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!!