Painting Natalia's Room!!!

We have 3 days left to prepare our home for our daughter. 

We received an email this weekend (completely unexpectedly) from Terri saying that we had a "tentative" court date for October 4th. You can imagine my surprise because not only two weeks ago she told us that the court date would not be until the end of October because of Natalia being to young. I was thrilled to hear that we will be seeing her next week!!! And bringing her home by the end of October!! We got the got the date confirmed for the 5th instead of the 4th and we will be flying to Moscow this coming Monday!! 

So, here I am, running around my house, cleaning, painting, organizing and I only have 3 days left. We will leave on Saturday morning to drive up to Michigan so the boys can stay with my parents while we are gone. We will go back to Michigan for the black out period and will not be coming back to Albuquerque until after we go back to Russia for the 2nd time and bring her home. 

I could not be more excited!! Her room is almost done. I decided to paint one wall just today, and I love it!!! The boys are beside themselves! They are not only going to Nanie and Papa's house, but we will be bringing their baby sister home sooo soon!! Sammy says "I can't wait for baby Batalia to be here". I can't either!! And yes, he says it with a B. The smile that Caleb had on his face when we told him the good news was just brilliant. I over heard him talking to his friend the other day about his "sister". It was the sweetest thing! 

This has been such an amazing ride. We have an amazing God to create a thing like Adoption!! 

^{Ephesians 1:3-5}

³ Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, ⁴ even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love ⁵ he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, ⁶ to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. ⁷ In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, ⁸which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight ⁹ making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ ¹⁰as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.

Almost There!!!

So the last trip to Russia was to confirm Natalia as our referral. This went as planned and she is now officially matched with our family. The next step will be the court hearing, which we are still waiting for a date but have been told that it should be no later than the first week of October. We are hoping for sooner of course! Then there is the black out period which usually will last 12 to 14 days. Then we will fly back to Russia for about a 5 day trip to pick up Natalia, do paperwork and we are hopeful that we will finally have her home by the end of October. 

I thank God for this journey and that this portion is almost over!! Having her home will surely begin another amazing journey that I can't wait to start!! 

Please continue to pray for Natalia. She was sick while I was there this last time. It seemed to be just a cold and a rash, but not knowing and not being able to do anything to help her was so hard. Pray that she is cared for and will receive the medical attention that she needs. 

She is so amazing!!  I am gushing from excitement and anticipation. I never knew how it would feel to be this close and now that it is here, I hardly have the words to describe it! Praise God for adoption and our sweet baby girl!!  It has been awesome watching the anticipation in Caleb and Sammy as well. Especially Caleb, he has been so disappointed every time we have to explain that it is not time to bring her home yet. He loves talking about her and the plans that we have for when she finally arrives. Can't wait!!