Well...the process has begun!!!

This morning was filled with nervous tummies all around! The boys had their first day of school. Connor seemed fairly excited, while Parker sat at the breakfast table and pouted at the thought of summer being over. They got to school without any major hitches...except of course that Parker thought he would have a miserable day and he did not like his backpack! Ah, the horror!! I did take pics of the first day and will have to upload those later. Thankfully, after school, they were all smiles and even happy with the backpacks!!

My meeting with Natasha went fabulous!!! We sat and talked for over 2 hours! It was so informative and helpful to meet in person. She answered all my questions and really thinks this process will be very smooth. Yeah!! I got the packet from the home study agency, "Hope's Cottage" and am almost done filling it out. She said it normally takes clients days to complete. Yeah, I am almost done, except for what Vince has to complete. I might just be an over achiever.

As far as time frame goes, she is confident that we should be travelling to Russia sometime in Spring and bringing Hope home sometime this summer. That is of course, if all goes well and the bureaucracy is on our side. How likely is that? Thankfully, we have God on our side, so I don't see any major obstacles. She said the home study is not as intrusive as it sounds, but I know I will still be a nervous wreck.

She said we will travel into Moscow or St Petersburg and then travel to the region of the orphanage. It will take 2 trips, maybe 3 to get everything done and bring Hope home. I guess it is time for Vince to start travelling for work more to rack up those frequent flier miles!

I put a call into the home study agency today to set up our Intake Interview. Hopefully we can get that done soon so we can get the ball rolling.

I will update as I get information. Thanks for all of your thoughts and prayers. We are so excited to bring Hope home.

~Kellie