t-7 days

Flights booked, suitcases being filled, cat and turtle caregivers secured and we are getting ready to leave.   We will leave Birmingham Wednesday, the 25th, and drive to Atlanta.  Thursday morning we will board flights to Chicago, Vienna and then Kiev.  We will arrive in Kiev the afternoon of the 27th.  We will spend the next three days getting over jet lag, exploring the city, grocery shopping, etc.  On July 1st (pray your June 30th before going to sleep) Preston and I will have our meeting with the government to be presented with files of children available for adoption.  At this time Preston and I will select one child to go and visit.  Within the next day or two all of us will board a train/plane and head to our new destination.  This destination will be determined by the child we pick (where her orphanage is located).  Once we meet our child we will give our official intent to adopt.  At this time our paperwork will go back to Kiev where they will put it through their process for at least 10 business days.  At this time we may be able to set up our adoption court date with the judge or we may need to wait until our paperwork is back from Kiev before we can set the date.  It all just depends on the preference of the judge.  During this time we will be able to visit the orphanage every day.  At our court appointment our judge, our new child and Preston and I all must agree to the adoption.  After the court date our child will return to the orphanage for 10 more days.  Once those 10 days are complete we will set up appointments in Kiev with the American embassy, doctors, etc.  From start to finish we are looking at about 60 days....possibly 45 if everything goes smoothly.