THIS WEEK'S UPDATE
Several things happened this week. We were able to obtain enough frequent flyer miles to get tickets to Irkutsk. We have our Travel Agent working on it.
Anya turned 5 on Thursday (the 21st). We thought we might get an email with a photo of her on her birthday, but haven't received anything yet.
Some rumors have surfaced on one of the chat boards. Someone posted that they just returned from a trip to Russia (not Irkutsk) and was told that Irkutsk was closed to international adoptions. If this were true, this would mean that no international adoptions would happen within Irkutsk - period. We don't know if it is true, and are trying to get confirmation or denial from a credible source.
Information like this has popped up A LOT over the past 3 years. 95% of the time, the information isn't accurate, and is the result of the negative attitude and culture in Russia. Intellectually, we know not to read too much into information like this - however, maybe because of the timing, this info hit us like a ton of bricks.
One fact we know is that French and Spanish families have court dates within the next few weeks.
Another fact we have is that when this has happened in other regions, families who have traveled on Trip 1 (which we did in Oct 2004), and who have presented their dossier to the court (which we have) are granted court dates.
Having said that, we also know that things that happen in Irkutsk have no rhyme or reason to what is typical.
A good case could also be made to say that the region is closed (and has been closed) for quite some time-since they have not granted any American court hearings in 2 years-essentially, they have been closed. So the rumor could be semantics and what is lost in translation.
We just have to believe that God is in control...and pray through this - like we've prayed through so many things over the past 3 years.
THANK YOU!
Please pray for the rumors to be squelched, and for God to make a perfect way for us to bring Anya home, SOON!
Thank you for being on this journey with us!
Love,
Marty and Kathy
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