been processing

It's been an odd couple of days. Have been waiting to hear from our coordinator in Russia for what seemed like weeks. Truth be told, it was only about a week. Come to find out he was buried in translating our documents so that he could present them to the court before the 6-22 deadline. I think this is the first time EVER that anything has been done before a deadline!

So - our documents were presented on Friday. These were the updates that the Judge in Russia requested at the beginning of the month. On Saturday I get an email from our coordinator that said:

I got the documents in advance, thank you - all was good at this point. I was able to submit the papers to the court on Friday. Later in the day I spoke to the judge's assistant and she said that the judge would not accept any papers in June. She was returning almost all files, as the court is overwhelmed with lots of submitted cases.

The court has appointed two more judges to hear the adoptions, so my plan is to resubmit your file with existing documents to the court in July. I hope that the new judge will take it without major requests.

I felt like I had been punched in the gut. This doesn't say that our documents are being returned...but it didn't say that they weren't.

I have to remember there is some big reason this is happening. I am sure there is something God is protecting us from or something that is part of His plan we can't see

But I can't help but to wonder why.

Anya's 7th birthday was Sunday. When I got home from Russia in January - the outside date that we would be with Anya again was her birthday. Well, that date came and went - and in some ways, I don't feel that we're any farther ahead (for all the submissions and resubmissions).