Following the Will of God--A Journey To Russia

We Have Seen Our Boys!

2010-08-26T03:07:00.000-07:00

Well, we have now seen both of our boys! We saw Benjamin yesterday and wow has he grown!! He has put on about 5 or 6 pounds since the end of January. He was also very talkative and he sang a very sweet song about a bear for us. They must sing it all the time in the orphanage. I think it was one of the cutest things I have ever seen. The orphanage staff says he has been eating a lot and I would say so. We watched him eat a whole apple, 3 cookies, and a small individual container of Pringles that we brought in our bag. I showed him pictures of Erin and Sam and I told him only one time who they were and he would tell me every time we came back to the pictures who they were. We didn’t get to stay too long but it was easier to leave this time because we knew we would be back in 10 days. Today we went to see Nathan in Spassk. What a long ride!! The roads were even bumpier than I remember and it took longer than 3 hours to get there. Once we got there Dan was feeling very sick from lack of sleep and allergies. When we got there Nathan was coming in from outside with his group. He wasn’t expecting us and we didn’t say anything to him when he came in. He looked at us and we waved at him. Then he looked back and began to smile the biggest smile I think I have ever seen!! He ran down the hall to wash his hands and then he tore back down the hall and ran to us. I picked him up and gave him a big hug and kiss. He was all smiles. It was time for him to each lunch so we just waited for him. It didn’t take long. He didn’t want to be eating lunch I don’t think. He is still so tiny and I do believe that Benjamin has surpassed him in the growth department. He looks no bigger than the last time we saw him. He is the oldest one of the two but definitely the smallest. I brought a shoe with me from home to get a guess on what size shoes to bring with us next time. His shoe size is very small for his age. I would say I am going to have to go and buy some size 6 shoes for him. The one I brought was a 9 and it swallowed his foot. Mom sent a birthday present for him and he loved it!! It was a police car that made much noise. He played with it the entire time we were there. We spent at least 2 hours with him and then turned around and came home. Again, it was hard to leave but we know we will be back in 10 days. I can’t wait to give him a good bath!! Tomorrow we have court and the judge has changed it from 9:30 AM to 11:00 AM. I am so tired. We have been on the run since Friday non-stop. It is only going to get worse for a while. I hope to get lots of rest while we are home before we come back. I am so ready to bring these little guys home!!!!!

We Passed Our Medicals!!!!!

2010-08-23T11:36:00.000-07:00

How interesting it has been here today. We woke up and had breakfast here in the hotel. Wow European coffee is soooooo good! The food was very good and very Russian. Not that the food was different, it was all things you would recognize but just the fact that their sausages taste like really good hotdogs and that they serve carrot slaw, tomatoes and cucumbers for breakfast. I love that but Dan is more of a traditional man and tomatoes and cucumbers for breakfast is just not comparable to bacon and eggs. Funny how we are so different. There was also this bread roll that had kraut in it and I really thought I saw pain on his face when he ate it! I thought it was great!!! After breakfast we walked to the store again (by ourselves and we didn’t get arrested) and bought some more meat and cheese for supper and some water and tea. I even paid with Rubles and managed to speak just a little Russian. It was kind of fun! To get to the store you have to go down some stairs and go through a tunnel under the street and then out the other side. There is this bakery there and it smelled so good but since we had already eaten breakfast we didn’t make ourselves gluttons. Next we met Sasha down stairs and realized we have Wi-Fi in the lobby and got very excited. Now I plan to chat with mom later to see how things are going. After we met he took us to our destination. We walked in this room with 4 other families all with their nice, monster yellow chest x-ray folders in their hands. One couple was from Louisiana, 2 were from Germany and we are not sure where the other family was from since we didn’t really talk with them. The doctors came in a couple at a time and asked us a few questions and one of them took our blood pressure. The others just signed off on the basis of our blood work that we had brought with us. Overall, 8 doctors signed off on our documents and then we handed over the money and they stamped everything with the “official blue seal” of Russia. We are good to go to court now!! I loved talking to all the people in there. The couple from Germany we talked to the most were named Gens and Cornelia. They were from Hamburg Germany. They are adopting a 3 year old boy. The couple from Louisiana were here to adopt the 11 year old brother of a little boy they adopted 6 years ago. They said they had looked for him for 3 years and finally found him. Amazing stories and they all give you chills. God is so good!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

After we got done with all that business which took about 2 & 1/2 to 3 hours we went sight seeing again. Sasha took us to a very old monastery and we saw the graves of many people, some of which died in the 1500’s. He told us that this is the oldest monastery in Moscow and when the Tsar’s were ruling Russia it was common for them to send their wives there when they got tired of them since divorce was not allowed so they could marry someone else. Jokingly Sasha told Dan to remember this place. We all had a nice laugh. I told Sasha that if Dan sent me to the monastery he and the kids would starve to death since he can’t cook!

Then we went to “The Hills” and it was a nice day so we took some pictures and Sasha was right, you really can see almost all of Moscow from there. It was extremely windy. All I could think about was how incredibly cold it must be up there in the dead of winter. We then drove to the middle of downtown so he could show us the house of Peter the Great’s father. We could only see the outside since it was locked but that is ok. It was really neat and it was nestled in right along with new shiny buildings and cars were flying by constantly. Next door to that was a church that was rebuilt in the early 1990’s from a replica of one that sat on the same spot in 1918 which was destroyed in the 1930’s. It is unbelievable how politics work here. Sasha pointed out a building behind the church that Stalin had built to house his top leading officials. It was not uncommon for someone to want someone else’s apartment so he might write a letter to Stalin saying that the person living in that apartment had bad mouthed Stalin and within the next day or two that person writing the letter would have the apartment he wanted because they would kick out the other man. I will leave it at that. Then we came back to the hotel and had our cheese, meat and bread and of course some tomatoes. I am now just waiting until 9:00 PM so I can talk to mom. Tomorrow we leave for Vladivostok at 4:55 PM Moscow time and arrive in Vlad at 8:20 AM Wednesday morning and then we go see Yaroslav. Exciting times ahead I do believe!

We Made It To Moscow!

2010-08-23T10:53:00.000-07:00

We made it to Moscow! On time too! Sasha picked us up at the airport around 9:00 AM Moscow time and he took us to our hotel. Here is a great picture of Sasha. Don’t you love the t-shirt? That was a wonderful and humorous thing to see when we got off the plane in Moscow!!! After picking us up Sasha took us to our hotel. It is about a 10 minute walk to the American Embassy and is fairly close to the place where we will do our medicals tomorrow. It is not what you would expect in America but there is hot water and a bed. No air conditioning but right now the weather is just perfect. We checked into our hotel and then headed off to see the Kremlin and Red Square. It is very interesting. Many touristy things mingled in with architecture from the 1600’s. Sasha told us all kinds of stories about different buildings and what used to be there and then what was there now. Most of the time the reason the buildings were torn down was due to political differences. One of my favorites was about a church in the 1930’s that had been there a couple of centuries was torn down by Stalin and then he had a lavatory built on top of where it stood. He said it was to make a statement. I think that goes without saying anything. We visited St. Basil’s Cathedral today and it was a holiday of some sort. I have not been able to look anything up yet so I don’t know what it was. There was a choir singing in there on the bottom floor and it was amazing how the sound carried no matter where you were in the church.

The first meal we ate was at Mc Donald’s which is right across the street from our hotel. It is amazing that you can travel here and have a Filet O’ Fish and it taste exactly the same! You don’t even have to speak the language you can just point to the pictures of what you want!! We had Sasha order for us but a Japanese couple beside us ordered just like that!

Right now I am so tired I can barely keep my eyes open. We are going to try to stay up a bit more but I am not sure I can do it. Right now it is 6:17 AM in Cape Girardeau which means I have been up for 24 hours straight at this moment because Dan and I woke up at 7:45 AM in New York yesterday and have been up ever since!! I have never been this tired.

You wouldn’t know it but I have had some sleep now so I think I can go on! We wish we had the internet so we could call and talk to the kids. That is always the hardest part of our trips. I am sitting in the hotel in the dark looking at the beautiful lights on the buildings because we are on the 10^th floor and we have windows that go from the middle of the wall all the way to the ceiling. This building is very old and has not been renovated. The walls are 2 shades of very 60’s green and the furniture looks about that old as well. We have tv but it really isn’t worth watching. The Russian’s idea of entertainment is very odd.

So right now it is dark outside but we are downtown so there are many tall buildings, like the one above, and there is a beautiful orange moon in the sky just over the tops of the buildings and you can see the reflection of it in the Moscow river. Very picturesque if my camera would take good night shots. This is a shot from our hotel room window. a Sasha took us

to an awesome little supermarket yesterday and we bought some meat, cheese, bread, tea and fruit. I also had to have some tomatoes. We ate that for supper last night and now that we know where to go we could probably go there ourselves without getting arrested as long as we follow the rules of street crossing. I needed salt for my tomatoes and we didn’t want to pay over $3 for it so I settled for some that had mainly salt in it but also some garlic and rosemary. It was really good on my tomatoes. I am glad I have a lot left over! Today we have our medical exams around 2:30 PM along with 3 other families most of which are from other countries. Sasha said Germany, France and I think UK. It should be very interesting to get to visit with them. Sasha is also going to take us sightseeing a little bit more today. We are going to see a house that was built by Peter the Great’s father. He also wants to take us to see something called “The Hills”. He said on a good day you can see over half of Moscow from there. Maybe today will be a good day.

We took a nice ride on the subway this morning too. That subway system is like nothing I have ever seen before. Those trains were flying and they came every 30 seconds or so. The subway stations are decorated in different themes. One was dedicated to Russian life. Another one was all about Kiev and was supposed to portray the wonderful relationship between Russia and the Ukraine. Wonderful?…… anyway, this particular one that I have a picture here of we don’t remember what it was dedicated to. All we remember is we rounded the corner and there was this picture of Lenin and Sasha said it was symbolic because it was the end of the tunnel and all turns lead to Lenin.

This subway station had the longest escalator I have ever seen! When we got on at the top I could not see the bottom and the same when we got on to go back up. I am not sure this picture does it justice but it was steep and long.

I plan to write more tomorrow after our medicals. Moscow is such an interesting place. I am so glad we finally got to do some sight seeing!

We have a court date!!!

2010-08-20T21:26:00.000-07:00

For some of you reading this this is not new news to you but to those who don't know we have received our court date!! Our case worker called us last Monday morning and said, "The good news is we have a court date! The bad news is you have to leave Saturday the 21st!" Wow! so much for having 2 weeks notice!! That is just the way things go sometimes. The important thing is we have a court date of August 27th @ 9:30 AM Vladivostok time. That translates to Thursday August 26th @ 5:30 Cape Girardeau time. After 3 days of being on the phone with the most wonderful travel agent ever (seriously! :) figuring out our travel arrangements we ended up having to leave on Friday for New York and we are now at the Hampton Inn-JFK spending the night. The kids are safe and sound with grandma and I just know that all will be well this time. We will leave for Moscow tomorrow @ 2:20 PM New York time and arrive in Moscow 8:00 AM Sunday morning. Moscow is 8 hours ahead of Cape Girardeau. Now Dan and I are just chilling out deciding our game plan for tomorrow. At least we didn't spend our time running through airports today like the last trip! It was very painless and we even sat right next to a couple from Cape Girardeau that we knew all the way to New York. How funny is that? I had Mexican food before leaving St. Louis so I got my salsa fix before crossing the Atlantic. For those of you who remember the last trip for us you remember about the lack of salsa in Vladivostok! Dan wouldn't let me bring a jar of salsa with me. I was very sad. I did bring some tuna lunch kits and microwavable mac & cheese. I am going to try really hard to blog whenever I can this trip. It becomes harder and harder the closer to Russia we get because we don't always have and internet connection. I can't wait until I can post pictures of the boys!!!

The Judge Wants More

2010-07-28T16:55:00.001-07:00

Well, we did hear something by the end of July as we had anticipated but it was not what we wanted to hear. The judge has requested 3 more things. Two of those things our agency will take care of. The other thing is for us. I can't believe I even have to write this. The judge has requested our "marriage certificate" instead of our "marriage license". He or she does not like that it says "license". Frustration of frustrations! Wow, I don't even know what to say. The point here is not to argue over technicalities. The lives of two precious little boys hangs in the balance a little longer because of this request. I think I found (I say this cautiously) what the judge is requesting in my "special box" downstairs. It is a document I have never needed in my 14 years of marriage (our anniversary was yesterday, how ironic) and I will never need it. The Recorder of Deeds has exactly what we need but it just happens to say "Marriage License". This piece of paper I found doesn't say "marriage certificate" but it doesn't say "marriage license" either. Oh I pray that this document will be it! If it is, then we have to figure out how to make certified copies of it because it is the only one in existence. It is not on file anywhere. Oh well, just one more hurdle. Dan and I call it "superior character building". By the end of this we are going to be supreme in the character department!

Blogging is just not my talent

2010-07-12T07:18:00.000-07:00

I know I am not the best blogger in the world. It is not that I don't like to blog I just don't have time. Laundry, kids and life seem to take precedence. I just wanted to write a little bit of an update for those of you who have been wondering. It seems like forever since we were last in Russia. We have had so many things happen since returning. Of course in April we weren't even sure if we would ever see our boys again thanks to the woman who thought it was just fine to return her adopted child to Russia. God is faithful in everything and we have learned many things since then. God is sovereign in all things including allowing the woman to return her child. ALL things are held in His hands, good OR bad. He has used that woman's sin to bring Himself many praises and much glory through His believers and my prayer throughout this ordeal has been that many unbelievers would come to know Him as well.

Today is the day our documents go to court. We don't know when we will hear anything about when our court date might be scheduled but hopefully it will be soon. We have done everything we are supposed to do so far. Our documents are finished and we are praying that the judge will not want anything else from us. I am not sure what else we could provide!

We have the boys room ready. I will try to post pictures. We have an amazing story about the beds. On July 2nd I was in the pharmacy waiting for a prescription to be filled (no, I don't fill all my own scripts :) and there was a paper in there. I found the want ads and there was one for wooden twin bunk beds listed for $300. I got excited for some reason. Maybe it was because we really needed the beds and it was getting desperate, but then again, maybe not. Nothing like bringing your children home from Russia with no place to sleep! So I called. This family was so nice. I asked about the beds and whether or not they could come apart and be used as twin beds. They could and so then I began to get really excited. I told her that we were adopting and then she began to get excited. When Dan woke up that evening I asked him about the beds and I told him I thought we should go see them. He wasn't as excited about it as me and I knew he really didn't want to spend that money because we just really didn't have it to spend. He agreed that we would go look at them. We got there and again, this family was just different. You could tell they really loved God and they were just so loving. We decided we would go ahead and take the beds. She then told us that the dresser could go too if it would help us. Wow, would it ever! Then she asked us if we had any sheets. My answer was no. She said we could have all of the bedding that went with the beds if we wanted it. Wow again! So we got everything loaded up (mattresses included which were in perfect condition) and I got out the check book. She and her husband were standing there and said, "When you called this afternoon we knew that you were supposed to have these beds. We have decided that this is our gift to you and we want you to have it all. You don't have to pay us for anything." I just started crying. Wow, wow, wow, wow! What else could we say? God provided again. It was a blessing to both of our families.

I am so thankful that I serve the only true God. The one who loves, provides, shows compassion, is faithful in all things, is just, is righteous, holds all things together but yet cares for His own in the smallest of details as in the case of this bedroom furniture. I hope that someone will read this blog and that this testimony of who God is will speak to them so that God might reveal Himself to them and that they would be changed forever. Once He speaks to you, you will never be the same again.

Last day in Russia

2010-03-06T21:32:00.001-08:00

Today is our last day in Russia for the next 4 months. We arrived in Moscow yesterday afternoon (Saturday, March 6^th) and spent the night at the Park Inn right next to the airport. It is a nice hotel and we got a complimentary breakfast this morning which was very tasty. The food is very good here and very fresh. This morning I had broiled tomatoes with cheese, a bread pudding with peach compote, small sausages which were more like mini hotdogs but were better than any American hotdog I have ever had. I also had some fruit and the most awesome coffee EVER!!!! Chad, you would love it! It tasted like the coffee I make at home with my machine that Dan got me for Christmas so now I know that my machine really does make coffee like it is supposed to. MMMMMMMMMM…………………….. Dan is getting ready right now and I am just catching up on some writing. We are leaving the hotel at 9:00 AM and our flight leaves today at 12:00 PM. We will be arriving in New York at 3:00 PM. Did somebody say this is going to be the longest day I have ever had in my life? Literally? Our flight is about 11 hours long so to leave only 3 hours before your arrival time at destination is, well, very thought provoking. We should be arriving in St. Louis around 9:30 PM Sunday. I am ready. I miss Diet Pepsi and my salsa. Don’t get me started again. Yesterday’s flight from Vladivostok was good. The plane was really nice and each seat had it’s own tv screen. I watched a couple of movies which helped to pass the time. There were several babies on the plane and they were a bit restless but what do you expect on a 9 hour flight? Dan and I were both pondering in our mind what it will be like to travel such a long distance with two 3&1/2 year old boys in a few months. I am not too worried about Ben but Nate? I am not so sure. We may have to bring the Dramamine. The only problem with giving children medicine like that is sometimes it has the opposite reaction that it is supposed to have. Wow, I don’t even want to think about that!! It will be fine. Most people are very kind I have noticed. It has been a great trip. I am looking forward to coming back. I just wish it wasn’t so far! If we could just go the opposite direction instead of going through Moscow It would take half the time. However, there are things that have to be done here in Moscow at the embassy that can only be done by coming this way. Maybe next time we will be able to sight see a bit here in Moscow. At least it will be summer time and hopefully no snow storms will block our paths the next time. I am looking forward to seeing Vladivostok in summer. Winter we were told was the most ugly season and I would have to agree. I have never seen snow on the side of the road that was 4 feet deep and totally black. Very dirty. Summer, have been told, is very nice. You know it is harsh when the Sea of Japan’s coast is frozen solid. Well, I am going to sign off. I am looking forward to those precious boys being apart of us. They already are of course but until they are in our house it will be very hard. We love you Nate and Ben. Kisses and hugs and mommy and daddy will be back for you very soon. Sweet dreams until then.

Last day in Vladivostok

2010-03-04T23:13:00.000-08:00

It has been snowing all day today. Right now the flakes are so big and it is beautiful. We have had a good day today. We started the day off by going to see Ben today. He really likes Thomas the Train. Him and Dan played in the floor for a long while. The room we were in was so small that was hard to move around to play really good. After we said goodbye to him for the last time we made our way downtown in major traffic to go to the notary's office. Evidently notaries are very few and far between here and it takes a long time to get in. Since our adoption coordinators know them well we were able to get in quickly. We still had to wait for a couple of hours so we had to leave our passports there and we headed back the way we came to go to the mall for souvenirs. We bought the funniest things for Mom, Erin and Sam. They are the same as the picture I posted yesterday of the flower thing in the car cup holder. So many cars have them and they run on solar energy. The sun makes them bounce up and down. They have every thing you can imagine. We also ate lunch there with Lana and Irina. They had a cafe on the top floor that was like a cafeteria. It served Russian food which was very good. There was nothing American about it except for the Coke fountain machine. It was such a strange thing to find in a mall! I am sure the food was much healthier than in our malls though and much tastier too if you like Russian food. Sorry Mr. Mike, Russian food does not involve many fruits and veggies! After we left the mall we drove back toward downtown and found another souvenir shop that sold all kinds of nesting dolls. They were much more reasonably priced than at the mall. The shop was down this narrow little alley that only a native Vladivostokian(?) would know about. We finished up our shopping there and headed to the notary. It took about 15 minutes and we were done. Our trip here is basically over now. We just have to make it home and fill out much more paperwork and wait for our court date to be scheduled. That will take at least 3 months. It will go fast. I have much peace about leaving. I know God is in control and all will be well. I am so very thankful for that knowledge. Without it I would go insane! Now I am waiting for laundry to dry so we can have some clean clothes to wear home. Our plane leaves tomorrow at 2:15 PM and we will spend the night in Moscow and then head the rest of the way home. I miss the kids but not as badly as I thought I would. I think I have been too busy to think about it. I have thought about Diet Pepsi and salsa though. I have really taken these things for granted!! Ha Ha. I have had I bottle of Diet Pepsi the whole time we have been here and it is almost gone. Salsa can't be found anywhere! Ughhhh! Only 2 more days, 2 more days!

What a great day!

2010-03-04T00:35:00.000-08:00

Today has been a good day. We woke up and called home. Sam and Erin are doing well. I think Grandma is doing well. Not quite sure. Erin and Sam were picking on each other during the entire video chat. Everything seems to still be the same at home! :) We left with Lana and Irina and went to the baby home here in Vladivostok. Our sweet little boy is so little!! He is really cute and is the total opposite of the other one. He is very smart and opened up much more today. We will go see him again tomorrow and then we will officially sign the papers to say we will adopt them. Yesterday when we got ready to leave Spassk City orphanage Nate began to pucker up. It just about broke my heart. We know he has not had individual attention like that before and so much of it at one time. He loved it. He was expecting us to come yesterday and when we got there it was nap time. He saw us coming down the hall and was already out of bed with just his shoes and his underwear on getting ready to go with his nanny to get his clothes on. As he was walking down the hall he had such a happy, confident little stride and it just melted my heart. Anyway, as we got ready to leave he began to get upset so Lana our interpreter called him over and sat down with the scrapbook we brought for him and explained who everyone was and that it was his to keep along with the lion puppet and the truck toy we brought. She told him that we would be back to get him when the grass turned green outside. He left us with a smile and with that same little walk as when we got there. Three and a half years is such a hard age because they do know what is going on and they do understand when they are not wanted and that makes it hard to leave and reassure them that it is not going to be forever. After we got back today from the baby home here in Vladivostok we ate lunch in the Vlad Inn Restaurant and then we went for a walk down to the water. Our hotel is very close to the water which is the Sea of Japan. There were people way out on the frozen water ice fishing. I was afraid to go very far. I had visions of breaking through and Vladivostok is not a place I want to be when I pass on! Tonight we will just hang out here in our room. It is the first time we have been able to do that since we got here and we will be leaving day after tomorrow. Wow, what a whirlwind trip. We were expecting that though. We wish we could just take them home right now. Russia is such an interesting place. The things I am most intrigued by is the way people drive and the way the Russian people are in general. They are very quite people. The women really like shiny things, high heels (even on 2 inches of ice) and they walk all over the place. They have some of the most beautiful buildings interspersed with drab Soviet Style buildings. Most houses I have seen are very run down and are painted very bright colors. It is like they are trying to make something that can never be beautiful into something that they think is beautiful. They also like little things in their cars that bob up and down that are activated by the sun. It is the most bizzare thing I have ever seen. We are so close to the Chinese border so we have seen a lot of Chinese people as well. More than I thought we would see. I asked our interpreter about the Chinese and she said they are to the Russians like the Mexican’s are to the Americans. That pretty well summed it up I believe. Well, guess I will go rest a bit. Hopefully I can write a little more tomorrow before we leave.

Finally we are here!

2010-03-03T04:19:00.000-08:00

Well, we are here! What an experience. Let me start at the beginning. Saturday we began at 5:30 AM from Cape Girardeau. We drove to St. Louis to catch our plane and then it began. We arrived and waited. Because of the day before, there were delays everywhere, especially with Delta. I began to really wonder if we were going to make it. So finally our flight took off but it took off 40 minutes late. This of course put us a few minutes late in Detroit and we only initially had 35 minutes to catch our flight to New York any way and now we only had 15 minutes. We got off the plane and started running. We got to the gate and there was no plane. We turned around and found a flight board and the plane had been redirected to another terminal. We started running the other direction. When all was said and done we had run 35 very long gates and got to gate 57 and the plane was there but everyone had boarded and the door was shut. I almost broke down from sheer exhaustion and disappointment right then. The flight lady was still there and I ran up to her barely able to talk and managed to get out something like, “Oh please can we get on this plane we have boarding passes?!!!?” She gave me and Dan a not-so-sympathetic look and started typing on the computer as we were standing there trying to recover. She made a call and we were allowed to board the plane! We were sweating like crazy and my face was red from running half way across the airport. Totally embarrassing! Anyway, we got on the plane and then we waited, and waited……and waited……and WAITED! The captain couldn’t figure it out. He initially said we were waiting on some baggage which in retrospect was probably ours (funny but not funny) so in essence we probably made the plane late. Finally we were allowed to take off after 1 hour and 20 minutes of waiting. Guess what? That put us in New York 15 minutes before our scheduled take off for Moscow. What next? Well it came while we were on the plane to New York, somewhere over the Great Lakes. Dan says, “Where is the camera bag?” “I don’t know, you had it didn’t you?” “Yes, I did. It was strapped to my bag and I took it off when we got to the Delta gate in Detroit after running.” We immediately realized the camera was still sitting at gate 57 on the check in counter. Panic ensued once again. The flight attendant came by and we told him what had happened. He was such a nice man and knew what happened to us before hand when we boarded. He took our information and said he would call it in and we would probably get it back. It might just take a while. It wouldn’t have been so bad but Mom’s camera was in there too. If we don’t get it back we will just have to get her a new one. Ok, by now I was not having such a great day. We get to New York, FINALLY, and pull up to the farthest gate away from the terminal we need to be to catch our next flight of course, and the terminal hookup would not work. We were trapped on that plane for 30 minutes AFTER landing. The captain was very angry and frustrated. His comments kept getting more and more sarcastic each announcement. It was funny. What could you do but laugh? It was more of a hysterical laugh though. Anyway, while we were sitting there, computer guru Dan whips out the cell and pulls up Delta flight schedules and Praise God from Whom all blessings flow, our flight to Moscow had been delayed for 1 hour. We finally made it off the plane after actually having sat on that plane before take off and after landing a total of 2 hours and 20 minutes which was longer than the actual flight itself, and made our way like a herd of cattle to a shuttle that drove us around to terminal 3. It must have been a new driver because he passed terminal 3 and the security agent on the shuttle banged on the glass and started yelling at him and he backs up. What else? We were really laughing now! We got off, ran up a never ending terminal ramp and Delta people kept motioning us this way or that way. It felt and looked like a marathon, I’m not kidding! We finally made it to gate 13 just 15 minutes before the plane boarded for Moscow. We got on and totally crashed. Emotion, panic, excitement and all of those emotions were rolled up together into one. I was exhausted. Our flight was very cramped for the 9 hours and 35 minutes but hey, we were on that plane! Whoo hoo!!! The flight went well and we landed in Moscow, made it through boarder patrol and amazingly enough we went to the baggage area and like a shining ray of light our bags came sailing out of the back and then all was well. We couldn’t believe after all of that our bags actually made it. God is so awesome. We walked out and Alexander was there. What a great sight he was to see! He was so excited we were there. We told him about our camera dilemma and we bought one in the airport. Not a bad price. Same as in the States. Then we went over to the hotel and instead of sight seeing we checked in for the afternoon for a nap and a shower. That was so very nice. About 5:30 we caught the shuttle bus to Terminal D at the hotel. It is very strange to be in a place where hardly anyone speaks English. So we got there and no running this time. The plane to Vladivostok was on time and went off without a hitch. I couldn’t believe how quiet it was in the Moscow airport. The terminals were full of people but you could almost hear a pin drop it was so quiet. I guess Americans are just really loud people. The flight was the same way. We and another woman who is here adopting as well were the only Americans on the plane. The stewardess kept forgetting to ask us in English what we would like but by half way through she would remember and smile at us. Funny. We arrived and got off the plane. Dan stopped to take a picture of the plane and a guard came over and scolded him. I guess in some ways Russia will always be in the past. Our coordinator and interpreter Irina and Lana were waiting for us. We found our bags and amazing as it sounds, our journey began. We hit the ground running again but in a little bit different way. We checked into our hotel (Vlad Motor Inn) and got to stay for 30 minutes before leaving for the Dept. of Education to sign an official document to see the boys. We then went to the baby hospital to see Ben. They told us he wasn’t feeling good and had a cold. They went to get him and brought him in. He was soooooo little! He looks just like his picture. He had on a Christmas sweater with Santa Claus buttons on it, beige pants with flower designs on them, a blue & white checkered shirt underneath the sweater, pink socks and white sandals. He was adorable. He is very smart. They tell us he is very sociable with the other kids and is very curious about things. They laughed and said, “He is like a monkey! A little trouble maker!” Ahhhhh, just like Sam, no? He reminded us a bit of Sam as he sat there and played. His little hands were everywhere. He said the names of things and organized blocks. His fine motor skills are excellent. I took a picture of him and showed it to him and he smiled really big and said his name So he recognizes himself in a picture which is good. We gave him some crackers, a little toy truck and a tiger puppet. He pretended to feed the tiger and the cow toy sitting on the table. That was good too. We found out his mother and father had lost parental rights for many reasons. He will flourish in a loving environment I am sure. Yesterday and today both we made the long 3 hour trip to Spassk City orphanage to see Natel. He is an amazing kid! Very smart, eager and loving. We will definitely need some boundaries! We made our official decision on Nate today and the papers have been drawn up. We spent 3 hours with him today and 2 hours yesterday. We have lots of pictures and videos. There is so much to tell and I am always so very tired at the end of the day. Tomorrow we got see Ben again and then the next day we will probably make our decision. I will write more as I have time and energy. It has been and awesome but extremely tiring trip. One funny thing I must say is that we called Dr. Hoffman's office today and asked if we could send him some video of Ben for him to give us his opinion. The nurse told us he was in Mexico on a mission trip. Dan whips out his phone and tracks him down because if he was in Mexico he had to be with Jeff Smith and sure enough, he was. What are the odds of finding your pediatrician in Mexico when you are in Russia? God is on our side is all I have to say! That is so AWESOME! Thank you, thank you, thank you Dr. Hoffman! You are a good man!!!!

Snow Storm over New York

2010-02-26T11:41:00.000-08:00

Wow, this is frustrating. Of all times for a snow storm to hit, just when we leave and have to land in that particular place! We feel like this time is just being totally fruitless because our children are at grandma's house and we are still here doing NOTHING! I am so thankful that I know God is a Sovereign God who holds all things in His hand. If I didn't know that right now I would be very angry. At this point I'm just a bit frustrated and I am wondering if we will even land tomorrow in New York. The snow and wind is supposed to continue through the night. Delta has rebooked our flights for tomorrow. We are going to miss our connecting flight to Vladivostok so that is having to be rearranged too. Because we are leaving a day late we are going to stay an extra day in Vladivostok which throws off all returning flights as well and it seems we are going to be paying extra for all of it. I could go on but I will not. We have an awesome travel agent named Anna in Chicago. She is working hard for us and I love her Russian accent. She gave me some good laughs today. We may never know why God allowed this to happen but He did and it is for His ultimate glory and for our own good. Maybe it is a test in patience and character. I sure hope I pass. I keep being drawn back to Proverbs 16:9 "A man's heart plans his ways but the Lord directs his steps." I also keep going back to James 4:13-15 "Come now, you who say 'Today, or tomorrow, we will go to such and such a city, and spend a year there, engage in business, and make a profit'. Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow.You are just a vapor that appears for just a little while and then vanishes away. Instead, you ought to say, 'If the Lord wills, we will live, and also do this or that'." That puts your life into perspective doesn't it? I am praying that our flights will leave on time and arrive on time tomorrow. I am praying in a different way now though. If it be God's will may it then happen. I pray that I would exhibit the fruit of the Spirit during this entire process. God willing Nathan and Benjamin, we will be there as soon as we can! We love you so much already!

Friends are a gift from God

2010-02-23T10:27:00.000-08:00

Well, we have 3 days before we leave and it is becoming crunch time. My wonderful friend Laura came over today and helped me get the memory books for the boys started. I am so thankful for great friends who have different talents than me! She is awesome! We are putting together a book for each of the boys with our pictures, the kids pictures, grandparents, pets and what the house looks like. We hope that the orphanage will let the boys keep it and look at it periodically so they can get to know what we look like. We just want them to know we are coming back for them. I cannot imagine what goes through a 3 & 1/2 year old's mind when someone like us comes and spends a lot of time with them and then unexpectedly leaves them again, especially one who has been abandoned before. To know that someone is thinking of them and that even though we had to leave doesn't mean we will abandon them, we hope, will instill a sense of hope and excitement in them. We are getting excited. There are many details to finish up here so Mom doesn't have such a tough time with Erin and Sam. We want her to be able to enjoy just being grandma. I cannot express my gratitude to those who have offered their help and to those who are helping. You do not know how much that means to us. An adoption involves many people and those who are supporters are half of the process. So from all of us THANK YOU! The journey is not over of course but a lot of the hard work is done. We will be leaving at 10:45 AM from St. Louis and flying to New York on Friday. I believe we have 2 hours between flights and then we depart for Moscow at 7:10 PM. That flight is listed as being 9 hours 35 minutes + 1 day. We will get to Moscow and have a relatively lengthy layover and then board our plane for Vladivostok. That flight is listed as 9 hours + 1 day. Wow! I've never traveled 20 hours and gained 2 days before. That also means we will be losing on the way back. I guess it is entirely possible to leave your place of departure and arrive at your destination at almost the same time you left?!? My brain can't handle it right now!! I will do my best to keep my blog updated while we are there. Since we are adopting 2 children that are 3 hours apart in different orphanages I don't think we will have quite as much down time as some adoptive parents but we will do our best. I hope to have plenty of pictures when we get back.

Unexpected gifts

2010-02-11T21:17:00.000-08:00

Have I said that God is good and absolutely amazing? I checked the mail a couple of days ago and found our mortgage statement in there with the big words "Urgent Escrow Information" on it. Every year for 9 years we have had an escrow shortage and ended up having a higher payment each month to make up the difference. So I opened it and on the back page in bold letters it said "Escrow overage" and there was a check there for $298.80. That had never happened before EVER! Wow how I love those gifts that God sends through the mail! It is always when you least expect it and when you need it the most. The men at our church pulled Dan aside on Sunday and gave him some money as well. With that plus our escrow check it pays for at least 5 nights in a hotel in Vladivostok. Every bit adds up and I am trying to write down everything so I don't forget what an awesome journey this has been. At the beginning Dan and I thought we had the whole thing figured out by refinancing our house and using the home equity money to finance this adoption. God had other plans and now I know that it was to be a lesson in trust and obedience. He led us here and He will see us through. What a peace and comfort that brings. It makes me cry as well. Humility is a really good thing. We received our visas today and I breathed a sigh of relief. It is scary sending your passport off to someone you don't know, hoping it gets there and hoping it gets back with what it needs to have. Our names are printed in Russian and it looks really neat. We will leave 2 weeks from tomorrow. I have been trying to get little things done as I think about them. Tonight was parent teacher conference for Erin so I gave Mrs. Wagoner the dates she would be gone and mom's phone number. Erin is doing well in school and Mrs. Wagoner is such a nice teacher. We discussed Erin's ability to be so disorganized but at the same time understand concepts that children her age don't get. She is really smarter than me. Her problem solving skills surpass mine by a long shot. She is so creative too. I went into her room the other night and she had found 2 plastic water bottles, put tape over them and labeled them like this:

Rare piece of air

Good bottle pets

Warning: Do not touch

The second one was labeled like this:

Well trained piece of air

Warning: may bite if treated badly/do not touch

How funny is that? I look at them and laugh every single time! I love the personalities of my kids and I know the new boys will be no exception.

"Biometrics" is a really big word......

2010-02-03T18:57:00.000-08:00

Today was a really great day! I got to spend the day with Dan uninterrupted by little people. Sometimes we just need that! We drove to St. Louis to have our "biometrics" done. Actually it is just computer generated fingerprinting that took about 5 minutes a piece but cost us $160. Hmmm, I wonder why our fingerprints from August that only cost $106 were not acceptable? Maybe because they were ONLY $106 and not $160? LOL All you can do is laugh or you will pull your hair out! At this point in the adoption process what's another $160? It is but a drop in the bucket! (Another big LOL) Anyway, it was still a good day even if we did drive for 2 hours for 10 minutes total. You gotta do what the government tells you to do sometimes. After our fingerprints we went to eat at Landry's Seafood House and it was really good. I highly recommend it. Then we went to Krispy Kreme to buy Sam some donuts for his birthday treat for school tomorrow. AND NO we did not eat any (at least until we got home...I only had one) !! I can't believe my baby will be 5 tomorrow. Our lives are really but a vapor as the Bible says aren't they? Next was Target and a little birthday shopping. They had some really good deals on clothes for Sam. He needed new pants because last week the old ones were just right. This week they are highwaters! Maybe he really won't be 35 lbs. forever! Then we came home. Mom was kind enough to come and stay with Sam today and Mrs. Laura was kind enough to bring Erin home from school. Dan is at his men's prayer group right now and the house is quiet. I love this time of night but I never seem to get done what needs to be done. I end up, well, you know, ......writing on my blog! Anyway, I love life. I love seeing God in everything and I love how God brings people into my life and into my families lives. Today while we were being "biometricated" the woman doing my prints couldn't get a good reading at first because my hands were so dry and rough. She said to me, "Almost every adoptive mom that comes in here has hands like this. You all must work very hard!" I laughed and told her "Yes, I think we probably do. Especially those of us that already have kids at home." She told me she thought just by looking at me and talking with me that I seem to have a lot of love in me and the kids we adopt were going to be very loved. That was very sweet. It is moments like these that I know God is speaking directly to me. I love how He does that! On our way to Union Station to Landry's we thought we might ride the metro-link. While we were standing there this guy beside us starts complaining (using some interesting words) and yelling at the ticket machine. He says, "That machine took $2 of my #@!@#& money and only gave me back 75 !#@&*# cents!" I had my hand in my pocket and I felt the $3 I had in there which had been in there for weeks. I had almost spent it a couple of times and I didn't for some reason. Now I knew why. Isn't God just awesome? So I say to him, "How much money did it take from you?" and he tells me again still VERY angry. I took out $2 from my pocket and with a smile I handed it to him. He looked at me and says, "Are you serious?" I say "Of course. Take it and I hope your day gets better." His anger turned into instant gratitude and he says, "You are awesome. Thank you so very much!!!" I was so very blessed by that and to see someone so grateful for $2 warmed my soul. God has been so good to me today as always. Praise His name forever! Thank you God for the opportunity to serve You by serving others. What a privilege it is to call You Lord and Master of my life. Amen

Russia is closer than ever!

2010-01-30T15:57:00.000-08:00

WOW! Things are moving quickly now and I am so very excited. We received a referral for 2 boys that are 3 & 1/2 years old. They are not related and are beautiful! One has blonde hair and blue eyes and the other has brown hair and brown eyes. Would you believe they both resemble Sam? God is amazing isn't He? We are leaving for Russia February 26th to go see them. Needless to say, our home has become a flurry of activity. I love the fact that God is sovereign and that gives me such peace. Throughout this entire process I have not been overly concerned with what would happen. Of course there were times of stress wondering where all the money was going to come from and some frustration with paperwork. Our prayer has been that everything would go smoothly and that financing would be there when needed. My oh my has God answered our prayers. I continued to be humbled and awed by the love of my fellow brethren and I pray that I will be such when they need me. I wish I could post pictures of these sweet boys but I can't yet. Keep looking and eventually they will be on here. Yesterday it snowed 8 inches here and we have been having a blast. Erin, Sam and I along with the neighbors made a good morning of it. With every new experience in the back of my mind I wonder, "What would our new boys think of this?" Soon, very soon, we will know!

2010-01-08T12:39:00.000-08:00

Things are progressing right along. The paperwork for our dossier was surprisingly easy. I would guess that it isn't over because it was too easy! Our papers were sent to Russia this past Monday January 4th. We also sent 3 checks to the adoption agency and the envelope got completely ripped and so did the checks. I suppose that bought us some time but they added another check on top of it so we will now officially have to borrow from our credit line. That is ok, we have it for a reason! I am starting to get excited because I know that we could possibly be registered soon and have a referral before you know it. I am praying for twins. Wouldn't that be awesome? I dream about what they might look like. I wonder if they will have blond hair and blue eyes or be totally unexpected? I also wonder if they will be really tall when they grow up and tower over me? Ha Ha, that doesn't take much anyway! Well, just wanted to post an update. Write more soon!

Vladivostok

2009-12-22T20:48:00.000-08:00

I have been searching a lot on line about Vladivostok, Russia. Wow it is very interesting. According to blogs from couples that have adopted from there recently, we will probably be staying at the Vlad Motor Inn when we get there. It sounds cheesy but is evidently very nice with large rooms and a nice kitchenette. I have been watching videos of families adoption journeys and it is so hard to watch. I cry a lot these days. My heart aches for all the little ones who will never know a mother and father. I would take them all if it were up to me. I heard a Christmas song by Steven Curtis Chapman the other day called "All I Want Is A Family." It totally caught me off guard and I was crying like a baby in the middle of Walmart parking lot! We don't always hear the other side of the story from the perspective of the child wanting to be adopted. We think about us and what it will be like for them when they come to live with us and what we can give them but how much rejection have they faced before us? We may never know. I hope everyone reading this has a Merry Christmas and I hope you remember to thank Jesus Christ for all you have been given and maybe be persuaded to give some of it away to those who need it so much more than you do.

Sorry it's been so long!

2009-12-17T14:59:00.000-08:00

It is already December. My how the time goes by! A lot has happened since my last post. Just to update everyone, we are officially done with our home study and we are approved! Now we are working on our dossier. So many things to do! I am sure everyone adopting that is reading this blog can identify with that but it is so worth it. I have a friend in BSF (Bible Study Fellowship International) that just happens to be in my group this year (no coincidence by the way, only God's Sovereignty) that adopted from Russia 12 or 13 years ago and just happened to adopt 2 at the same time like us. We did not know each other until this year and now we have been placed together. I love it! She always has little nuggets of advice and this week was to only look at one piece at a time, no the whole picture. Our placing agency, World Links International, is good about not inundating us with more paperwork than necessary at one time. I think that is great. I knew we chose this agency for a reason. Their specialty is Eastern Europe so they know what is needed and when of course. Today I sent off several dossier documents and also sent of our application for USCIS. I also went to the bank to borrow money. A necessity now. We have found out that we will be registering in the Vladivostok, Primorsky regional data base in Russia. There is no good way to get there without costing 2 arms and 2 legs so I need to come up with some kind of fund raiser or something. I love to make wreaths and I love to bake. I'm not sure how to use those things or rather to promote those things to others. I went to pharmacy school for goodness sake you'd think I could be creative and come up with something! I suppose I could work more but that defeats the purpose of me being at home with the kids. I am praying about this and I know God will lead me in the right direction soon. We have also officially left our church to begin a church plant here in Cape Girardeau. It is us and 3 other families from the area and we will officially meet together for the first time this Sunday, Dec. 20th at our house. I am so excited! We are so looking forward to a sweet time of worship and fellowship afterward. I spoke with my friend today about being able to cook the main portion of the fellowship meal each week because I just love to cook. I am so amazed at how God has brought all of us together with our different talents and gifts to be able to serve Him by serving and blessing others with those gifts. So far I have been assured that I will not take anyone's joy away by wanting to cook! Our meals are about just being together not about being gluttonous and I am glad we are all in agreement with that. I don't think anything else is new and since things are picking up again with the adoption proceedings I will have more to write more frequently!

2009-09-21T19:13:00.000-07:00

Not much to write about with our adoption right now. We have all of our paperwork turned in for our home study and it appears that it is OK because we haven't had anyone call us and make us do anything over yet. We have been assigned our case workers from both agencies. That is good. I am learning patience if anything right now. I have to remember this is God's timing, not mine. We are trying to prepare the kids for what is to come. It is hard when we don't even know what is going to happen. I am praying that it will be a smooth transition and the adjustment period will go without incident. Right now Sam and Erin are fighting instead of going to sleep. One more episode and Sam goes in his room all by himself. That is usually when Erin has a melt down even though she was the one complaining about being bothered by her brother. Kids! I love them, really! I am hoping for a day at Mother's Day Out tomorrow that goes without incident. Maybe, just maybe. I am really tired today and I have 4 days worth of BSF to do before Wednesday. Where did the week go? Can somebody say K-I-D-S?

God is the Creator! (and knows exactly what's good for me)

2009-09-03T16:47:00.001-07:00

I knew I shouldn't have said it yesterday. I said to my friend, "I am absolutely amazed that I haven't had to take my children to the doctor in a year and a half." What was I thinking? Today Sam has a 102.2 fever and a barking cough. Way to go mommy!!! We are getting closer with our homestudy visit. We have 3 more documents to send in. Our blood work came back and we are healthy! What is really funny for those of you who don't know, Dan and I went through a course called "The Lord's Table" about a year and a half ago and Dan lost 70 lbs and I have lost 25 lbs. We continue to do it because #1 it is NOT a diet, #2 it is all about repentance, #3 it is the only thing that truly works because it is all about God, not about you. I was brought to my knees when I realized that I was grieving my Lord every time I over ate. The Bible really is talking about overeating also when it says gluttony is a sin. We make food into something seductive and laugh about how we overeat too much like it's cute when really it is a sin just as much as lying or blaspheming the Lord. It doesn't sound so attractive when you say it that way does it? The Bible has MANY things to say about food. I never knew that until my eyes were opened through this Bible study. If you would like to know about it you can look online at www.settingcaptivesfree.com I would highly recommend it. Dan is now a mentor and loves it. He gets students from all over. England, Australia, and I believe South Africa were some he has had in the past. In today's media we are bombarded with diet crazes. Nearly every commercial break (if you watch TV that is) has at least 1 weight loss commercial. Wouldn't you know that God has something to say about that? Colossians 2:7-10 says "see to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principals of the world, rather than according to Christ. For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form, and in Him you have been made complete, and He is the head over all rule and authority." Ahhhhh....isn't that refreshing? It gets better. A few more verses down in Colossians 2:20-23 He says," If you have died with Christ to the elementary principles of the world, why, as if you were living in the world, do you submit yourself to decrees, such as, 'Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch!' (which all refer to things that are destined to perish with use)-in accordance with the commandments and teachings of men? These are matters which have, to be sure, the appearance of wisdom in self-made religion and self-abasement and severe treatment of the body, but are of no value against fleshly indulgence." Do these verses make you think differently? Hasn't man made dieting a religion? Have you ever really though about that? I hadn't. It is seeking an empty philosophy because it is seeking wisdom in man, not God. 1 Corinthians 10:31 says, "So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God." I am pretty sure that the diet industry is not in the business of glorifying God. Unfortunately glorifying God is a foreign concept to many. It was to me for many years. I could go on for pages with what God has to say about this subject but I won't. Needless to say, Dan and I have eaten all foods (yes French fries, cookies, REAL butter and many others) since then with thanksgiving and in moderation and our blood work reveals lower cholesterol levels now than before. I actually laughed out loud a couple of months ago when I went to the doctor and he was really baffled by this revelation. God is so good! I know that was a long story just to tell you about cholesterol levels and our blood work for our adoption but I love to talk about it! It is so freeing to know that man cannot tell me what to do when it comes to things of God. Praise His Name forever!

By the way, this is a really awesome song by Jars of Clay

2009-08-27T20:47:00.000-07:00

What an emotional day I have had. Every time I look at anything I cry! I have been reading one of my friend's blogs about her adoption story and it also has many other adoption stories on there....whew! Where's the box of kleenex? We are progressing on our homestudy. Only 3 more pieces of paper to get sent in. We sent off our contract today to our placing agency so things are progressing nicely. I cannot imagine what our beautiful babies will look like! Beautiful no matter what!!!!!! So many things are going through my head at this moment. Should we or should we not take our children with us? Do we really have what it is going to take to do this? The list goes on and on. It is at a time such as this that I go into my room, shut the door and pour it out to my God. I was reading tonight to Erin from Genesis 6,7,&8. She had questions about whether or not all of God's Word is true and how do you know since different translations of the Bible say things a bit differently? WOW! Is she really 8? Dan and I must be on our toes at all times, believe me. It brought me to Job. Beginning in chapter 38 God has had enough of listening to Job and his "friends". My translation says, "Then the Lord answered Job from a whirlwind: Why are you using your ignorance to deny my providence? Now get ready to fight, for I am going to demand some answers from you, and you must reply." This is serious business. God doesn't stop. He continues until the beginning of chapter 42. I must insist that you read it for your own good. I digress though. The reason for my bringing up Job is for the fact that Erin had questions about the animal called the "behemoth" and the animal called the "leviathon" in chapters 40 and 41. She wanted to know how we can really believe ALL of what the Bible has to say because we (her parents) believe that those things were what we now know as dinosaurs. The world of course tells her other things. Even other translations have foot notes that say the behemoth was most likely a hippopotamus or an elephant and that the leviathan was probably a crocodile or a whale of some kind, maybe a shark. Have you ever REALLY read those chapters? Let's talk about the behemoth "hippo" for a minute. Job 40:19-20 says, "How ferocious he is among all of God's creation, so let whoever hopes to master him bring a sharp sword! The mountains offer their best food to him-the other wild animals on which he preys." Ummm.......I'm not thinking this is the kind of hippo I know, and you? Well, OK you say, let's entertain the thought that maybe I'm wrong (it's happened many times before) but what about the leviathan? Job 41:1-2 says "Can you catch leviathan with a hook and line? Or put a noose around his tongue? Can you tie him with a rope through the nose, or pierce his jaw with a spike?

Then there's verse 7, "Will his hide be hurt by darts, or his head with a harpoon?" I believe from the previous verses that crocs, whales and sharks have all been eliminated here. Ok, again, let me entertain the humerous idea that the previous mentioned are still in the picture. This was the clencher for me. Job 41:18-21 says, "When he sneezes, the sunlight sparkles like lightning across the vapor droplets. His eyes glow like sparks. Fire leaps from his mouth. Smoke flows from his nostrils, like steam from a boiling pot that is fired by dry rushes. Yes, his breath would kindle coals-flames leap from his mouth." WHAT!?! That must have been one messed up croco-whale-shark! Seriously, can you deny what this is saying? Oh boy, I'm going to say it, yes, these creatures really did live with us humans. No, not millions of years ago. More like 5000-6000 years ago, maybe even after that. When the Creation story is told in Genesis 1, God really meant it when He said He created every thing in six, yes six, literal days. The leviathan was created on day 5. The behemoth AND man were created on day 6. I love how the bible answers and reaffirms itself over and over again. I love 2 Timothy 3:15-17. It says,"You know how, when you were a small child, you were taught the Holy Scriptures; and it is these that make you wise to accept God's salvation by trusting in Christ Jesus. The whole Bible was given to us by inspiration from God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives; it straightens us out and helps us do what is right. It is God's way of making us well prepared at every point, fully equipped to do good to everyone." Read it for yourself. Pray first, ask God to open your eyes, seek Him and guess what? You will find Him. (Matt 7:7)

God Provides All Things

2009-08-23T18:42:00.000-07:00

I just have to say that God is absolutely amazing! Why am I always so surprised when He does what His Word promises? Well, maybe not surprised but none the less awestruck and humbled. I need to give you a little background here. When we first knew that we were supposed to do this our next question was "where are we going to get the money?" We knew that it was a good time to refinance our house for a better interest rate and to lower our payments a little. We also knew that since we have lived here for 6 years and done some work to the house that we would have a little home equity to boot. In a better economy maybe. We found out that we did not have home equity which we determined was a serious blow to our theory of adoption funds. Dan and I prayed about it of course. Dan asked me to just let God have it. He said something that I had never really thought about before and that was we have never really ever had to trust God blindly that He would provide. We always have a plan. We like security. We have never really trusted God to come through with financial things before especially something this expensive. So, we gave it to God and said "we are trusting that You will provide. You promise in your word that when you call Your people to a task You provide what they need to accomplish it. We are trusting You for everything." It was hard and it is hard. Our inborn nature screams just the opposite. It says, "Have a backup plan just in case. You need security!" Really, what is more secure, worldly goods or God's promise of care and protection? Anyway, we did get the loan to make our payments lower but no extra on the side. We were beginning to write some hefty checks to our agencies and we were just trusting. We found out that our homestudy was going to cost $1,500 in addition to application fees, finger printing fees, certified birth certificates, marriage licenses, etc. We were expecting those fees of course but we were hoping to know for sure where the money was going to come from. Well, when the bank called and told us our loan had been approved for X amount of dollars she asked me if we had paid September payment yet. I told her no and she said, "Good, your first payment is due on October 1st so you will have no September payment." I realized at that point that our house payment was right about $1,500. Yes, you guessed it, the homestudy was covered. Oh but wait, it gets better! About a week later the bank calls again to go over the details of our loan. She proceeds to tell me that after the closing we would get back right about $2,000 dollars. Dan proceeded to go out to the mailbox and the contract for our placing agency was in the mail. We needed to send in another $1,200 with the signed contract. It was covered, along with everything we had spent up until that very moment. God had provided every single penny except $6.10 and I probably miscalculated in there somewhere. WOW is all I can say!! How much more is He going to show us? I can't wait to find out! Another awesome thing was when my mom went to pick up our marriage licenses the lady did not charge us because she found out that we needed them for adoption! What an amazing God we serve. He is indescribable. I could write for hours telling you every little thing that has transpired. All of these things have allowed us to see that we really are doing God's will. It has strengthened our faith and I know that things may get very hard but we know that it will be for God's Glory. I am brought to my knees when I think about the intimacy God shows someone as insignificant as me. He is omnicent, omnipotent, omnipresent but yet He cares so deeply about the smallest of details for someone so unworthy. It pleases Him to give me what I need to follow His will. I give Him all the glory, honor and praise that my mouth can speak. FOREVER!

The Importance of Friends

2009-08-14T17:59:00.000-07:00

I am amazed at the outpouring of support when we tell people that we are going to adopt. I am also amazed that there are many out there who are unsupportive and show an absolute lack of love and care for God's Creation. Most of them don't come right out and say it, (there are a few who do) but you just know. You know by the insensitive questions or the selfish responses. I am not saying that I think everyone should agree with our decision. I think the thing that concerns me the most is their lack of love which shows a deeper problem beneath. Rather than get angry or come back with a sassy retort I take note and realize that this person does not know the Lord. I have a deep compassion for those who do not know God. When God really gets you you begin to understand what it means to love your enemies. Up until a couple of years ago I did not know what that truly meant. I was too wrapped up in MY self, MY life, My family, My schedule, you get the picture. Only when you truly die to yourself can you really know what it means to think of others first and to love your neighbor as yourself. To sacrifice for God and for others takes a total doing away with SELF. I praise God everyday for letting me see this. What is really amazing to me is that the more I think less of myself the happier I become! This does not make sense to the world. At one time it did not really make sense to me. I remember a few years back hearing a sermon where the pastor was talking about a man that he knew and that man could not talk about Jesus with out tearing up. I remember thinking to myself, "Why don't I do that?" That bothered me. I began to pray about this. I began to pray for a compassion for the lost. Jesus promises in His Word that when we pray for anything, according to God's will, it will be done. Today, I cannot think about what Jesus did for me and NOT cry! Oh how I praise God for this! How truly wonderful it is to forget about the things of this world and abide in the Light of Jesus. I am drawn to the song "Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus" and the wonderful chorus: Turn your eyes upon Jesus
look full in His wonderful face
and the things of earth will grow strangely dim
in the light of His glory and grace

This is one of so many truths from God's Word that you can be sure of. I am thankful for friends who care. Their support means so very much. When God calls you to a task it is not always easy. You begin to find out who is really with you. For those of you who are with us, we love you as only God can allow us to. Thank you for your support. We will need you so much in the months to come.

Where is all the time?

2009-08-12T22:49:00.000-07:00

God gave each of us the time we need to fulfill what He wanted us to accomplish. Have you ever though about that? Each person has just what they need and no more. Well, today I must say that time over the past 2 days has worn me out! I keep thinking, how am I going to get all this done in 60 days or less. Sure most of it can be done but what about the forms from the doctors, LABS, ect. Do they ever get anywhere on time? (LOL) I am just a bit tired because school is starting this week as well. More forms to fill out again! I LOVE ? FORMS!!?!! We are making some progress. I keep getting images in my mind about what these children will look like? Will they look like me and Dan? Will they look more Asian?, Mediteranean? Russia is a massive place and we don't know which area we will be going. Whatever the picture shows, they are ours because God said so.

A New Adventure

2009-08-11T21:04:00.000-07:00

I never thought I would ever blog...until today. Our story begins with one thing...God's direction. God has spoken and what can we do but humbly follow? I am Shannon and my husband is Dan. We already have 2 beautiful children, Erin and Sam, but we now know for sure there were meant to be more. Only God can open your heart to love, I mean REALLY love, unconditionally. We know we are selfish by all accounts but God has spoken and we must follow. Looking back, our journey began before we even realized it. We have been being prepared for this for a long time. I am awed by God's perfect timing and His perfect will. He knew it was time. About 2 months ago my cousin (I only have 2) traveled to Ethiopia to pick up her precious new child. She and I had been talking off and on about the process since they began. I had stirring emotions every time we talked but quickly tucked them away. God began His relentless pursuit. Every where I would turn "ADOPTION" would be staring me in the face. Billboards, magazines, conversations with friends, news stories, newspaper articles, Christian literature, and numerous other "reminders" were every where. I realized God was speaking. Then came the big one. My sweet husband says, "You know Shannon, if we are going to think about adoption we really need to do it soon. Let's pray about it." You see, he didn't know what I was seeing and hearing every where. I hadn't told him yet. When he brought up the subject I knew deep down this was going to be for real. Not my will but Yours God, that is what will be done. I confessed to my husband what I had been experiencing. We were speechless for a moment then I think we both knew deep down but we didn't say it. We began to pray that God would make His will very clear. I couldn't think about adoption without tearing up. I still can't. That never happened before. What was going on? Where did this compassion that did not exist even a year ago come from? Oh, I knew of course. It was just one of the many ways God made His will crystal clear for me. We decided after much prayer that it was what we were to do. Memorial Day 2009 Dan made the final decision....it was time. Oh the excitement I felt! Oh the emotions that were within me! Oh now what!?! Our next prayer was "Which country should we adopt from God?" Again, clarity abounded. It was to be Russia. Now, "Which agency God? There are so many. Please lead us to the right one." Well, as if the journey hadn't been good enough yet, it gets better! We began to search relentlessly on the internet for adoption agencies. We, at some point, filled out a form on an unbiased website that would send our information to the appropriate agency(s) and we would get a call within the next few days. We did not receive a call and eventually we forgot about it. One night a few weeks later at 7:30 PM our phone rings and I answer. A lady with a very heavy Russian accent begins to talk to me and asked me if we had found an adoption agency yet. I was skeptical and I thought at first she was a telemarketer! (LOL) I was not in adoption mode when she called and was caught off guard. We began to talk and I kept questioning her about how she got my information. She must have thought I was crazy but she was so patient with me and talked to me for a long time. She had a lot of information and seemed very interested in the children. I told my husband when he got home what happened and he was skeptical too. The next day I called her back and she talked to me again and was again very patient with my questions. After about 4 days we finally figured out that our information we had filled out on the website had been forwarded to her agency. After several weeks, more conversations with her, and much prayer we realized that her agency was the one we should choose. I am still amazed that God took all the confusion out for us and literally had the right agency call us instead of us trying to find them. Problem solved!!!! So many things have fallen into place and I am excited to see what God has in store for us in the months to come. I know we will face challenges, trials, and experience many joys. I look forward to how this will strengthen our family. Yesterday, we received our acceptance letter for the agency here in Missouri to do our homestudy. It has officially begun. Let the journey begin!!!