Finishing Touches

Depending how things go in the next day or so, we could be bidding farewell to the beginning of a chilly CT winter and heading south to the start of a warm Brazilian summer and a whole new life in the next week or so.

Of course, there are a bunch of IF's floating around, but IF everything were to go smoothly, we could be meeting our children in the first week of November. IN A WEEK!

But there are those IF's to contend with. IF the Acordo (sent to the wrong address by the US Consulate in Rio) is/was recovered by Lino and brought to the right place, our court date could be arranged this coming week... with enough time to prepare the children for our arrival.

IF the court date is scheduled later than the first week of November, we may very well run into some significant delays since our USCIS fingerprint approval expires in December and we must complete the adoption before they expire. IF I hadn't forgotten to sign one of the pages on the application to extend that approval, we'd probably have nothing to worry about, but since I did... we may end up having to wait around here for our fingerprints to be renewed before we can even request a court date.

IF we don't travel before Christmas, we'll have to get new visas for ourselves since they are valid for entry up to 90 days after they are generated--December 23.

I'm trying very hard to keep it together right now since neither one of us can bear the thought of another delay (or series of delays). And do you know what I think? I think that only God can make this happen. Doesn't it seem like the kind of set-up He would love? Everything looks impossible, and just as we begin to lose hope... the only One who can make a miracle happen... makes a miracle happen. And everyone knows that it wasn't thanks to me, or James, or any government or agency. It was only thanks to God. Let's pray for that.

In the meantime, while we wait to find out how things go with all these IF's... we're putting the finishing touches on the house.

The girls' room got some cheery decorations.  They make me feel happy every time I walk into the room.

The boy's room is all set with clothes in the drawers and toys on the shelves... 

... and a desk from Tio Ben.         Warm coats waiting in the closet.