Hugs, Hugs are Good

Soon, very soon, we will be able give our babies hugs and kisses and more hugs! Court date is March 17th! We can't wait to hug and smooch them to pieces!

Here is a video of hugs around the world for you to enjoy!

Good News and More Good News

We found out last week Wed. that our documents were sent to court for a court date. This usually takes two weeks and then we should find out when we travel and what our court date will be. We are still hoping for a date in Feb., but realistically it will be March. I can't wait to find out when we get to see our babies for the first time face to face! We got an update on the babies too, and both are doing well and are healthy. Jack is still a peanut and is only 10.1 lbs at 5 months old. Hayley is gaining like crazy, she is 12.7 lbs at 5 months! They are both so dang cute, I can't even stand it!

The other good news is that we got an update from our agency over the weekend stating that Embassy will now meet with agencies weekly to review files and assign Embassy Apts. compared to biweekly, which is current state. In most cases this should cut down on the time it takes from court to Embassy. Our agency recently told us it usually takes 10 weeks after court, so we are hoping now it will be closer to 5-6 weeks! All in all, we are hoping our kiddos are home by May at the latest! I can't wait!

I also just had a baby shower this weekend, it was fabulous, but more to come on that later....

For now, here are some pics from our holiday party. The theme was you had to wear a tree skirt or tree topper!

So what is next?

Right now we are currently waiting for our documents to be prepared and sent to court to get in line for our court appointment. After everything has been submitted to court it takes about 2 weeks to just find out when our court date will be. It is frustrating to say the least that we have had our referrals for almost 2 months and our documents haven't even been submitted yet. At this point we are really really hoping for a court date by the end of Feb., but it realistically will be March. After court it is another 10 weeks before we will have an Embassy appointment and that is when we can take them home and they will be in our arms forever! Everything is this journey is taking longer than expected, and longer than 'average'. At some point we have to catch a break, right?  Our agency is well aware that we are waiting, and waiting impatiently, but it seems to be out of their hands and control at this point as well. Hayley just turned 5 months old and Jack will be 5 months in a little over a week. We really really really hope that they will be home by May, April would be the best case scenario, but unlikely at this point.

On a brighter note, here are some pics from Christmas!

Stella hanging with Sam and Bella .

Stella opening up her Christmas gift from us.

Just admiring our Christmas tree.

Us and Stella with her new Christmas gift, Violet the talking dog.

Alivia in her pretty blue dress.

Can you tell she is getting tired of pics yet?

Laura and Livi opening up their matching camping flashlights!

I think my dad was actually jealous that he didn't get one too!

Laura's fingers were burning from chopping the jalepenos for a

Christmas app so she soaked them in milk for some relief!

Livi, Jack and Hayley got matching pj's for next year!

Who said that 3 year olds can't appreciate the delicacy of mussels?

Laura and I with Gramps. Wish grandma was here.

Christmas just isn't the same without her buns and lefsa...

and just her being her.