11 DAYS!!!!

I can’t believe we are leaving in just 11 days.  Right now we are planning on leaving on June 4th but that might change to the 5th if we feel like we can get there early enough. Plane tickets are expensive!  I had estimated $1200 each ticket round trip but it looks like they are going to be $1800 each.  So, that will be an additional $3600 once we buy all of them.  Wow!  Jody, Ellie and I will be making the 1st trip.  We will stay 2 to 3 weeks.  We will have our appointment, meet the kids, do all kinds of paperwork and running around and then have court.  After court, we will come home for the 10 day waiting period.  Many families choose to stay during the waiting period but I don’t think I can be away from the boys that long.  On the 2nd trip, only one of us will go back.  That trip will be 1 to 2 weeks and we bring the kids home with us!  I can’t even think about the financial part of things right now.  We have had so many wonderful people help us with donations and I’m just going to trust that God has provided what we need.  It is a little tricky because it is probably going to cost an extra $6000 for the 2nd child, but then you get double the tax return.  So, in the end it is actually less money that we need overall but more money up front.  Not sure how to handle that and actually I’m glad that I don’t really have time to think about it right now.  God will work all of that out.  If we end up with more than we need, we will donate to another family or orphan ministry.  If we end up with less than we need, then I don’t know.  Oh, there is so much to do!  I started making a list today and it grows by the minute.  In addition to getting things ready for our trip, I have to be at school for something every day this week. It’s crazy!   There are so many things that I’ve been putting off but now have to be done right away.  I’m still trying to get our family picture book together because I’ve heard that is very helpful during your appointments and meetings.  I sent a bunch of pictures to be printed.  I have to write out what I want to be translated and send them to our adoption representative who will translate them for me.  Then I can put it all together in a book.  So far, I have 2 pages finished.  Yikes!   I started making a packing list also and I realized that I am going to have to purchase all kinds of things at all kinds of places.  I need to buy European converters.  I have no idea where to get one of those things.  We also have to figure out what we are going to do about a computer.  The only laptop we have is Jody’s work one.  He can’t add programs and it doesn’t have skype which we will need very bad when we are half way across the world from 3 of our kids.  My sister has one we can borrow but it has to be plugged in which won’t really fit because most of the time we will be using it at restaurants and coffee shops.  Jody thinks we can find one pretty cheap.  Our DVD burner is broken on our desktop so if I could find a good deal on a laptop with one that would be great.  All of our videos are stuck on our camera and flip and I also need to get that taken care of before we leave.  I need to have plenty of room for video taping our new kids!  Jody is pretty morbid these days and keeps reminding me that we don’t have a will but we need to do one before we leave.  I have no idea how we can fit that in.  Is there something we can download from the internet that  would work?  We just need to basically say who gets our kids if something happens to us.  I’m just trusting that God isn’t going to let something happen to us because 6 kids is A LOT!  Sorry this post is so random.  That’s even after I erased half of it because it was so chaotic.  That is how I feel right now.   My mind is all jumbled and I don’t know where to start.

I’m feeling very convicted as I’m typing right now.  I’m so consumed with all that I have to do that I haven’t even stopped to pray for the kids today.  Please be praying for our girl.  I can’t even imagine how hard it’s going to be to make this decision for herself and her little brother.  She will be deciding to leave the only thing she has ever known.  She is leaving the 2 older brothers that she loves so much.  She is giving up the hope that someday her mother will come back and get them.  She’ll be going to a country where she doesn’t understand what anyone is saying and where the way of life is so unfamiliar.  She will be choosing to join a family that she really doesn’t know anything about.   All of this at 13 years old!  This breaks my heart.  All of these things that I’m worried and stressed about are nothing compared to what she is going through.  So, instead of making list and researching things on the internet, I think I will be better off if I just spend some time praying for the kids tonight.  Maybe tomorrow I can get stuff done.