Merry Christmas

I wasn't going to post today...it is Christmas, after all.  But, I did want to fill in a few details.

1) We flew home yesterday and surprised the kids.  They didn't know we were coming home and it was so sweet to see their faces.

2)The judge did NOT waive the 10 days.  The reason for the 10 day wait is to give local residents, family, or the prosecutors the chance to protest the judge's decision to allow us to adopt her.  If there is no 10 day wait period, and someone does protest they will then have 30 days to file that protest.  And all that time she has to wait in the orphanage.  And we have to wait in country, away from the children.  So, as much as it breaks our hearts the 10 day period is best within the laws of the land.

3)We came home without our daughter.  We had to leave for the 10 days because we have 5 other blessings that need us.  AND it may be longer than 10 days.  More than likely it will be 3 weeks before we go back.  This is because of their holidays.  We won't go back until after she has a local passport.  That will keep us from being in the country without an end date.  When we do go back it will only be for a couple of days before we'll break her out of the orphanage forever.  And we'll only be in country for 1 week.  We are blessed and excited that our court date happened when it did.  But, the timing with the holidays set the return trip back a bit.

4)We are planning a full week.  A week full of cuddles.  A week full of speaking English all the time.  A week full of American movies...granted most will be animated, but we won't be picky. 

Merry Christmas everyone.  Whether you celebrate the holiday or not, I hope you have a wonderful day with family and friends.