An Early Christmas Present

It is with great excitement that I sit here tonight and update our story. So much has happened in the past couple days. Today was a rather busy day. Took Daisy to get a bath and make sure she was smelling pretty for Santa when he comes next week. Then there were some errands to help Mom and Dad out in preparation for their Christmas Open House today. Had a great time mingling with family friends and the parentals at the open house. Picked Daisy up from her bath. And then went home. As I normally do in my Type A routine, I checked the mail on my way in. An early Christmas gift arrived. We received our 171 today! To the adoptive parental nation out there that has gone through or is going through the same journey we are embarking, you understand the importance of this day. To others, a quick explanation. In basic layman's terms, this form is the US approval for us to adopt Nastya and bring her back to the US. Without this authorization, we could not proceed with the adoption. Basically, our successful adoption comes down to the fact that 3 people/groups/etc need to approve the adoption. First, the US gov't. That is the 171. Second is the SDA, which is the State Dept of Adoption in Ukraine. Third is the judge in a Ukrainian courtroom. Step 1 is now in hand and we can progress to step 2. What a great day! Throughout this process I am constantly amazed at the everyday miracles God is performing in our lives. Today is no different. 5 years ago today, my Grandma passed away. And today we received one of the major pieces of the puzzle in our journey. I can only believe that this is Grandma helping us climb the mountain. As she did along the way while she was here with us, today I believe she helped deliver this most cherished item. Grandma may not be here with us anymore, but you can bet your "babushka" that she is watching over us and Pappap is there telling her how to do it! I sure do miss you Grandma and Pappap. LA and I also received other great news this week. On Thursday, we received an email from David, our adoption coordinator, that we had received our official Dossier submission date. February 23! The Dossier is the collection of all the paperwork that is required to complete the adoption. We have been working for the past 3 months to collect and compile all the required information. Now, we have our date that it will all be presented. This date is one of 3 main dates that we are waiting for. This one starts the official process of adoption in Ukraine. Shortly after submittal, we will receive our second date, which is our SDA appointment and the day we need to be there to start the in country process. That appointment will lead to our court date and finally to the completion of the adoption. 2 of the first of sets of 3 that we have been waiting for. Both in a time span of 48 hours. WOW! Prayers are being answered every day. Miracles are being performed every day. Every day we wake up, we are one day closer to giving Nastya her forever family and making LA and my dreams come true. God is good!