Caseworker #4

We've had three different adoption caseworkers since we turned in our adoption application a couple years ago. They've all been great. Our first, Sara, left when she had a baby. Our second, Kristina, took a position much closer to her home this spring. Our third, Alison, whom we haven't even met yet (except by phone and e-mail), is leaving to spend more time at home with her children. Our soon-to-be fourth, Laura, will become our caseworker in early July. It can be a bit challenging to change caseworkers this late in the process, as our new caseworker will have to very quickly become familiar with us and the details of our process, as well as the complicated Russia adoption process, while working with several other families in various phases of the adoption process who are adopting from several other countries, which all have their own requirements. We'd appreciate prayer for a continued smooth process.

Our Paperwork Arrived!

Despite my fumbles in my attempts to get our paperwork to Russia in time for it to be presented to a judge this week Wednesday (see last week's post below), it actually did arrive in time for that to happen! Jesus' words come to mind, "What is impossible with men is possible with God" (Luke 18:27). We're so thankful that we and this whole adoption process are in God's hands! We're thankful too for your prayers!

At this point we're hoping for an August 3rd court date in Russia. We hope to have a confirmed court date after the judge has had a couple weeks to review our documents. We'll post when we have a confirmed court date.

Please Pray for a Summer Court Date

Last week our caseworker e-mailed and said they're hoping to get us a court date in Russia in early July. This was good news, but now it looks like it will be later...

We had already taken all our documents with us to Russia on our last trip, so we thought we were done with paperwork. This afternoon our caseworker called and said they need three more documents, including photos of our house and of us with the girls, and all the documents need to be notarized and apostilled this afternoon, then sent overnight to the office in Grand Rapids, Michigan to arrive there by tomorrow morning, so they can be presented to a judge in Russia by next Wednesday. Otherwise, we may have to wait 'til September for a court date and bringing the girls home. Well, having only a couple hours was not enough time to figure out what we needed, select photos of us with the girls to show the judge, upload photos to Target for printing, schedule an appointment with a notary, drive to downtown Minneapolis to meet with a notary with Andy, then drive to downtown St. Paul in rush hour to get the documents apostilled before the office closed. Adding to the frustration, in the midst of trying to get all this done in a short period of time, I locked my keys in the car while picking up photos at Target, then later upon returning home, I discovered I locked myself out of the house!

I will plan to get all this taken care of tomorrow, but I don't know if the documents will arrive to Russia by next Wednesday, which could mean a September court date rather than a July or August one. Would you join us in praying that we would get a July or August court date? Thanks for praying!

"I am going to prepare a place for you"

I love how human adoption reflects God's adoption of us. Here's another aspect that recently came to mind.

We are in a time of waiting to find out when we can return to Russia to appear before a court and officially become a family and bring the girls home. Our caseworker told us that families typically wait 2-4 months for their second trip to Russia. After beginning to bond with the girls, that seems like a long time.

We're not just waiting, though. We're preparing - getting rooms ready for the girls, preparing a play room, considering education options, thinking and reading more about how to parent well, and making a list of things to get before we return to Russia to bring them home with us.

It occurred to me the other day that as Jesus was nearing the end of his time with his disciples on this earth and knew he would be going to Heaven soon, he said to them, "I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am" (John 14:2-3).

The bigger picture. What we're doing in preparing a place for our soon-to-be children is a reminder of what Jesus is doing for us. He is even now preparing a place for us with Him in Heaven, in whose presence is fullness of joy. How glorious and joyful it will be when we are with Him forever!

Thank You!

It has meant so much to us to have so many of you praying for us, walking with us in our adoption journey, and sharing in our joy as we got to meet the girls!! We have so appreciated all the prayers, e-mails, blog comments, and words of love!! We are incredibly blessed! Thank you all from the bottom of our hearts!

We have photos...just not here.

Thanks for all the kind comments regarding the photos of our meetings with the kiddos. For now, we're taking down the photos we posted earlier today, since we've been advised that it's better not to post photos until the process is completed. If you want to see them, email us and we'll send you a link where you can see them.

Evidence of God's Providence

I wrote this before meeting the girls, but am just now posting it.

It is beautiful to see how God works out His plans for His children. As I reflect on our adoption referral, these are a few of the ways I see evidence of God's providence:

- The ages of the girls are so similar to the ages of many of our friends' kids, including many children in our small group (a great group of friends we meet with weekly for fellowship, Bible study, & prayer). N is 4 1/2, almost 5, and A is 1 1/2. In our small group, there are four other 4 & 5-year-old girls and four other kids around 1 1/2! Other friends too have kids that are similar ages! What a blessing! We certainly hope that our kids and our friends' kids will enjoy spending time together, and being similar ages makes this much more likely. God knows how much this means to me. Also, the fact that we regularly spend time with kids these ages already has helped us to prepare.

- Last fall I was asked to help out with the 4-year-old Sunday School class at church as needed. At the time, we did not know what ages of children might be referred to us. I love how God led me to serve in this class, knowing that it would be helpful for me to get more experience interacting with 4-year-olds before becoming a parent of one.

- After caring for the children of friends for 24 hours a few months ago, with the youngest being 1 1/2, I said to Andy, "I really like that age" (old enough to start to walk and talk and young enough to still like to snuggle a lot). We were told by our caseworker a few months ago that it was unlikely we could adopt a child under 2 from Russia. I was sad, thinking we'd never get to parent a child this age, but God has provided for the desire of my heart.

- When we initially began pursuing adopting from Russia, I asked about adopting from Irkutsk, where Andy & I had served together when we were just out of college, and where we still have dear friends, but Irkutsk is closed to U.S. adoptions. So we said we'd be open to adopting from any region in Russia. Well, our referral could have come from any of ten regions in Russia, but it comes from Krasnoyarsk, the region just west of Irkutsk. This means that if we decide to visit Irkutsk at some point, it's nearby.

- The timing of the referral was perfect. We moved into our new home last November and are almost done settling in. I finished working in January. For the past couple years, I wondered when to finish working, never knowing when the referral might come. If the referral came while I was still working, my life would be crazy busy and very stressful while trying to get it all done. At the same time, there was the possibility I'd finish working, then not get a referral for another year or two. But God led me to finish in January, and I spent significant time in Feb., March, & April promoting the Christian Alliance for Orphans Summit, which took place at the end of April. Now I have time to prepare to become a parent without other significant responsibilities or distractions. Again, God knew. I love seeing how He led.

Reflecting on these things reminds me of Psalm 37:4: "Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart." Again, God has demonstrated his lovingkindness for us in so many ways!