Verbal referral

We have been approved at last! What a verbal referral means is that the MOJ (Ministry of Justice) have given us permission to adopt Andrei and have notified Andrei's orphanage of this. The orphanage is now compiling all the information on Andrei, like his birth Mother's real name, how many siblings he might have and so on. Once this gets to our foundation (this is our facilitator to help us while we are in country), they will have the courts sign off on everything, and this becomes a written referral. We need the written referral now to get our travel dates!! I have been told by our caseworker that it will be a while so here we go again- more waiting! However, a wise friend told me just tonight that it's almost like giving birth. Once you give birth, you forget all the pain and work you put into it. This same concept also applies to the adoption journey. When we have Andrei home, I am so sure that we will have forgotten the headaches and long waiting periods, just like giving birth. I agree with my wise friend, and so want to thank her for telling me this. Whoever said adoption wasn't for the faint-hearted sure was not joking. :) Please help us pray that we get our written referral as quickly as possible. We have been told that it's possible we might travel at the end of August.