PLANE TICKETS ARE BOOKED!!!

We are SO excited that our plane tickets are booked!  Three weeks from tomorrow, Brian and I will be boarding a plane to BRING OUR GIRLS HOME!!!!!!  Looking back, it's hard to believe it was just 7 months ago that we first saw their sweet faces.  God has accomplished AMAZING things and we are blown away that our precious little girls will soon be home!  I lay awake at night thinking of their sweet little faces and what they might be doing.  I am so thrilled that in just a few short days, I will get to hold them in my arms and never have to leave them again.  To tell them how much our family loves them and to watch the delight in their eyes (or hold them close if they are afraid) as they experience so many "firsts" in this new world.
I am writing today to ask for some specific prayers.  As mentioned in a previous post, the girls VISA appt is Aug 5.  Please pray that they are granted VISA's (it is extremely rare but kids have been denied before) and that they would be returned to our attorney quickly so they are ready for us to pick up once we arrive.  Once we are there, we will start the Exit Letter process.  We will report to the DGM (Director General of Migration) with our attorney and four little girls and request that he sign a letter allowing our girls to exit.  This letter sometimes takes him days, sometimes weeks.  We would ask for your prayers that it would be days.  Ideally, that it would be ready before the 26th of Aug when we booked our tickets to return.  If we don't have the letter that day, Brian will more than likely still have to return (because of some work trips he has scheduled) and I will stay there with the girls (5 tickets changed + more nights at the guest house = lots more money).  We also would love your prayers for these last funds...  We thought we had most of our travel money saved but when we had to travel to file our paper work, we depleted most of it. The tickets we just booked (Brian and I round trip, 4 girls one way) were over $10,000.  If we can leave on the 26th, our Guest house total will be over $2,000, then we will still have to pay for food and taxi's for anywhere we go over those couple of weeks...I think I mentioned on a previous post, but the cost of food and travel there is crazy!  We know God has brought us this far and that HE WILL PROVIDE for the remainder!  We still have quite a few necklaces if you know anyone who might be interested please pass this along, they are shown on the fundraising tab! 
We are SO grateful for your continued support and prayers!!  I CANNOT wait until you all get to meet them.  And YES, we are going to be having one, BIG airport party and you are all invited! 

VISA APPOINTMENT!!!

I have been waiting and waiting for today. So much so that I honestly have been waking up almost every hour in the middle of the night checking my email. No, I am not proud that I am so impatient but I am missing my four little girls so much it has been so hard to enjoy life without them. For those of you who haven't adopted, it's similar to when you are pregnant and everyone keeps telling you to enjoy your current children and the "easy life as you know it". However, you have prepared and are preparing your heart for your new child/children. Therefore, it is much easier said than done. I would add that it is even more difficult when we know our girls are in an orphanage in an unsafe, third world country. So...here is what the email said:

Dear Hopkins family, 

The Immigrant Visa Unit at the U.S. Embassy in Kinshasa has concluded our initial field investigation and is ready to schedule a visa interview for your adopted children....

          Your children’s visa interview is scheduled on August 5, 2013 at 9:00am.

There were more details but I included what's important!  So, that means a) I can start sleeping through the night again-at least until we pick up the girls ;) -  things are a little different in the Congo than Ethiopia.  Our agency's attorney actually takes our girls to that appointment and we will travel around a week after that to pick up our girls. When we get there, we will then apply for exit letters for the girls from the Congolese government.  The DGM (Director General of Migration) issues these letters and it can take up to 2 weeks for them to get the letters prepared.   There has been some talk of them not issuing these letters for kids from the region where our girls are from so please pray that is untrue and that things keep moving forward!

Thank you for your continued prayers!  We have a lot to do to finish getting our house ready for 4 little girls!!