Trip 2 has begun!

Our original flight was scheduled to be in Newark, NJ around 3:00pm today but Lady Irene has come to town so we had to scramble to try to get different flights yesterday.  Eldon, our travel agent, was not too sure that he could find three seats on such short notice, as Jeff needed to be on a plane to EE in less than 24 hours.  

After doing an extensive search with no results, Eldon did one more search and he said 4 seats "miraculously opened up right before my eyes"  and was able to book 3 of them for our crew.  This new flight plan did not go through the Eastern seaboard, all 3 seats were sitting together and one was on the isle...which is GREAT for my 6'5" husband to stretch out his legs!  Isn't God so amazing!!!  AND, the new flights were cheaper than the original....GO GOD!


So off to EE to get our daughters we go!!!!!


Sydney and Sarah should be in their Daddy's arms TUESDAY!!!  That day is affectionately called "Gotcha Day" in the adoption world because it is the official day we get to take custody of our girls.  GOTCHA!


Then, the girls will arrive HOME on Sept. 3 and be welcomed into *my* arms for the very first time!  I cannot wait!!!!!

Two words......Hurricane Irene!

Jeff is scheduled to fly out of here Saturday morning and arrive in Newark, NJ Saturday around noon on his way to EE to get Sydney and Sarah.  Hurricane Irene has other plans for travelers evidently.  We are having to cancel our flights and who knows when he will be able to fly out.  I'll call our travel agent, Eldon, in the morning and see what he can do to get Jeff around this hurricane.  

This just stinks!!!!


Please pray our travel agent can come up with another route to get Jeff to Eastern Europe.  He has to be over there by Tuesday because that is the day he can legally take custody of our girls and it takes about 36 hours of travel to get to the city our girls are in.


Ok, leaving this in God's hands now!

There are Two Less Orphans in this world today!!!!!!

The judge said YES!  

Introducing:   

OUR DAUGHTERS 

Sarah June

 Sydney Grace

SISTERS!

Sydney and Sarah playing with the blankets their Great-Grandmother June made!

We picked the name Sarah June after my mom and my grandma...June!  We picked the name Sydney Grace because we just love that name!  Two perfectly beautiful names for two perfectly beautiful little girls!!!

Thank you all so much for holding us up in prayer!  God certainly moved mountains for our family and we will forever be grateful.  God is so incredibly good!!  


After the 10-day wait is over and the US Embassy visits are completed, Sarah and Sydney will be coming HOME.  They will arrive in *MY* arms Sept. 2!!!  

Oh, how I cannot wait to hold my girls!!!!

Court is tomorrow...please say a prayer for us.

In 24 hours, Jeff will stand before a judge and ask to be allowed to adopt Sydney and Sarah.  Please pray that the judge will agree and let the girls become a part of our family.  The exact time of court will be 9:30am in-country time which is 1:30am my time, CDT, early Friday morning, Aug 19.  

We love Sarah and Sydney so much.  

Is today Groundhog Day?...day 15!

I'm just kidding, but if you have ever been through an international adoption, you know exactly what I am talking about!!  There comes a point after about two weeks in-country where the days start to run together and look something like the movie "Groundhog Day".  That is not saying that each visit is becoming mundane...no, not at all....each visit is still very special and priceless.  It's just the day-to-day routine becomes very similar to the one before it and the one coming next.  But, oh, what a blessing each visit is!!  Getting tiny little hugs, grins from ear-to-ear under chopped-off bangs,  blown kisses, and sad faces when each visit is over.  Priceless indeed!

Sydney

Sarah

 

Daddy with Sydney

Big sisters having fun being silly

Little sisters having fun being silly

The orphanage does not allow visitors on Sunday, so Jeff, Rachel and Holly took the opportunity to run down to The Sea of Az*v, which is about 1.5 hours away.  This sea is a part of the Bl*ck sea and is the most shallow sea in the world with the deepest depth being only 46 feet.  The water is very murky and full of industrial runoff so swimming is highly discouraged.  The girls found LOTS of sea shells and had a wonderful time walking the beach and seeing the sights. 

Eating dinner after visiting The Sea

Until Jeff gets through court on Friday and the girls are legally ours, it is advised not to reveal on this public blog exactly where everyone is.  It just protects the girls' identity until they become full-fledged Hannons!  That is why I never name the girls country, or their city, or even "The Sea" that they visited.  Thanks for understanding.

Settling in...and a bang trim!....Day 12

The daily visits to the orphanage are going very, very well.  Everybody looks forward to the visits each day.  Sarah and Sydney are full of energy and love to play together.  They get so excited when they see Jeff, Rachel and Holly coming for them and they get really sad when it is time for their visit to be over.  Bonding already!!!!  What an answer to prayer!!!

Somebody was given a little bang trim overnight :-0    I'm sure the nannies were just trying to be sweet and freshen up Sydney's hairstyle.  It's the thought that counts...right?!?

Bangs grow back!

We have a court date!!!.....day 10

Yep, you read that right. God moved that big ol' mountain and paved the way for a quick court date to boot! August 19th at 10:00am...Court is in session!

We were assigned a judge yesterday and she took all day today to review our case and make sure all of our paperwork was in order. It was. Then around 8:00pm local time today, she had her assistant call our facilitator to give us the good news about court. Our facilitator was "shocked" that the judge would even agree to hear our case and double "shocked" that our court date was scheduled in just 10 days instead of the usual 3-6 weeks! Amazing! I LOVE it when God shows off!!!


Jeff and the girls will stay in-country until court and then come home during the 10-day wait. (There is a 10 day waiting period after court to give time to protest the courts decision) Please pray nobody contests the decision. Sarah and Sydney need to come home to us. They have waited almost 4 years for a family. NOBODY has ever came to visit them, not once, in almost 4 years.... until Jeff, Holly and Rachel came Aug. 5th.


Please pray the judge and prosecutor will agree to let us be Sarah and Sydney's mommy and daddy. We would be so honored to call them our daughters! They already are in our heart.


Here are some pictures from today's visit. Sydney's cough is gone so she was allowed to play outside. Jeff did not know it is a BIG no-no to let children sit directly on the ground in this particular country because it is believed sickness will come.   Oops!  One of the nannies ran over to him with a blanket and told him to have the girls sit on it instead. Lesson learned!  Sure hope Sydney's cough doesn't return tomorrow ;-)  All of the pictures below were taken right before the nanny gave Jeff the blanket.

Enjoy!!!

The orphanage

Day 9...Great visits and a little hug from Sydney!

The visits with Sydney and Sarah continue to be such a joy! Today, Jeff got a little surprise in the form of a tiny little hug from Sydney.  What a sweet treasure to get!!!!!  


Sydney was said to have a cough again today so she had to play indoors.  We are grateful she did not seem sick with fever nor did she cough during the visit.  

Enjoy the video!
*scroll down and pause my playlist so you can here the video* 

Sarah, daddy, Holly and Rachel continue to enjoy their visits outside!!!

Day 8...New pics!

Jeff, Holly and Rachel had a nice visit with the girls this morning.  Sydney was said to have a cough so she had to play inside, but at least they let her come play.  She never did cough while she was with Jeff so that is good.  Maybe it was more of a 'swallowed-the-wrong-way' type of cough that the nannies heard.  We'll see how she is doing tomorrow.

Sydney playing inside

 Sarah playing outside

And some fun pictures from around town.

 

Thank you all so much for your prayers!   We should be assigned a judge either Tuesday or Wednesday and our facilitator will ask for a pre-trial meeting to see if he/she will hear our case.  Jeff and I fully believe they will agree to hear our case and that there will be no more hiccups in our adoption process.  God has this!


I'll update as soon as I know more.