We are headed to India!!

It's official-- we have bought plane tickets to India. We were fully expecting to leave in June/July, but we are leaving in May instead to bring Sany (pronounced Sah-nee) home!

In Sany's state in India, there are two passport appointments required. Since we are already officially her legal parents, the process typically goes:

Orphanage (called a SAA in India) sends us paperwork -> We sign passport paperwork

-> We have paperwork notarized -> We have notarized paperwork apostilled -> We send the paperwork back -> Kid has two passport appointments -> Kid receives passport -> We travel to India

Our advocate in India said that we could move forward with that process OR:

We travel to India -> We sign passport paperwork at appointment in person -> Kid gets passport

The second option is less back and forth through the mail, and it means we leave sooner (also meet Sany sooner!) but then we stay in country for 4-6 weeks. We asked ourselves, when else in our lives would we be able to drop everything to meet our daughter sooner and live in India for that amount of time?

So we here we go! We are leaving for India sooner and we'll be staying longer, but we could not be more excited to meet Sany and spend an extended amount of time in her community.

We have booked plane tickets and our hotel stay. We figured out where our pets will live during that time (thanks to my aunt and in-laws!). Our jobs are super super supportive. My bag is packed. Sany's bag is packed. Collin will pack the morning of because he's crazy.

Everyone keeps asking if we are ready, but how does anyone get ready to meet their child? Right now "getting ready" looks like buying baby clothes in three different sizes (she could be in anything from six to twelve month clothing) putting the nursery together, spending time with friends, looking at her pictures a hundred times a day, going on dates (so long just the too of us), and sleeping in as much as possible. I guess we're as ready as we can be.

I plan to update this blog occasionally while we are traveling, but the best place to follow our day-to-day adventures will be my instagram: https://www.instagram.com/miranda_barker/?hl=en

Specific prayer requests:

- Our travel to India goes smoothly (23 hours of flights and then a four hour car ride) and safely!

- Sany's transition to us goes well (we'll be meeting her a few times before she comes to live with us at the hotel). This is going to be hard, but we hope she begins to trust us quickly.

- The passport appointments go miraculous quickly and that they can print her passport AT our second appointment.

- We stay healthy while traveling!

- Sany is healthy and growing. She continues to be below the first percentile in weight and height (partially due to her premature birth), so we are anxious to be with her and provide her with the stability and nutrition she needs to grow.

It's crazy to think the next time I update here, we'll be in India! Thanks for your prayers and support during this crazy time. ❤️