Day 21

Today is the very definition of bittersweet.

Nathan told me in no uncertain terms that today was his day.

He gets to hold her, play with her, kiss her, snuggle her.

One last time.

See that hand wrapped around his finger?

It really should be the other way around.

The next time they see each other, he will be her daddy.

It was heartwrenching to say goodbye, but we know that means progress. We know that means we're closer. It means she's almost home. For good.

After our visit today, we asked Edward to take us back to the enormous toy store.  We needed to exchange her snowsuit for a bigger size. We had NO idea it would be such a big deal. Not just explaining (translated) what we needed- and didn't need, but passports and forms and all kinds of requirements! About ten minutes in, we realized we should have just donated this snowsuit to the orphanage and purchased another one. It was too late, we were in too deep!

Thank goodness for Edward, who got a good laugh out of the whole thing.
We told him he could leave us there since we needed to get a few more things for Annie (bottles, clothes that fit) and we would just walk home. I don't know why we didn't learn our lesson yesterday :/

Again, we were NOT dressed to walk the 15-20 minutes home in temps around 20 below. If my body had been capable of crying, I would have. I have never been that cold in my life.


As for tomorrow...

Court in this process can be very intimidating. They can ask us ANYTHING. Our answers, our body language, our credibility... it all counts. Although we are confident, we are anxious about how it will go exactly. Tonight before you go to bed, or if you happen to be up around 4:30am CST... please be in prayer that the judge rules in our favor! This is, by far, the most important step toward forever .