Hard day

Today has turned out to be a hard day. To explain, I need to back up.

On Thursday, I called our family coordinator to ask about our progress in getting registered in Russia. She said they really did want to get us registered in December, and so we needed to complete our final document quickly. So yesterday, I got up early and made the 2 1/2 hour trip (one-way) to Tallahassee. I was able to get the document apostilled (certified). Another America World family is flying to our region on tomorrow, so our plan was to overnight/Saturday delivery the document to them. They would get it today, and then take it on the plane with them and hand-deliver it for us in Russia. What perfect timing!

I've been tracking the package all day: 6:11pm last night it left Tallahassee and went to Ohio. Great! 6:20am this morning it left the facility in Ohio. Progress! 10:38am it was with the delivery courier, in a town only 45 minutes away from the family. Almost there! 2:38pm: "address information needed, contact customer service." What?

I called at 3:05pm and was told the facility closed at 3:00 and there was nothing they could do until Monday. My heart sank. There is no way the document will be on the plane tomorrow.

They did agree to refund our money, but that doesn't get our document to Russia. On Monday, I can call back to find out more. We are planning to ask them to cover the cost of shipping this document to Russia, as that's now our only option. Please pray that they will be understanding and willing to work with us. It looks like it only takes 3 days to get to Russia, so we still may be registered this month. God brought this great quote from Warren Myers to mind as we were driving home from a friend's party today:

"The Lord may not have planned that this should overtake me, but He has most certainly permitted it. Therefore though it were an attack of an enemy, by the time it reaches me, it has the Lord's permission and therefore all is well. He will make it work together with all life's experiences for good."

Last night as we were praying for the document to arrive today, we acknowledged that it would be easy for God to have it delivered, but if He chose not to do that, we would trust Him. I shed some tears today, not understanding why God allowed this, but I do know that He is good and His plans for us are good. This will not stop us from bringing our son home. He'll be here before we know it!