Just breathe.....

That is what I keep saying to myself each minute of the day! Ed and I can not believe that we are leaving in 4 days! FOUR!!! I think that we are ready to go. We have packed everything that we possibly can. We each have two bags. One to check and one to carry one. We have enough movies and music, books, magazines, cards and Advil. :) We have just a few things left to do. Mostly things for the boys.
My parents will be arriving tomorrow. Which will be nice. It will help me to relax- at least for a second or two!
I am off to do a few last minute things. I don't think that I will have time to Blog again until we arrive in Kiev.

Here are a few things that I think you should or might want to know:
We leave Sunday and get to the Ukraine on Monday. There is a 7 hours time difference from the East Coast. The entire time of our trip there will be from 9:00 am (our time) to 9:00 am (their time).

I will Blog as often as I can. I am not sure when and if we will have Internet connection, but check the blog often to see what we have been up to.

Our appointment, and there after: Our appt. is Tuesday the 23. Not sure what time. BUT by the time it is noon here, we will have all the details for you as to how the appointment went! At the appointment they will show us some files containing as much information as they have and a photo. We will go through them with our translator/facilitator. We will (fingers crossed) select a child. (Please pray that we see the child that is meant to be ours, and that we get shown children that are healthy.)(For those of you that are Ukraine PAP-or AP- I KNOW that there are no "healthy" child. You know what I mean when I say "healthy".) From there you need a referral to go to the orphanage that she is at. The orphanage most likely will NOT be close to where we are. We will then travel by car or train to that region. Meet with the director of the orphanage and then meet the child. If all goes we, we will decided to adopt her and begin paperwork to get a court date. This date can be a week or more away. We have court, wait the mandatory 10 day waiting period. During this time we will visit her 2 times a day- at the orphanage. After the 10 days we pick her up, head back to Kiev, finish more paperwork and GET HOME!!! We are hoping the entire trip will take 4-6 weeks from start to finish.

That is the best case scenario that I have layed out for you. Ed and I realize that there will be many bumps along our road. We are ready and as prepared as we can be.

We ask that you keep Nick and Tom in your thoughts and prayers while we are gone. We know that Grandma and Grandpa will take GREAT care of them. But it is a long journey for them as well. They will miss there Mommy and Daddy even with all the fun things Grandma and Pa have planned for them. Pray that my mom and dad can keep up with them, stay healthy and they understand how to do the boys homework (hee, hee!) with them.

Please pray for Ed and I while we are away. Keep us safe and strong- prepared to face whatever challenges lay ahead of us. We are so ready to take this amazing journey. We have been waiting a long time for this day to come.

Finally, please pray for our daughter. This little girl is about to have here world turned upside down. Pray that she has the strength and courage to face ALL the new and exciting things that will be placed before her in the next month.

Ed and I want to thank EVERYONE who has helped us along the way. All of your emails, comments and advice has been amazing! We feel so loved. We hope that you will continue to follow along, and enjoy what we have to share. Don't forget to leave a comment right here on the blog site- you DON'T have to email me separately. If you check my older posts it tell you how to leave comments right on the blog! (I actually prefer if you leave the comment here(unless there is something personal)- it is easier for me!)

Thanks again for all the support!

Love- Kristina and Ed