So, I honestly thought this week, the week before our Embassy appointment, was going to be extremely difficult. To be so close to a goal but not quite there is often so excruciating. And, as I mentioned before, most of our [Home Country] paperwork buddies had their appointments last Friday and/or this past Monday so I fully expected to be super impatient and probably a little bit mopey as I waited for ours. But, even though I definitely don’t deserve it, God has looked after me this week and filled it with happiness and, surprisingly, progress!

It started on Monday when, completely out of the blue, we received emails from our coordinator with 50 new pictures from the transition house. The first email that came through completely took me by surprise and I immediately messaged [L] to tell him to check them out. Then while I’m looking at my lovelies, my inbox just kept dinging with more! The pictures were from a birthday party that the nannies threw for 2 sweet sisters last week and then various pics from around the house. We got to see [A] and [G] with their party hats on eating cake with all their friends! I love seeing smiles on all the kiddos that I have loved and prayed for all these months. And they were all laughing and playing and eating Cheetos and cookies, it was perfect! We also got to see [A] with his hands on his head concentrating very hard on some English flashcards during “preschool.” He looks like a very serious student and I love that they are taking the time to teach them some English. And, of course, there was that picture that I posted yesterday with my babies holding hands and proving, again, how perfectly adorable they are.

Then yesterday we got another wonderful inbox surprise when our coordinator emailed to tell us that, since the Embassy officials are in their city this week, they went ahead and did our birth parent/relative interview yesterday! The birth parent or relative interview is a new part of the process that the Embassy has recently implemented in an effort to make completely sure that the children that are being adopted in the [Home Country] are truly orphans and that all the adults involved are fully informed and are willing participants. This is a great thing and it surely needs to be done. But, since it is a new procedure, we were a little nervous about whether it would slow down our Embassy/visa process. But since they went ahead and did it before we even had our Embassy appointment, that is no longer a concern! Our coordinator said it went great and we are really excited to have one more thing checked off the list!

And today we are checking off another “to-do” as [L] and I mail off our applications for our visas to travel to the [Home Country]. This is very exciting because, once we have these, all we’ll need is the green light from our agency and then we can finally board a plane to the [Home Country]! We’re told there is about a week or two turnaround so I’ll be perched in front of my bedroom window with an eagle eye on the mailbox for the next 7-14 days if you need me.

Then, tomorrow, our file will officially be dropped off at the Embassy in [Capital City] to wait for our appointment on Monday. [A] and [G] will be taken to the appointment with our in-country facilitator and then we wait for the Embassy to complete their investigation and issue their visas. Once their visas are issued – we can TRAVEL TO BRING THEM HOME! Holy smokes, my heart stopped just typing that. The timeline for their visas can be anywhere from 1-4 weeks. I’m praying for 1 but we’ve been told the norm is usually 3. I’ll compromise and take 2.

So, contrary to my flawed belief, this week has actually been fabulous and incredibly busy! I can’t believe how close we are and how soon this could actually be happening!

5 days until our Embassy appointment!