I'm Back!!!

After almost 48 hours of traveling, I am very happy to report that I am safely back in Vika's city!  :)  I had started my day early on Sunday morning to finish up some last minute preparations and then we left for the airport around 8 a.m.  It was a lot harder to say good-bye for this second trip.  Thankfully, I had brought some work with me, so I was preoccupied with working on that after I got all checked in and waiting on the first flight.  All of my planes were on-time and the flights went without problems.  Praise the Lord!  By the time I got to the capital city in Vika's country, I was longing for a bed to stretch out in.  But it would be a while before I got there.  Another adopting family and I waited with the driver on one more family to come out, and then they finally came out.  Their luggage was lost!  This family has had a rough start into their journey here.  They found out they were coming here this past Wednesday, then they had to travel two days to bring their kids to where they would stay, and then they got on a plane to come here and then they lost their luggage!  Ahhh....  They were coming for a blind referral (meaning they had not yet chosen a child).  We immediately had to go to an office for them to sign some paperwork, and then we went to the SDA to wait and see if they could still get an appointment to accept their referral.  Our driver Niko came and brought the other family that was waiting with me to their apartment, and I got to stay with them for a little while to fellowship while Niko went back to the SDA to pick up the other family!  They were completely exhausted and I think a little overwhelmed, so if you can remember them in prayer, I know they need it!  Niko came and picked me back up and we headed to the train station.  I was handed some important paperwork and my printer and climbed up to the top bunk of the train cabin I was sharing with two other travelers and off I went.  I didn't care where I would sleep or who I would be traveling with.  I was just so happy to be able to lay down and stretch out.  One of the guys in the cabin had to get out at an earlier stop, so we got  a wake up call at 5 a.m.  Ahh... I think I could have easily slept another couple of hours.  :)  We got to our stop a little over an hour later, and Igor, my driver, was there waiting for me at the train station and helping me with my luggage.  I was so happy to see a familiar face!  He brought me to a very nice apartment, and the landlady immediately started fixing me breakfast!  I was so thankful, I had to hug her!  I had not eaten any "real" food since I was on the plane from D.C. to Frankfurt, Germany (Sunday night).  She fixed me crepes and tea and filled up a whole bowl with chocolates, and then I finally got to take a shower, too.  What more does a girl need???  I am thankful for safe travels and that I am here to finally bring home our daughter.

I do need your prayers!  In order to keep our travel dates home, this final paperwork chase has to go very smoothly.  I am still waiting to get a call that our court degree is ready so that we can get on our way to Vika's birth city (over 150 miles south of here) to get her birth certificate and her social security number changed.  Since it is so far away, I need to get that call here very soon or I will already be delayed by at least a day.  Since there are two holidays and a weekend during my time here, we need to apply for Vika's passport as soon as possible as it takes two business days to complete.  If you would please pray for me the next couple of days for everything to go very smoothly, I would really appreciate it!!!  Abe is home and left in charge of the girls (wasn't that a nice Father's Day gift I gave him? :)).  I know he would appreciate your prayers as well! :)  I know the girls are loving having papa all to themselves.  I am sorry, I have no new pictures of Vika for you yet.  I don't know when I will get to see her again, but I am praying very, very soon-hopefully tomorrow when I pick her up to come home forever!  I do have some pictures of the little taggy lovey and the bean bags I made for Eliisa.  I just got that call I've been waiting for, so off I go... pictures will come another time!  :)