The first bump in the road - it's a doozy

No more can I say "Yay for bureaucracy."

We've just learned that while our agency had hoped to get us on the road to Russia in the next few weeks, it is not going to happen. This is a disappointment, though it is one of the most common types of delays.

As with most American agencies, ours needs to be re-accredited every year by the Russian government around this time (our agency's expiration date is June 6). While this used to be a formality and create no delays, there were some serious child abuse cases last year regarding Russia adoptive children. These have made the government much more cautious about automatic renewals. This means our agency and all the others will likely take some time to be re-accredited.

Because the Russian government almost shuts down over the summer due to to the bureaucrats' vacations, our agency's best guess is that new travel dates won't be established until at least August. This means the earliest we might likely come home with the baby after a second trip would be around October or November. Please pray with us that we will have a baby home by Christmas!

We will keep you updated, though there won't likely be much news for a while now. Thanks for following our story and keep in touch.

Sarah (& Rob)