Home from 2nd trip!!!!! 3rd trip on Friday!!!!!

Court went well on Thursday and now we have to wait the 10 days before we can pick up our little Isabelle. The 10 days turned out to be not business days, but literal days.....................though the 10th day can not fall on a weekend because of paperwork. The 11th day is when we can finally finish the paperwork. Well, our 10th day falls on the 7th.............................NEXT Sunday!!!!!

So, I will be returning to Russia THIS FRIDAY!!!!! and will have full custody of Isabelle on Sunday afternoon, though I won't be able to leave Samara or finish paperwork until Tuesday the 9th. Then I will travel back to Moscow until the 14th to finish paperwork there and finally bring her home.

We could not have done all this without your prayers and help!!! We SO appreciate the love and care of our church family!!!! Thank you for rejoicing with us!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

1. Please pray for me as I come back to get Isabelle without Gary........................my cousin is going with me so that Gary can hopefully get a job (focusing better without me there honestly). So, I get to become a mom.......................kinda by myself.............for a week. That's pretty scarey for me since Gary helps me so much. Fortunately, I will have a stroller....................so I won't have to carry her every where.

2. Please pray for Gary as he is home by himself for the week and also for his job hunting.

3. Please continue to pray for our finances in this. We have less than a week to get the remaining "cash in hand", and though Gary is not going with us, we are paying for my cousins tickets, etc. because we asked her to come in place of Gary so that Gary could try to make money. So, she is losing some money to come and didn't ask to come in the first place.

Even more so than the current adoption monies, I will be off for about 10 weeks this school year (maternity leave) without pay so that Isabelle can adjust and bond correctly. We NEED Gary to have a full-time teaching position to pay the bills. We've also discussed, even more than ever, about selling our home as it eats up a majority of our funds each month (high mortgage, not because it's falling apart).

4. Please pray for this next trip and my cousin Stacey. She's a great woman of God and has always wanted to do orphan missions work (Africa preferrably though). She needs prayers that God will use this not just as a missions trip for her (giving others to minister to), but also that God will use this time to guide her in what He has in store for her next.

Also, she's in her early 30's and still single, has ALWAYS wanted to be a mother and wanted to help children in every possible way. I know that seeing these orphans will break her heart, but it will also stir more things up inside her. Please pray that God keeps her heart from breaking too much and that whatever happens will be a positive growth for Stacey, as well as our relationship.

5. Also please pray that Isabelle will adjust to being away from the orphanage quickly and that being out on the busy streets of Moscow will not be too much of an overload for her. Also that our trip back will be pleasant and easy to handle with her having a "lap" ticket. If we'd gotten her a regular ticket, we'd have had to pay about $2400 and that's just 1 way and more than the adult round trip tickets we have!!!! I can't hold her the whole time (because of my back and hip issues-- see ya Tuesday Dr. Tonte!!!!), so pray that there's an empty seat beside us as well!!!

Now, for a little of an update about getting to Samara on Tuesday--

We arrived about 6 p.m. on Tuesday in Samara and our translator apologized for realizing that she would be too busy on Wednesday to take us to the orphanage, so we went to the orphanage straight from the airport!!!! We were tired (but not that bad) and hadn't eaten. Once we got close, I realized that I hadn't had any time to put the workers "gifts" in the bags yet..................so before we went in, I scrambled to do that.

When we headed inside, I was delighted to see that they were renovating the inside of the orphanage. The kitchen was being totally redone (from what I can tell) and they were painting the walls.................it was a work in progress, but I was excited to see it.

We waited patiently for several minutes while they figured out where to put our gifts (by the way, I have to take the rest of the baby powder this next trip because there was so much and weighed alot!!!! THANKS!!!)..................Isabelle (Yulia) had been sleeping because it was about 7:30 at that point. When they brought her into the room and I said hi (from across the room) her eyes lit up and she got a BIG smile on her face. My goodness, I knew at that point that I was TOTALLY HOOKED on this little one....................she's only 1, so there's no way she remembered me from 1.5 months ago, but she was acting like she did!!! She was so much more active this time. She still doesn't walk, but her feet are flat on the ground now and she gets around REALLY well in the walker. In the walker, she trekked across the room to check out a stuffed animal...............knowing I only had an hour this time to be with her, I called her name..........and she came back!!!!!! I was so amazed at that!!! Gary and I played with her for such a great time, the hour FLEW by!!!!! It was really hard leaving her there. I kept telling her, and myself, that I'd be back to get her in 2 weeks (actually, it'll be 12 days from then), but it was a killer knowing that I wasn't going to get to hold her, play with her, or talk to her for the next 2 weeks.

We then went to the hotel. The next day we went to our 8 Dr. appointment. It went quickly and well. They asked us a lot of questions that seemed silly and funny to us, but they wanted to make sure we were healthy enough to be around for a while.

We went to court on Thursday and there was a delay because 1 of Isabelle's papers didn't make it there. We waited for about an hour, then they finally started. The interpreter was even nervous because the prosecutor understands English as well............so she couldn't just tell the judge what she wanted to hear.

The questions (I think because of the delay) were surprisingly short....................and we were officially declared the parents to Isabelle Hope Yulia Casebier!!!!!! We are now parents, though we have to wait the 10 days, just in case WE might change our minds...............................yeah right!!!!

Well, we came back to Moscow that night and have been dealing with getting some cultural items for her since then.

Today we road the long flights home...........it took about 17 hours to get home and we are both sore and tired!!!! However, my adrenaline is still really pumping as now I have to hurry and get ready to go pick her up NEXT Sunday!!!!!! I have to leave on Friday to get there by Sunday at noon-time..........I don't understand why I have to go at noon, but that's when I have to be there and it's playing rough on getting everything done here.............so please pray for that and rest as well as the trip coming up VERY shortly!!!!

I missed everyone and have some great pictures of the 3 of us together that I want to share, but I probably won't get to it this week..........go figure!!!

Those that have sent us shower gifts -- I hope to get our thankyou's out before I go.........but may not be able to. Please know that we are TOTALLY grateful for everything and are really psyched about getting to do this...........I'm just kinda going crazy trying to get everything done right now and still work (yes, I am going back to work tomorrow for 4 days!!!).

Gotta run and work on packing again..........

Thanks a lot for the prayers and keeping all of us in your thoughts..........I really miss all my family and internet friends right now, you keep my stress down!!!

Terri for the Casebier's!!!! WAY TOO EXCITED (not sure how someone can be TOO EXCITED) about going to get Isabelle next Sunday!!!!