][ .: Court Date :. ][

Ok, ok... so I realize it has been a REALLY long time since I've written, but I'm not one to share just the everyday doldrums, because frankly, it's not usually that exciting!  :-)  There hasn't been a great deal to share since we returned other than a few documents signed, and a large portion of patiently waiting.  So, I've waited to blog until there is news to share.

So, what's new? ... we now have a court date in Russia!!  I won't give the specific date on here, but I will say that it is in the earlier part of November, and if all progresses on the expected timeline, we will be home with our little boy by Christmas... just barely.  :-)
I made a trip to Springfield on Wednesday of this week to get the last of our documents (hopefully) Apostilled (certification of the Public Notaries) and then sent off to our agency.  At this time, I think they should be on their way to Russia.

So, what next ... more details, right?  Well, we will go over a few days early to allow for another visit to the orphanage, then we have to have complete, comprehensive, medical exams in Russia, and then an extra day just to allow for a bit of "unwinding" before court.  We know only a little bit about court at this point, but we know that the court hearing could last anywhere from 2-5 hours.  In fact, another family from our agency was in court about a week ago and it was reported to us that they were in-session for 6 hours!!  Wow!!!

And what's new in Russia... well, the weather in Russia was actually warmer there yesterday than it was here in central IL!!  But, that won't last long...  The rest of next week is forecast to be in the high-30s and low-40s there.  And, they are moving quickly toward there dark days of winter.  When we are projected to be in Russia in December, sunrise will be around 11a and sunset will be around 5p... yep, 6-total hours of daylight.  And, amongst some of the tall buildings of the city, daylight closes down much faster.

Nonetheless, we are excited and encouraged to be moving forward again... and equally excited about the prospect of having our little guy before Christmas!