I had requested, my contract is not being renewed and will expire August 31st. This is what I believe is called “real life”.... The why & how are not necessarily important to me right now. So, instead, I’m going to take a moment to write about faith.

Most of what I knew about faith I learned by watching the “big people” in my life when I was younger. My childhood definition involved Saturday masses, Hail Mary’s, Our Fathers, and lots of kneeling. And then I turned twelve and experienced my crisis of faith. My world was turned upside down for the next five years thanks to rather significant scoliosis and a series of torture devices known as back braces; and I was absolutely certain that God had forsaken me.

Fast forward to my first year of medical school at 25. Can you think of a more unlikely time to experience a rediscovery of faith? And in the Gross Lab, of the most unlikely places? How ironic to be drowning in a scientific world, only to have a huge spiritual revelation. Without being graphic, what I discovered there was that the human body is so extraordinarily complex, that the likelihood of each one being created correctly down to the smallest of blood vessels was so terrifically unlikely, that God had to exist. That realization opened my mind, and in the eleven years since, I’ve continued to have small realizations here and there.

The past two years of pursuing this adoption have been nothing if not a tremendous exercise of faith. Over a year ago, I realized that I had to hand over all my control of this situation and wait for what I wanted. As we get closer to traveling I realize that instead of getting easier over the next week, my faith in the adoption system, the Russian government, in myself will all be tested even more; so perhaps, today was the day that God said I needed to start practicing a bit early.

Right now, at this moment, it is a bit hard to believe that this job situation will work out. When I was younger, my dad often quoted John Donne, “This too shall pass.” I hope it does. I hope that something better is right around the corner & that maybe today is all about making some changes for the better for me and my family. But right now, I’m having a little bit of trouble with the believing part of faith....

The rosary beads by-the-way belong to my maternal grandmother. She has been and continues to be my example of trying to live a life full of faith.

And now for something completely different....

It’s been a while since I’ve written about our furry kids. So tonight it’s all about Molly. Right now she’s curled up in my lap, making her quiet urffing noises while she works to breathe and I work to not cry on her.

Molly & her sister Pixel were born on Father’s Day 1996. So June this year, we hope that she will reach double digits. You see, last Tuesday, Molly was diagnosed with congestive heart failure.

Last weekend, I had noticed that it looked like she was working hard to breathe, but discounted what I saw, thinking that I was overreacting. Then Sunday night, in stealth mode, she got into the pantry and scarfed some old deli turkey out of the garbage. Monday when I fed everyone breakfast she didn’t show up. I went looking for her and she acted like she had a bellyache, so off we went to the vets on Tuesday. If you read about last week’s misadventures, you might have noticed a casual mention about Molly. What you didn’t read was the reason why it took me so long to see a relatively light load of patients was because I was spending so much time on the phone Tuesday, between calls from Michael & calls from the vet. By 11:30am, I’d talked with Dr. S and he was concerned that we were dealing with a cat that was in CHF from hyperthyroidism. Amazingly enough given medical costs these days, for the sum of $311 Molly got a pretty stellar work-up. So when I talked with Michael at my lunch, I just knew that right then was not a good time to bring up the cat when he was focused on the fingerprints....

Fast forward to late Wednesday afternoon. Spoke with Dr. S again and Molly’s labs came back. “It’s good news & bad news.... The good news is that her thyroid levels are fine. The bad news is that this means the CHF is all a heart problem.” So the game plan was to put her on medication, (which I picked up twenty minutes after I got off the phone with the vet,) and to see how she did over the weekend. I’m going to call him Monday morning and we’ll see how it goes. She has hated being pilled x 2 each night since Wednesday, so tonight we crushed the pills & mixed them into some wet food. That worked tonight, but I’m not hopeful that will be a long-term solution. Thursday & Friday I thought that this was helping, her breathing slowed down and her appetite picked up. Last night, today and tonight, I’m not so convinced. She has been clingier lately; she wants to be on me, held, cuddled, consoled. Her sides just cave in with the effort it takes to breathe and she is starting to have that wasted look. Tonight I really started to become afraid that she is going to die, and she is going to die while I’m in Russia.

What is literally heart breaking about this situation is that Molly is truly a special cat. Of course I’m not biased. Molly & Pixel have the honor of having been my babies. My 3am feedings, wash their butts to poop, totally dependent babies, who convinced me that human babies at home was not my calling....

They were my 5 week old kittens that Michael & I brought home because we didn’t want them to go to the pound. Long story short, we got to meet them when they were two days old and Molly was the runt of the litter. I fell in love with her then and had her name picked out a few hours later. We already had Milo & Tessa, so one more didn’t seem like a problem. Pixel was sort of an afterthought, but she has never held that against us. When they came home, Pixel weighed one pound, but Molly was only ¾ pound and was too small for shots. It was the summer between 1st & 2nd year in med school and I was busy cleaning & renovating the house Michael & I were living in. So to keep an eye on them, I wore overalls a lot & would just park them in the big front pocket. They’d spend the day riding around with me and the bonding took. That is until I got to residency. Molly has never forgiven me for being away from home for 40+ hours at a time. Nights on-call, I’d phone home at 9pm to talk to Molly. For months the nurses thought I had a 4 year-old daughter at home named Molly, and really I did. She has climbed the pecking order and is the only cat that could stare at Milo and make him back away. She has ruled this family with an iron paw in a velvet glove, until recently when Tucker started to take over. She has had her moments of complete mental unhinged-ness which calicos are known for. But she has always been fundamentally a sweet cat and I feel totally blindsided by this recent turn of events. When did it happen that she got older? When did it happen that she went from kittenhood to geriatrics? And why didn’t I notice?

So you see, I didn’t exaggerate when I named this blog “Not such a tame world....” And so instead of mostly joy & happiness about finally getting to Russia, there is instead a very sizable serving of bittersweet at our home....

We are so lucky....

It has been a generosity weekend. Friday night I got home about 8:30pm and Michael informed me that when he had gotten home there was a huge mail bag on the front porch. He then gave me “that look”.... The one that says “Just what have you been up to and ordering off the internet?” I took the fifth on this one and we proceeded to open up the bag. Turns out that one of my cousins & her husband had taken leave of their senses and decided to *spoil us rotten* or more specifically, Tabitha. The bag was actually addressed to her and contained a bunch of summer clothes in her size. Michael kept going on about the three pairs of flip-flops in assorted colors. She will Love that. The timing couldn’t have been more perfect since we’ve been having 80 degree weather in Texas – and yes I know it is still technically winter. Of course currently in Moscow it’s about 30-32 degrees. So I’m all set with warm clothes to go get her & bring her home. But if it continued in the 70-80’s here, then we were going to be doing a lot of shopping in the first few days home. This way, we’ve at least got some breathing space. We really appreciate you thinking about us, Erin & Mark!!

Then just a few hours ago, Michael checked the mailbox for this weekend. Well, my buddies MJ & Tarl decided to help us top off the humanitarian aid bag for Russia, so there were two separate shipments of boys’ underwear in the mail. I suspect that it is only people who are traveling to Russia under circumstances similar to ours who would be delighted to find Spiderman under-roos in the mail, but we were Thrilled! If nothing else, traveling to Russia has put a new perspective on just how blessed this country is. So those went straight from the kitchen counter to the bag full of shoes and are safely packed waiting for transit. Thanks guys!!

Then today Danny & Phyllis came over to loan us their new (bought to record the twin grandsons) video camera. They also brought over some goodies to go into the busy bag to keep Tabitha entertained on the flight home.

The flip side of all this was spending most of Saturday working my way through the items for this trip’s “Gift list”. As usual the items included just sort of make me laugh. I had to take a photo tonight so that people wouldn’t think that I’m making this stuff up. Forgot to add the bottle of cognac though, so just add that in with your imagination. I’m mostly done, just need to track down the lipsticks and then pack up the whole enchilada.

So now it’s about 10:30pm on Sunday and I have no idea where the whole weekend escaped to. Not nearly enough items got scratched off the "to-do" list, pretty much as usual. Just pray that the OB’s decide to have a quiet week so that I’m not at work twelve hours a day when I really still have more loose ends to wrap up before we head to the airport on Saturday....

Two Words: Road Trip

Bear with me, you'll understand the title soon enough.

The past 72 hours have been quite the rollercoaster ride – and those who know me well know the opinion I have about rollercoasters. Let’s just say, I’m the dependable person at the bottom waiting for everyone else & holding their stuff because those things mess with my mind way too much. Call me a control freak, but I get no entertainment what-so-ever from being tossed about hither & yon, turned upside down etc. So you might deduce that the last few days have, well..., not been fun. And you would be soooo right.


Last week’s document drama was getting proof of home ownership.

√ Mark that done & off the list.


This week’s document drama was getting those state security clearance letters done, notarized, apostilled and back to Gladney by Friday to travel with another family this Saturday. Since of course, the others expired March 1st.

Michael still had the fingerprint cards that had been done about 2 weeks ago (for once procrastination was on our side) and when he talked to the state DPS headquarters they said that if we could get the cards to them that they could get the letters to us probably in the same day. So Michael finagled his work schedule & took a road trip to Austin on Tuesday. The catch was that he had to be at DPS when they opened at 8am, to have any reasonable chance of getting the letters that day. So he was up and gone by 4:30am Tuesday. I ended up awake shortly thereafter because Molly, Merlot & Brie were all very upset that he was gone and he’d woken them all up and obviously it was my fault and I needed to fix the situation. Sometimes I just love how cats think. (Insert sarcastic pause here.....) So as I had a fairly full agenda for the day myself, got up, did some chores, got ready for work, fed cats (that fixed a lot of their concerns), loaded the dishwasher, loaded the washer, etc and did those twenty-some-odd other little things that help keep everything running smoothly at home. Gathered up the dry-cleaning & Molly and dropped each off respectively at the cleaners & the vet before heading to the big hospital. Actually made it through traffic to a committee meeting and no sooner had I sat down, than I got a call from Michael at 8:30am. And thus was shattered my illusions of a “smooth” day.

He had just found out that he’d made a 250 mile trip for no real reason because DPS rejected the fingerprint cards. Said they were too light to scan. Thanks for visiting; Have a nice day.

Sometimes, when you know someone really well, you don’t really have to hear the words they say to know what’s going on – just the tone of their voice tell you everything. Yup, at that moment, I knew I needed to be the calm, cool cucumber type because Michael was “on the edge.” He ended up getting the house documents apostilled and then turned around and headed home, teleconferencing with work along the way, I might add.

At any rate, fast forward about 4 hours, and after a busy, stressful morning of babies & their parents, my partner and I had grabbed lunch and just sat down to eat when my phone rang again. My first reaction is always a bit stunned since I’ve gotten so used to not having a reliable signal within the hospital – so when a call does come though, it’s always a bit of a surprise. So now it was Michael letting me know that he was home and he’d called the police department in our small town & that they could do fingerprints for us if we got there before they closed at 5pm – so I had to get home by 5pm.

You need to imagine how thrilled I was to hear this news as my food was getting cold and I contemplated the 5 babies, 1 circ and 14 charts I still had to finish taking care of. I pulled it off though, and managed to get a 10 hour work day done in about 6 ½ . Left the hospital with 40 minutes to make a 45 minute trip (at legal limits) and actually managed to get to the station in time – don’t ask how fast I was going because I’m not telling.

Our very nice detective stayed over by 30 minutes to do the prints for us including a spare set of cards, just in case and when it came time to pay for the service he waived the fee entirely. Just said that once we get Tabitha home to bring her by the station so that they could see her & they’d let her climb around a police car and check everything out. I really wanted to start crying right then but pulled it together. We got his card and Detective Tony will be getting an e-mail from Moscow once we’ve got our girl.

Michael headed home & I went to the vet to bail out Molly, which is another post all its own....

Over dinner Michael started making plans for Wednesday, which essentially consisted of driving to Austin again and trying again for the letters. At this point he started in with a bunch of crazy talk about me staying home for my day off and that if something came up, he’d call me & I could drive down to Austin & meet him, yadda, yadda. I pretty much flat out said, “That’s crazy talk. I’m just going with you. It’s apparently my day off for a reason, don’t argue” Which was good for at least a minute of silence. So Wednesday we got up at 3:50am and repeated Tuesday. Well he repeated Tuesday; I was just along for the ride.

If you’re keeping track, we’re now on road trip #2 for the same week, for the same documents and still no light at the end of the tunnel.

We got there, and that Tuesday trip that he thought had been worthless and good for nothing, well not so! Turns out that everyone he’d talked to on Tuesday was floored that he’d done the same trip the next day and pretty much all the folks at DPS dropped what they were doing and went out of their way to get our letters done & back to us in three hours! Absolutely unheard of. It turned out to have been a really good thing I went along, because while the new fingerprint cards were very acceptable, if we handed those in they were going to have to be electronically scanned & it would be Thursday before the letters were ready. Because I was there, we could go have our fingerprints done again on their fancy-dancy electronic scanner and they could do a search right away. As Michael was processing this info I looked at him and just said “Glad I’m here.” To which he replied “Those hunches of yours are getting down-right spooky.” (I only wonder when I’m finally going to get a clue about winning lotto numbers <sigh>.... )

So we had a few hours to grab breakfast, went to the mall across the street, shopped at the Hello Kitty store & got Tabitha stuff she definitely doesn’t need but I’m sure she’ll want. Went back to DPS, got the letters, went down to the Secretary of State’s Office & got the apostilles. Then we headed right back to DFW. We actually managed to get to Gladney in time to get the papers to Kate. She looked though everything and as of Wednesday afternoon, it looked like we had as much done as we could.

As it stands, because of this adoption process, I have now been fingerprinted by the police FIVE times and I haven’t done a darn thing! I have been warned however, not to commit any crimes because now I’m “in the system”.... And you will be happy to know that according to the DPS of this great state of Texas, neither Michael, nor I, have a criminal record.

And so now task number 7530: Notarized Apostilled State Clearance letters for each of us, times two copies gets a big old √ and scratch that off the list....

Pure Joy!

This is my new friend Catie.

She's 5 1/2 months old and belongs to my best friends from medical school, MJ & Tarl. Catie hasn't yet met a stranger and even Michael thought she was pretty darn cute "for a baby". They were in town this weekend and we went out to dinner to visit & celebrate that long awaited court date. So after dinner when I was holding Catie while they were loading up the car, Michael snapped this picture of Catie & I chatting.

I love this photo because:

1. Who wouldn't love a photo of a cute baby laughing & smiling?
2. Because I know how long my friends have waited for this little charmer
3. Because I never thought I'd see the day that my buddy Tarl just beamed when he talked about his girl; never thought I'd see a mushy side either since he tends to be a bit reserved
4. Because it amazes me to see what a fabulous Mom MJ has become (I hope I'm half as good) and Tarl has taken to this Dad-role like a duck to water
5. Because this is one of the only pictures of me that I'm aware of, that shows me being truly antimatedly happy; Catie's happy, I'm happy, and we're sharing a bit of pure joy!

I can't wait to see her grow up. I hope she stays this happy for a very very long time.

It was a very good weekend!

WE HAVE A COURT DATE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ok, the title should say it all. One or more of the documents that was faxed to Russia apparently swayed the courts in our favor and so we have a court date in the region for March 21. We're planning on leaving on March 18 and hoping to return home, with Tabitha in tow, on March 29. There are a few smaller hurdles left to clear, but this was the good news we were waiting for!

A huge heartfelt "Thank You" to everyone who's been praying & keeping their fingers crossed for us!