The people that got us through

First off I have to say jet lag sucks ass. Despite the fact that I was able sleep the first night home, that novelty wore off quite quickly. This is worse than my usual insomnia. D also had a bout with the can't sleeps Monday night so he drugged himself to sleep with Tylenol PM last night. This caused him to snore all. night. long. So not only could I not sleep. I couldn't sleep with a snoring giant next to me and me kicking him all night long. Add 2 cats that think sleeping on my legs would be fun... I am one tired lady.

I have had multiple questions from my readers about where we go from here. When does Pickle get to come home? So I thought I would give you an estimated time line as to what we are thinking.

Our in-country facilitator is doing some final checking on Pickle before she files the release letter request. I think (really I have no clue) that this is to make absolutely sure that he has no eligible siblings in the system. Wouldn't that be a shocker. Oh, by the way, would you like more than one? You know I couldn't turn them down if that ever was a possibility.

From the timelines set by other families the release letter should take about 3 weeks to arrive once the request is sent.

Once the release letter arrives in Khabarovsk (from Moscow by Russian post: see map here) it takes our facilitator approximately 3 weeks to assemble Pickle's paperwork. Of course this is pushing it. We hope she works this fast, but anything is possible.

After Pickle's paperwork is assembled and we have all of our final paperwork in the whole batch is filed to the court in Khabarovsk.

The judge has 56 (or 60) days to schedule the court date or request additional paperwork. There have been differing schools of thought on exactly how many days it is.

Once we have the court date we will then travel back to Khabarovsk to attend our court appointment and finally take Pickle out of the orphanage. Khabarovsk is notorious for NOT waiving the 10 day wait. So with travel, the 10 day, going to Moscow and traveling home our trip back will likely be over 20 days.

So that gives you some kind of idea of what we have ahead of us. In the mean time I plan on learning much more Russian, toddler proofing my house, and attempting to maintain my "sane" status.