Let's try this again

Now that I have calmed down a little bit I guess I need to update the blog. We got our new travel dates and now we are supposed to be leaving on the 8th and returning on the 14th. At least it's not that much longer. I'm trying to get our plane tickets changed now which is a big joke. The airline that we booked our flights with has nothing available for the dates that we need. The travel agency suggested getting a refund on those tickets and booking with another airline that has tickets available for those dates. We would lose part of the money we've already paid for those tickets and the new tickets would not be as cheap to change if something else were to come up. We may end up sticking with the old airline and leaving earlier or coming back later. We have some tickets reserved, but as of now they don't have any seats available for the flight from Germany to the US. I guess there are worse places to be stuck! Alan has always wanted to visit his birthplace so this would be the perfect opportunity!
We did finally find out that the Ministry of Education in Russia are the ones who changed our dates. The agency thinks that it probably has something to do with the fact that Russia has their elections the same time we do and all of their government offices are closed on the 3rd and 4th.
Hopefully it will be smooth sailing from here on out!

Crying Never Helps...

I'm not usually a crier, but when the agency called today to say that our dates had been pushed back I couldn't help it. Knowing that I'm going to have to wait even longer to see my little man is really hard. We didn't get any explanation as to why our dates changed all they said was that it's very common. They think that we may leave on the 8th, but they won't be able to confirm this until tomorrow. As I've said before,I really lack in the patience department. Alan has enough for the both of us though!
I will let you know when we find out our new travel dates. Please keep us and our little man in your prayers.

We have travel dates!

We got our travel dates yesterday! Here's our tentative schedule:
Leave the US on November 3rd.
Arrive in Moscow November 4th
November 5th we will go to the Ministry of Education & receive the "official assignment" of our child and then we will be given permission to visit with him that day. We will also visit with him on the 6th and 7th.
We will fly back from Moscow on the 9th. Then it's back to work on the 10th! (if we are still functioning!)
I made our travel arrangements today, which I never thought would be so difficult. I checked with several different airlines and several travel agencies. Some of the airlines say they offer special pricing for international adoptions, but they only fly in to one airport in Moscow and they give you the discount off their highest fare. I ended up going with a great agency called Golden Rule Travel. They are a humanitarian agency that specialize in international adoption travel & missionary trips. They were super nice & they were half the price of the other agencies for the exact same flights.
Now all we have to do is wait and pack and I've been told I have to pack light. I've never been able to do that before, so that will be a big challenge for me!
I will let you know if anything changes. By the way, our passports made it safely to Maryland! Whew!

Waiting for dates

Sorry I haven't updated the blog lately, but we've been really busy. Here's what's going on.
We talked to the doctor at the IAC last Tuesday night for almost an hour. We were told she would call us after 6:00 pm and after pacing the floors for 2 1/2 hours she finally called at 8:30! Alan was very calm, but I can't say that I was. Alan was doing his best trying to keep me from going insane! The doctor apologized for keeping us waiting and told us she just wanted to have enough time to go over everything with us and make sure we got a chance to ask all the questions that we wanted to. She was very thorough and it was well worth the money.
We called the agency and accepted the referral on Wednesday and they said that they thought that we would be traveling in about 2 weeks-around October 23rd. They said they would let us know in a few days when we would be traveling. I called them back today and they still don't have any travel dates for us yet. Be praying it is soon, because I am sooo ready to go see my little man!
I mailed in our applications for or Visas on Thursday. You have to send your passports in with the application which scares me a little bit. They assured me that it would be OK and that they have never lost one yet (mine will probably be the first)!
Hopefully they will call us with some dates this week. We will let everyone know when we find out!

REFERRAL!!!!!!

We got a call from our agency on Friday wanting to know if we would be interested in a little boy! They sent us his medical information (and the cutest picture ever!)and we have been looking it over this weekend. We sent it to a doctor at the International Adoption Center to check out and we should hear back from them on Tuesday. After we speak to them and find out all the information on his health we will call the agency back and let them know what we decide. We will tell you more about him once we make our decision. At this point I don't think there is anything that they could tell us that would make us not accept the referral. Our agency told us we would be traveling in 2 weeks if we accept!!
We'll update you on Tuesday after we make our decision. Please keep us in your prayers!