14 more days!

We are leaving for Russia in two weeks and there's still plenty to do! Today I got some photos developed of us with Brother for the photo album to show the judge at our court hearing. I'm also getting all of the copies of the documents in our dossier organized to take with us. We are hoping to avoid a last-minute rush to get any documents notarized and apostilled at the Secretary of State. We only have one document, potentially two, that need to get apostilled, so that was great news for our checkbook.

So here's the general schedule of things for Trip 2. We arrive in Moscow, stay overnight and fly to Astrakhan the next day. Then we will visit Brother I believe one more time before court. Then on March 3rd we will have the court hearing. We were told that typicially it lasts about one and a half hours. Then the judge will give her decision, however Brother will stay at the orphanage for the 10-day waiting period. This is typical for Russian court, so either side can appeal the decision, which we have never heard of anyone have any problems with anyone appealing the adoption. Then we will be able to pick him up and take him to our hotel in Astrakhan. We will then wait an additional 7 days for his passport. After that, we will venture on to Moscow to take care of some business, including a medical for Brother and an interview at the embassy. Then we will be able to come home!

For those of you planning a trip, here is a great website I found that gives you information on airline seating charts, as well as in-flight amenities:

http://www.seatguru.com/

One thing we really need prayer for is our judge. We don't know her name (I believe it's a woman), but we have heard she can sometimes be a tough one. We would like to ask her to waive the 10-day wait, so we can get home sooner, but to be honest, it seems hopeless. Usually parents ask the judge to waive the 10 days because of some medical reason regarding the adopted child. We are hoping to ask for the 10 days to be waived because the hardship it creates on our family - being gone so long from home from our 6 year old son and because of Matt's work situation. I am hoping to put together a well thought out, sincere letter, that touches the judge's heart. We would REALLY appreciate your prayers, not only as I draft this letter, but also when we have our court date, which is March 3rd at 2PM. Our agency said it doesn't hurt to try, as long as we write this letter in a respectful manner. We'll continue to keep you posted on the latest!