The eleventh hour... er, week...

Yes, you read that correctly - this is now week eleven of the wait for the first trip. It feels like forever has gone by and I still have not heard anything about when I will possibly be traveling. My agency has put me in contact with another single mom in the area (area being Illinois - I have no idea where in Illinois she actually lives!) who adopted from St. Petersburg through EAC and she waited FOUR MONTHS for her first trip. The way I understand her timeline, it looked as such:

Last week of February, 2009: Accepted referral
Week of July 4, 2009: Traveled for trip 1 (18 weeks - yikes!)
First week of September, 2009: Traveled for trip 2 (which is court)
Third week of September, 2009: Traveled for trip 3 and brought her little girl home!

Using that as a baseline, my timeline would look as such:
August 17, 2009: Accepted referral!
Week of December 22, 2009: Travel for trip 1 (yes, the week of Christmas)
Week of February 22, 2010: Travel for trip 2/court
Week of March 8, 2010: Travel for trip 3 - come home with RP

Now, I certainly hope that this entire timeline is shorter, and I'm hoping that this would be a "worst case scenario" timeline. I started this process by signing with my agency last February, so bringing her home in February/March would only be 12-13 months for the entire process, which is remarkable considering I am adopting a little girl and the process for girls is estimated around 18 months. My original goal was to be home with my child by Christmas, but that clearly is not going to happen. Now the goal is ultimately to be home by Easter, or her second birthday at the very latest - I cannot imagine celebrating any more holidays or birthdays without my little RP.

I'll keep you posted - please continue to keep RP in your prayers as we wait for time lines and dates to bring her home... :) Until then, the clock keeps ticking, and each minute that goes by is a minute closer to meeting her and bringing her home to her family, where she belongs....