С Пасхой!

Unfortunately, we have no news. We had one document that we had to get corrected and we sent that back to the agency on Tuesday. We included a card to the kids. The agency sent everything to Russia on Thursday so maybe the kids will get our card next week.

Regarding my last post, I have been assured our daughter is fine and was likely caught off guard by everything. Nevertheless, I pray the Lord will watch after her and her brother and sister and keep them safe and warm. Yes, it is warming to a balmy 40 degrees during the day and then back below freezing at night. According to the various webcams I have found, it appears most of the snow and ice has melted. Although, they are having snow showers as I type this.

About two weeks ago, our church family collectively donated $800 for us to use to purchase clothing and shoes for the older children in the orphanage when we travel on trip #2! What a blessing! Not only that, but Wednesday we received word from our pastor that we were given a $1,000 donation (anonymous) toward our adoption expenses! A second blessing! God has been VERY good to us in more ways than I will go into now, which brings me to a final comment. The most common verse in the bible starts off with, "For God so loved the world...". It doesn't say He so loved the Israelites, the people of Cyprus or, the people of Philipi - but the world. So how can people who claim to be believers say they can't love a child that is not theirs, or they just can't love another child? Sounds a little selfish to me considering what He did for us.

FYI. The title means, "Happy Easter"!

Как дела?

Yesterday morning we received an e-mail from another traveling family that had court this past week. They are adopting three boys (see, we are not the only ones doing this) and have two girls at home. It was a great surprise to wake up too! Their boys are in the same orphanage as "our" (the court says they are not mine until the decree is issued) kids. They took some presents for "our" kids and also took some quick snapshots of them for us. The two youngest look happy, but the expression of the oldest has bothered me a lot. The photos were taken in a rush as the kids were lining up for a special program and a worker pulled them from the line so the photos could be taken. That may explain the expression on her face, but the mom explained to the kids that the photos were for us. I have looked at the new pictures and her expression and compared them with her expression in pictures we took - even from the first photos where she met us. She could be sick or just feeling blue - I just don't know. And, I guess that is what bothers me the most - I don't know. This gnawed at me all day yesterday and I finally had to offer it up to the only one who can do anything - God.

The agency notified us they were sending back one document for us to have fixed. All other documents were sent to Russia. If we get the document back tomorrow, we can have the correction made and send it back all in one day. We may send a card with some short notes that we can write in Russian. Letters are more difficult because I am likely to use the wrong tense of a verb.

Anyway, that is our update. We are praying for a court date sometime in April. Please pray with us!

Before I log off, I guess I should explain the post title to those unfamiliar with the Russian language. "Как дела?" means "How are you?/How are things?"