K, Woah.

First of all, we got word that Sasha (who translated and delivered our dossier) was called back into the office to fix a translation issue...a routine thing, nothing to worry about. He then contacted our coordinator, David, and let him know that it didn't appear to him that there was any problem with my little passport issue. He felt it would have been acknowledged at that point and suggests we don't worry about it. Until I hear that we have been approved and have an appointment at the SDA (State Department of Adoptions), I'm not making plans...but this is a very nice thing to hear!

Secondly, we also received the information that the two families who were first to submit their dossiers this year did receive their invitations today! Their appointments are March 26th and 29th. And this, my friends, is the reason I chose to title this post what I did. It was my first reaction when I read about it. K, woah...that is 13 days from now!!

See, it is necessary to arrive at least one full day before your appointment date in case there are travel delays of any kind. You DO NOT want to miss your appointment. So, this means one of these families needs to arrive in Ukraine in LESS than TWO WEEKS! A typical timeframe to wait for this appointment after receiving your approval and invitation is 3 to 4 weeks so this is cutting that time in half...a little hard on the pocketbook, but easy on the heart. For many of us, and as one of my friends who is also adopting said today, there is an ache to have these children with us, to bring them home and start working on the new life we are all anticipating. The waiting can be painful.

Since our 20-day waiting period ends in one week, Marsh and I started talking about the reality that we, too, might have a short time to wait before we are to leave. I emailed our coordinator and asked why there was such a short wait time for these families...was it because of the region they are adopting from? Was it because of how early in the year this is all happening? When he wrote back, he said it was most likely because these families are the first to be adopting in 2012 and that this is probably something that will happen for the next couple of weeks.

K, woah. The next couple of weeks? Don't we fit into that category?? Suddenly, it was like hearing my doctor say he was going to induce me early...so excited to welcome the new baby, but I thought I had a little more time to prepare! You know...build the crib, organize the cabinets, paint the walls...get some sleep!

But Ruslan and Nastia aren't babies and they need as much time here as possible to get their footing in their new culture, country and language. The Lord is steering this ship, so we will go with it...whatever it may be. Clean basement or not.