Good News!

Our agency called us yesterday, and we're heading back to Russia to pick up our little girl. We'll leave Detroit on May 14, and our court hearing is scheduled for May 17. We should be home on the 24th. In the end, this was exactly what our agency had told us to expect, three months almost to the day since we came home from the first trip.

It wasn't an easy wait, however. In mid-April, we got good news/bad news from our agency: the court date had been scheduled for May 17, but the judge might not be willing to proceed with the case. It was nothing specific to us. As you may have heard or read, Russian adoptions are caught up in a bureaucratic tangle at the moment. The Russian government accredits all foreign adoption agencies that work in Russia. All of the agencies' accreditations expired in March, and have yet to be renewed (even though they all filed their renewal applications in December, months before the expiration date).

We are comparatively lucky. Couples whose paperwork was not registered in Russia before the expiration must wait until agency renewals are issued before they can even be put on the list to receive a referral. Those, like us, whose paperwork was on file before the expiration, may proceed at the judge's discretion.

When our agency told us about the court date in mid-April, they indicated that the judge had some reservations about going forward before the agency's accreditation was renewed. This has made the last two-three weeks the most nerve-wracking in the entire process. Our agency was able to allay the judge's concerns, however, and off we go.

The next ten days will be busy indeed -- we've a crib to assemble, car seats to buy and install, diapers and clothing and books, oh my.

Blogging should pick up, and we'll be posting pictures once it's official.