Explanation of SDA appt

In my excitement this morning, I didn't really explain what exactly "getting our SDA appt" means for those that are new to this process.

Basically, we now have a "letter of invitation" to come to EE and meet with the adoption authorities in the SDA (State Department of Adoption) on June 9th. At this meeting, we will be given info (medical, birth, siblings, etc) about Jonathan, possibly share a bit about ourselves, and then request that we be given a referral to go and meet him. The referral will be picked up the day after the SDA appt. Then, we head to his region to meet him. After we meet him, then we are asked if we want to adopt him. Very few families adopting special needs children decline after meeting their child. :-) (Those seeking a "healthy" child is a different story.) Then we start the paper chasing to file with the court and get our court date - hopefully within 2 weeks.

Since our SDA appt is on a Thursday, we pick up his referral on Friday afternoon, and won't meet him until Monday. That adds a couple days to our trip, but hey, I'll take it!  Our facilitator already tried getting us train tickets for that Friday night, but they were booked up already! So, we'll spend an extra day or two in the capital city sight-seeing, so that will be fun. (We didn't do much sight-seeing last time as it was very COLD!)

You'll remember that the SDA is undergoing some changes on June 12th/13th. I'm not sure anyone knows yet what that will look like. They may be shut down for a couple of days, weeks or months. So, getting this appointment is HUGE - HUGE - HUGE!!! God does answer prayers!!!

Our flights are booked already. Summer is obviously a much more expensive time to fly than December. But, we shouldn't have any problems with snow delays. :-) Pros and cons to everything.  We will leave on the 7th, arrive on the 8th, and meet with the SDA on the 9th. Last time, we allowed an extra day since we traveled Thanksgiving weekend with the potential for snowstorms. Hopefully, this will work out ok.

Another fun thing is that Noah's family's appt is just 2 days before ours. We might be able to meet them for supper before they leave on the LONG train ride down to Noah's region. It would be so fun to be able to meet them in person!

Sarah says I need to add more photos to my posts...so here you go! I'm not sure I've ever posted this one.
This trip will require sacrifices on many people's part and I am so grateful.  But those cheeks are totally worth it! :-) Can't wait to be kissing them!