Our Comfort

A dear friend who has had a bumpy ride on the adoption road shared a verse with me before Christmas that has been with me daily....

Isaiah 43:5-7 (NIV)
Fear not, for I am with you;
I will bring your descendants from the east,
And gather you from the west;
I will say to the north, 'Give them up!'
And to the south, 'Do not keep them back!'
Bring My sons from afar,
And My daughters from the ends of the earth -
Everyone who is called by My name,
Whom I have created for My glory;
I have formed him, yes, I have made him.

There are so many families waiting to bring their children home and others, just starting their journey. I say a prayer each day for all I have communicated who are traveling down this road. Today was 'Sanctity of Life' day at our church and I was reminded of how very special we all are to The One who created us all. I know He is in control and that He is watching after our children because they are very special to Him.

Document Update

March 1st will mark the one year mark we started down the paperwork road. As a result, some of our documents are expiring and have to be updated. Items like, Letter of Legal Residence, Marriage Certificates, Power of Attorney, Letter of Employment and, notarized copies of passport photos. It is odd to think that our marriage certificates are expiring! Yesterday and today we spent the afternoon getting copies of everything and making a trip to visit a notary. Now we have to take the documents to the Secretary of State's office and get them appostilled before we mail them to our agency. Hopefully this will be the last major update before we get to go to court. It is not that big of a deal, but it can be a little stressful.

Our next project is to find a psychiatrist that will complete an evaluation for us. Our region is one of a couple that require this. Unfortunately, in our neck of the woods, you can't find anybody that can give you a referral to see one. Then, sometime in late February or early March we have to update our medicals (physicals). Medicals are only good for 90 days so we do not want to do these too early - but at the same time we need to be prepared.

That's all for now. And for your information, as of 9AM it is -13 degrees Fahrenheit in Ussariysk.

Brrrrrr!

It is cold here at home today with a temperature around 28 degrees. One of my daily routines is to check the temperature where the kids are living - and I do this about four times per day as well as check a webcam focused on the train station in Vladivostok. Well, according to the Weather Channel, it is currently -13 degrees Fahrenheit (that is MINUS 13 degrees) in Ussuriysk which is where the kids live. Our daily prayer is that the kids - all the kids - are warm inside the orphanage (or school). Last week they got about 16 inches of snow and our thoughts have been on Big Sister who must walk about 30-40 yards across the orphanage playground to her school. God has been good to us and blessed us with so much and I know he is listening and taking care of them.

I also think of the hundreds of homeless kids in that very area that live on the streets. At night, they find abandoned buildings to crawl in and also use underground sewer/utility areas to get out of the cold. Please say a prayer for these children.

Also, just to update everyone, we mailed Big Sister a letter and some photos just before Christmas. Some friends in Birmingham translated the letter into Russian for us. The agency will drop of the letter on their next trip to the orphanage. Hopefully, that will be in the next week or so.