Expectations of the trip

6 days, can you believe it? Six days 'til we go! We are so thankful (again!) for more gracious donations from our church family received yesterday, including a monetary donation and allowing us to borrow a backpack for our carry-on. Then a nearby friend dropped off a baby carrier that we can use in-country to carry Wallace in and left a note with a donation as well (thank you, so much!).

As we get closer to traveling we're getting more questions about the actual travel and process and timing of things. So I thought I'd just give a simple run-down of what we are expecting (and this is just my understanding so if any experienced families have better way to explain or more detailed info feel free to chime in:

We fly on Sept 11th and arrive in Wallace's country on the 12th. Our appointment to get his referral (permission to visit him in the orphanage) is on the 14th. We might leave that day on the train or wait 'til the next day - to go to the region his orphanage is in. I am not sure yet how soon from there we'd get to meet him, probably pretty quick! Then we MEET our little boy and officially accept the referral and ask for a court date. We pray that court date is very soon - possibly less than 2 weeks (we hope!) from then. Court. Then, once approved for the adoption of Wallace, there is a 10-day waiting period. I am not sure yet if we'll be allowed to gather documents like new birth certificate, etc... during that time or if we'll wait 'til after (varies from region and judge, I think). "Gotcha day" - the day we get to go pick him up from the orphanage!!! Lots of running/driving around to get documents needed for: Visa, Passport, Medical Exam. Train ride back out of region with our little boy and documents in-hand! Appointments for Visa, embassy registering, medical exam, booking our flight home, etc... Fly home!