We arrived safely in Kansas City, Missouri last night, after a 15 hour car ride with 4 (1/2) kids. Overall the trip went really well!

Today Mark and I met with Amanda (who prefers to be called Mandy) her mother, Monica, and Trey and Kanye. When we arrived at McDonald's one of the two social workers came out to our van to escort us in the door. When we entered the play area Mandy was crying bittersweet tears after watching us walk in and she greeted us with hugs, as did her mother. The boys were understandably distracted by the McDonald's play equipment, which was expected. However, we did catch Trey peeking at us from a tunnel above our table and he would quickly look away or duck and the resume to checking us out again! Ha!

Mandy and Monica were very open and talkative. They enjoyed telling us about the boys and telling us of how much her boys would enjoy the different things about our family, house and lifestyle. Trey looks forward to having a dog and we found out that he calls Annalise the "Big Sister" and the other three, "the kids." Ha! They are very excited to meet the kids tomorrow evening over dinner! Mandy has done an excellent job of showing the kids our photos every night for some time now. She has been telling them that they would have a new Mommy and Daddy (as well as a brother and sisters) very soon. She even told them last night that they were to call Monica, Grandma Monica and herself, Mama Mandy. She said that she wouldn't mind them referring to her as an aunt as they transition.

There is much to tell...like how Kanye's hair was cut this morning (after an aunt and uncle that he'd never met thought he was a girl and so she decided to cut it this morning!) and how Trey loves to "karate chop," which made Mark so happy! HA! We also were happy to find out that they told Mandy that they would LOVE to go home with us today. :) But to make a VERY LONG story short(er), I'll get right to the point - below is the schedule!

Tuesday
2:00 - Mandy signs all the court papers and signs away her rights.
5:00 CST - dinner and kids all meet each other at the Rainforest Cafe

Wednesday
2:00 - We all meet at a park and Mandy says goodbye to the boys for at least months (the court requires that she not contact them at all until the adoption is complete). We will be giving Mandy a photo album for future photos of the boys and our family at that time. Mandy's mother, Monica, will take the boys to a new location until after our court date to make a clear transition apparent for the boys.
3:15 - Mandy goes to court

Thursday - We meet again with Monica and the boys.

Friday - We have court sometime that morning and we will have custody of the boys from that point forward. We must stay in MO until the "interstate compact" is approved by NC. So, we will most likely go to St. Louis for sightseeing until we're cleared to go home. We hope to visit Answers in Genesis' BRAND NEW (opened last week) Creation Museum in OH on the way back, as well. :)

We are feeling all the prayers and we sincerely ask you to KEEP everyone in your prayers, especially during those above times. We will update more as we have time! Thanks!!!

Love,
Lisa (soon-to-be mom of SEVEN KIDDOS!)