Across the Atlantic to Alabama!

It's been well....busy. Exhausting. Crazy and overwhelming.

Tuesday we woke up thinking we would spend all day running around with our facilitator to get the court decree and all necessary paperwork to get Sveta from the baby house. But our facilitator did most all the paperchasing for us and we basically sat in the hotel all day getting updates about every 30 minutes! The birth certificate took FOREVER and was the one thing we waited on all day. Finally, at 5pm we got her birth certificate and headed to the passport office. We were out within an hour with her passport and then went to the orphanage. We met with the medical director and then headed to Sveta's groupa.

We walked through these doors, the same ones we have been walking through for three weeks to get to her groupa.

She was still with her groupa getting ready so I took pictures of the room where we would pick her up every day.

Her locker  - number 6

Sigh. It was bittersweet. She was so very excited and the nannies had spent alot of time making her hair perfect in about a 1,000 hair bows. She was so proud of her hair!

The nannies got her all dressed for the last time.

I don't think any of them had a dry eye. One was literally sobbing - it was so sad! But Sveta has been at the baby house since she was 5 or 6 months old. Everyone there has known her for a very long time. They call her "princessa"!

Her groupa and three of the nannies. We didn't get to say goodbye to some of her favorite nannies because they weren't there that day.

Sveta gave her friends hugs.

Oh my soul it was sweet and sad.

One little girl - the one I talked about in one of my last posts - she was crying. I wanted to scoop her up and take her too.

I am lying.

I wanted to take all of them.

I was on the edge of bawling.

Knowing that recent laws passed in Ukraine will prevent most of these children from being adopted until they are five.

I can't tell you how much of an ache in my soul there is walking away from here with this knowledge.

But we have Sveta.

We have our girl.

We will continue to advocate for all the others left behind.

Sveta's been sprung. She is a Houser! An orphan no more!

We had a long night after we left the orphanage. I will write about many things later. Thats for a whole other post! This one is all about celebrating the beginning of a new life for Sveta and our family!

We travelled to Kiev Wednesday and have our final embassy appointment later on today. We leave at 5:30am in the morning to head back across the atlantic to Alabama! It's going to be a long trip but worth it. Peyton and Paige can't wait to meet Sveta - she got to talk to them on the phone last night and it was so funny. They kept asking what she was saying! She was going on and on about something. I think she liked hearing kids voices.

Sorry this one is so short - this is the first time I have been able to get to my blog - miss Sveta is attached to me like glue usually but has actually fallen asleep for a nap right now!

Pray for us as we travel home tomorrow. We have to be at the airport at 3:30 am. OUCH. Then we have a five hour layover in Germany! OUCH again! We should be home by 6pm though!

And guess what the first food we want when we land in Huntsville?

Mexican food.

Praise God He is Good!