WE'RE GOING TO LATVIA - BABY!!!!!!!!!!!

In the middle of the night we had our alarms go off to put more wood on the fire. Joe shot out of bed and said was that Cathy? Too funny! No, it was just an annoying alarm.

But every morning like clockwork I check email. I didn't figure I'd see anything from Cathy because the next big news would be travel dates and she usually calls with BIG NEWS!!!!!!!!! BUT... the first message was from Cathy and in bold letters it said, "TRAVEL DATES!!!"

We will be leaving Springfield, MO on Feb. 15th and returning to Springfield on March 13th @ 6:20 pm. We have an overnight layover in Frankfurt, Germany on the way home. Oh well, kinda excited, plus it's another stamp on the passport!!!

As the news has settled on my brain and heart, I have had a huge range of emotions. Excitement accompained by tears, scared about where the money will come from, sad to be away from Keegan, Micah & Ethan for 26 days, nervous if Liga will want us, excited all over again. All of this is a mixture of random thoughts of all the stuff that has to be done to leave: bills, prescriptions, medical release forms for my kiddos, packing, gifts, ....................

I have been busy the last couple weeks getting things started. I had already spoken with the travel agency, so when I called today to book tickets, most of the groundwork had been done. I have booked our apartment that we will stay in. What is so cool about our apartment is the Tucker's stayed in the same one, a year ago when they went to Latvia to get their girls. My work has had me training another girl to make/decorate cakes in my absense and today I was so excited to finally give them our dates. I am getting funds rearranged from our IRA's and we are getting our taxes done immediately to have those funds available while traveling.

Here is our timeline:
Feb 15 - Leave Springfield for Riga, Latvia
Feb 16 - Arrive in Riga, Latvia
Feb 17 - Meet Liga
Feb 18 - 1st Orphan Court
Mar 8 - 2nd Orphan Court
Mar 10 - Visa Interview
Mar 11 - Get Liga's Visitor's Visa
Mar 12 - Fly out of Riga, Latvia
Mar 13 - Fly out of Frankfurt, Germany
Mar 13 - Arrive in Springfield with our daughter @ 6:20 p.m.

Please continue to pray for her young heart. She should be finding out this week.
Pray for the finances; we have stepped out on faith and praying that God will provide down to the penny. We are still short but know God will provide.