One Step Closer

My wife is amazing! No, I am not just saying that for brownie points. Though I will graciously accept any that come my way. Stephanie has worked so hard to bring home little Amber Joy. Between work and school, I have been able to devote very little time to adoption details. Steph has been an awesome task master. She has done everything from organizing baby clothes, to stacking diapers, to driving our paperwork to Atlanta. Words cannot express how appreciative I am for her hard work in bringing home our little girl. I know that one day Amber Joy will as well.

So last Friday, Steph drove our paperwork to Atlanta to be verified, stamped and otherwise certified by the TECO office (enter fancy name for embassy). They promised a 3-5 day turn-around, but had it done on Monday. Steph's cousin Catie works a few blocks from the TECO office and was able to pickup the paperwork and FedEx it to Taiwan for us. We have tracked it and verified that it is in Taiwan, but we cannot track it past that since the last leg of the journey has to be taken by the local postal system. Once the paperwork is received, it will be submitted to the court within a few days. 7 to 10 days after that we are assigned our first court date. Just pray (as we are) that the court process moves swiftly. We wish we could fly out tomorrow.

On another happy note, we got a video yesterday morning. It is short (maybe 30 sec), but it so very precious to us. We get to see her little legs and arms moving and her eyes following the camera. For the first time we get a small glimpse at her personality. I think we have each watched it 20 times. Pictures, and now a video, are like a drug. As soon as we get one, we just want more. With each communication we get about her, she becomes just a little bit more real. It is a wonderful feeling, but it does make the waiting that much more difficult.

Thank you so much for your continued prayers and support. We are truly blessed to have such wonderful family and friends. Keep it up!

Justin

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