Last night, we traveled home from Colorado. Because of a major miscommunication from Delta, we didn't get on our flight out of Denver, and had to stay in the airport an extra 7 hours to catch the next flight. We arrived in Florida at 5am, and got back to Gainesville at 7am. We slept for a few short hours and then started our day.
We had a lot to do to catch up on being gone, but everything suddenly changed when I saw the FedEx truck pull up in our driveway! He delivered our passports, complete with Russian adoption visas. Praise God!
I immediately scanned them and emailed them to our agency. We got the word that they looked good and we could book our tickets. I already had them on hold, so it was easy to finish processing them. We fly out of Gainesville on Monday at noon. Incredible! I've been holding my breath for quite awhile, waiting for the details to come together. And God answered each prayer with days to spare. Thank you Lord!
Here are some recent clear answers to prayer:
*We received the adoption visas we needed, including the letter of invitation from the Ministry of Education in Niznhy
*We had enough frequent flier miles for our tickets
*We were able to book tickets in and out of Gainesville, which will be an amazing blessing on our trip home with Sam
*Friends have continued to give generously toward our adoption expenses in the last several weeks
Thank you all for your specific prayers for our family. God is so good!
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Almost there...
We have been in Colorado for the last week and a half, so I apologize for my lack of updates. While I have a moment, I wanted to quickly let you know what's been happening.
Last week, we finally got the go-ahead to mail in our passports and apply for our visas. We received the letter of invitation that we needed from the Ministry of Education, and that was a big answer to prayer! So we filled out our visa applications and mailed everything in from the road.
The agency helping us with our visas forwarded everything on to the consulate in California. We are still waiting to hear if they will grant our request for adoption visas. (Of course, it's a holiday weekend!) Until we know for sure, we have been advised to hold off on buying our plane tickets. But it seems like everyone involved believes we will get the visas.
Hopefully we'll hear something new tomorrow. Of course, we'll be spending much of the day in airports and on planes. Our hope is to hear definite news tomorrow and then book our plane tickets on Wednesday. I have confidence that God will not be late in answering our prayers, but He might choose to be very last-minute!
It's amazing to think that a week from today we will be in the air on the way to see our son again and bring him home forever!
Friday, May 16, 2008
Visa update--still in progress
We just received an email from our family coordinator with the latest news on our visa situation. Things are moving ahead and we are very encouraged by this news! We were able to obtain the letter we needed from the Ministry of Education in Nizhny, which allows us to apply for an adoption visa. We weren't sure if they would be willing to write this letter on our behalf, but they did. Praise God for moving this mountain for us!
The letter is now at the travel agency that processes visas for our adoption agency. They were very professional and helpful for the visas on our first trip. They are in contact with the Russian consulate, and we are waiting for the consulate's response as to whether or not we can obtain the adoption visas. I don't know how long they expect this to take, but of course we are hoping it will be early next week! Please pray that God will move this last mountain for us--to His glory.
And here's a cool God story to finish off the post. Yesterday, we flew from Florida to Colorado. We ate lunch in Atlanta on our layover. An older couple next to us started some small talk with us and a guy on the other side of them. Ben and I went back to eating, but Ben heard the couple say they were on their way to Russia for a cruise. The guy at the other table said he and his wife were on their way to Russia too. I had been tuning them out until I heard him say, "Niznhy Novgorod...it's the third largest city in Russia." I heard those words as if he had screamed them! I leaned over and said, "Excuse me, did you just say Nizhny Novgorod?" He said yes, his wife was from there and he was going over to meet her extended family. I couldn't believe it! We talked a bit, and then met his wife when she returned to the table. I told Ben it was a hug from God to my heart. It just confirmed that He is making a way for us, and I am confident that this visa situation will be resolved very soon. Thanks for your prayers!
*I also posted shower pictures earlier today, so check out the post below if you haven't looked yet. :-)
The letter is now at the travel agency that processes visas for our adoption agency. They were very professional and helpful for the visas on our first trip. They are in contact with the Russian consulate, and we are waiting for the consulate's response as to whether or not we can obtain the adoption visas. I don't know how long they expect this to take, but of course we are hoping it will be early next week! Please pray that God will move this last mountain for us--to His glory.
And here's a cool God story to finish off the post. Yesterday, we flew from Florida to Colorado. We ate lunch in Atlanta on our layover. An older couple next to us started some small talk with us and a guy on the other side of them. Ben and I went back to eating, but Ben heard the couple say they were on their way to Russia for a cruise. The guy at the other table said he and his wife were on their way to Russia too. I had been tuning them out until I heard him say, "Niznhy Novgorod...it's the third largest city in Russia." I heard those words as if he had screamed them! I leaned over and said, "Excuse me, did you just say Nizhny Novgorod?" He said yes, his wife was from there and he was going over to meet her extended family. I couldn't believe it! We talked a bit, and then met his wife when she returned to the table. I told Ben it was a hug from God to my heart. It just confirmed that He is making a way for us, and I am confident that this visa situation will be resolved very soon. Thanks for your prayers!
*I also posted shower pictures earlier today, so check out the post below if you haven't looked yet. :-)
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Showers of blessings
I've been meaning to write about our baby showers for awhile now, and I finally have the time to sit down and do it. Thanks for your patience--I know some of you have been asking for these!
My first shower was on April 12 in Gainesville. It was planned by my good friend Melissa Teten, along with the help of many of our Nav students and friends from our family group at church. After years of attending baby showers, it was a little hard to believe that this was actually for me and our son! I got to spend some time sharing our adoption journey story and a few pictures from our first trip to Russia. Then several women spent time praying for our family (pictured below). It was a treasured memory.
They used a clothesline to hang up the adorable clothes Sam received at the shower. Some of them are pictured behind me. He is a blessed kid already!
The next weekend, I flew to Fort Collins for two more showers. Ben's dad had an extra plane ticket for me to use, which made the trip possible. On Saturday morning, there was a shower hosted by my amazing girlfriends from our small group at church. They are all moms of two or three, and I have much to learn from their wisdom about godly parenting. I am so thankful for their friendship. They are pictured below. Back row: Jenn, Nicole, Shelley. Front row: Becca, Kelly, me. Love you girls!
These are the amazing table decorations, from the creative mind of my friend Jenn. (Don't you think she should start a party planning business?!) She used the colors from the Russian flag, but did a great job of making it feel like a little boy shower, and not like the Fourth of July. :-) The favor bags had cute S's (for Sam!) on them, and were filled with candy bars that had prayer requests regarding our adoption on them. We could never have made it through this journey without so many prayers surrounding us. The food was delicious, and Sam got many more wonderful gifts.
The next afternoon, I had a shower with women who were (or still are) connected with the CSU Navs while we were there. It was so fun to celebrate with our former students and staff friends! One of them commented that this group of women never really gets together anymore, so I was glad we had an excuse to come together and catch up. There were moms and expectant moms in the room, and it's fun to be sharing this journey to motherhood with them. We also did a clothesline of Sam's outfits at this shower, which is pictured below. This kid is going to be so well dressed!
I'm grateful to each friend that took the time to come celebrate Sam's arrival into our family with me, and for all of the women that spent time planning, preparing, and pulling together these amazing events. Ben and I are blessed by your love, encouragement, generosity, and faithful prayers for our family. Thank you for already loving our son so much!
My first shower was on April 12 in Gainesville. It was planned by my good friend Melissa Teten, along with the help of many of our Nav students and friends from our family group at church. After years of attending baby showers, it was a little hard to believe that this was actually for me and our son! I got to spend some time sharing our adoption journey story and a few pictures from our first trip to Russia. Then several women spent time praying for our family (pictured below). It was a treasured memory.
They used a clothesline to hang up the adorable clothes Sam received at the shower. Some of them are pictured behind me. He is a blessed kid already!
The next weekend, I flew to Fort Collins for two more showers. Ben's dad had an extra plane ticket for me to use, which made the trip possible. On Saturday morning, there was a shower hosted by my amazing girlfriends from our small group at church. They are all moms of two or three, and I have much to learn from their wisdom about godly parenting. I am so thankful for their friendship. They are pictured below. Back row: Jenn, Nicole, Shelley. Front row: Becca, Kelly, me. Love you girls!
These are the amazing table decorations, from the creative mind of my friend Jenn. (Don't you think she should start a party planning business?!) She used the colors from the Russian flag, but did a great job of making it feel like a little boy shower, and not like the Fourth of July. :-) The favor bags had cute S's (for Sam!) on them, and were filled with candy bars that had prayer requests regarding our adoption on them. We could never have made it through this journey without so many prayers surrounding us. The food was delicious, and Sam got many more wonderful gifts.
The next afternoon, I had a shower with women who were (or still are) connected with the CSU Navs while we were there. It was so fun to celebrate with our former students and staff friends! One of them commented that this group of women never really gets together anymore, so I was glad we had an excuse to come together and catch up. There were moms and expectant moms in the room, and it's fun to be sharing this journey to motherhood with them. We also did a clothesline of Sam's outfits at this shower, which is pictured below. This kid is going to be so well dressed!
I'm grateful to each friend that took the time to come celebrate Sam's arrival into our family with me, and for all of the women that spent time planning, preparing, and pulling together these amazing events. Ben and I are blessed by your love, encouragement, generosity, and faithful prayers for our family. Thank you for already loving our son so much!
I Got to Stand
I've been wanting to post since Mother's Day, but my mom was visiting. It was a wonderful blessing to have her here to celebrate Mother's Day, and she was so great in helping me run errands and prepare for our upcoming travel to Russia. Thanks Mom!
We went to church on Mother's Day this year for the first time in a few years. It had gotten too hard during the years of infertility. The hardest part was the time during the service when moms were asked to stand and be recognized. While I was always excited to recognize the moms in our circle of family and friends, it was hard to be one of the women in church who had to remain seated.
This year, we went to church with my mom. When they asked the moms and moms-to-be (I'm a little of both!) to stand and receive a carnation, I proudly stood next to my mom. It was a blessing to be able to think about my son in Russia while I waited for a child to bring me a flower, and to realize he'll be home and in my arms in just a little over a month.
But as I stood there, I also looked around and noticed the women who were still seated. I don't know their stories. I have no idea which women were single, which women aren't even trying to start a family yet, and whose hearts were broken by not being able to stand. But I said a quick prayer for them, and also asked God to keep my heart soft toward the women around me.
I am grateful for the churches around the country like my dad's church, who chose to give a flower to every woman as she exited the service--mom or not. I love the concept of celebrating all women on such an important day. On behalf of the hurting women in your congregations, I thank you.
Sam, I can't wait to celebrate Mother's Day with you next year! Thanks for making me a mom!
*Still no update on our wait for a visa invitation letter. Hoping to hear something soon!
We went to church on Mother's Day this year for the first time in a few years. It had gotten too hard during the years of infertility. The hardest part was the time during the service when moms were asked to stand and be recognized. While I was always excited to recognize the moms in our circle of family and friends, it was hard to be one of the women in church who had to remain seated.
This year, we went to church with my mom. When they asked the moms and moms-to-be (I'm a little of both!) to stand and receive a carnation, I proudly stood next to my mom. It was a blessing to be able to think about my son in Russia while I waited for a child to bring me a flower, and to realize he'll be home and in my arms in just a little over a month.
But as I stood there, I also looked around and noticed the women who were still seated. I don't know their stories. I have no idea which women were single, which women aren't even trying to start a family yet, and whose hearts were broken by not being able to stand. But I said a quick prayer for them, and also asked God to keep my heart soft toward the women around me.
I am grateful for the churches around the country like my dad's church, who chose to give a flower to every woman as she exited the service--mom or not. I love the concept of celebrating all women on such an important day. On behalf of the hurting women in your congregations, I thank you.
Sam, I can't wait to celebrate Mother's Day with you next year! Thanks for making me a mom!
*Still no update on our wait for a visa invitation letter. Hoping to hear something soon!
Monday, May 5, 2008
Visa update/prayer request
We just got an email from our family coordinator. We have updated prayer requests regarding our visa situation, and would definitely appreciate your prayers.
As you may remember, we were hoping to travel on a business visa for this second trip. We actually purchased double-entry visas the last time, which would've allowed us to use them for both trips. However, our region is no longer allowing adoption travel on business visas. So, the visas we have won't work.
Our facilitator in Russia is working with the Ministry of Education in our region, asking them to write a letter which would allow us to obtain an adoption visa. Apparently they haven't been willing to write this letter in the past, but we think they might be willing now that there is no other way for families to travel. Would you please pray for favor in the eyes of the person who needs to write this letter for us?
We will then need to find a consulate that will accept this letter in order to issue our adoption visas. I'm not sure how many consulates there are, honestly. But would you please pray that once we have the letter (I'm trusting there will be one!) that we can find a consulate willing to issue us the visas we'll need?
Of course, all of this stalls our travel plans, as we can't purchase our airplane tickets unless we are sure we will be able to get visas. For those of you who don't get our email ministry prayer updates (just ask if you'd like to be added), we sent out a request last night asking for people with Delta miles who would be willing to donate them to our account. We have enough for one ticket, but needed 100,000 more for the second one. In less than an hour, we had more miles offered to us than we even need! Praise the Lord for His amazing provision.
I am confident that if God is able to get us a court date in time to see Sam on his birthday, and if He can provide more airline miles than we need, He can certainly work out this visa situation with no problem! The problem is me--wanting to book our tickets, and wanting a sense of certainty. But God is faithful and able to do immeasurably more than we can ask or imagine. (Eph. 3:20) Would you please ask and imagine on our behalf?
As you may remember, we were hoping to travel on a business visa for this second trip. We actually purchased double-entry visas the last time, which would've allowed us to use them for both trips. However, our region is no longer allowing adoption travel on business visas. So, the visas we have won't work.
Our facilitator in Russia is working with the Ministry of Education in our region, asking them to write a letter which would allow us to obtain an adoption visa. Apparently they haven't been willing to write this letter in the past, but we think they might be willing now that there is no other way for families to travel. Would you please pray for favor in the eyes of the person who needs to write this letter for us?
We will then need to find a consulate that will accept this letter in order to issue our adoption visas. I'm not sure how many consulates there are, honestly. But would you please pray that once we have the letter (I'm trusting there will be one!) that we can find a consulate willing to issue us the visas we'll need?
Of course, all of this stalls our travel plans, as we can't purchase our airplane tickets unless we are sure we will be able to get visas. For those of you who don't get our email ministry prayer updates (just ask if you'd like to be added), we sent out a request last night asking for people with Delta miles who would be willing to donate them to our account. We have enough for one ticket, but needed 100,000 more for the second one. In less than an hour, we had more miles offered to us than we even need! Praise the Lord for His amazing provision.
I am confident that if God is able to get us a court date in time to see Sam on his birthday, and if He can provide more airline miles than we need, He can certainly work out this visa situation with no problem! The problem is me--wanting to book our tickets, and wanting a sense of certainty. But God is faithful and able to do immeasurably more than we can ask or imagine. (Eph. 3:20) Would you please ask and imagine on our behalf?
Friday, May 2, 2008
We have a court date!
The phone call we'd been waiting for finally came yesterday morning! After so much waiting, we were both starting to feel like we might never hear anything from Russia. Our paperwork arrived in NN on April 7, and we knew that it had to be translated and submitted to the court by the end of April because our judge is on vacation for the month of May. As the end of April approached, we both started to prepare for the possibility that we might not hear anything until after the judge's vacation.
We were in Tampa this week for some regional staff meetings (which, on a side note, were very refreshing for our souls). On Tuesday afternoon, I was walking near the water with a staff friend when my cell phone rang. I looked at the caller ID, and it was from Virginia (where America World is located). My heart skipped a beat, and I told my friend it was our agency. We both got super excited, but it ended up being a call from the financial department. It was definitely an encouraging call about our fundraising, but not the call I'd been hoping for.
On Wednesday night, Ben and I realized that the end of April had arrived with no word from Russia. We talked it over, and realized that even though it would be hard to perhaps wait another month to hear anything, we were confident that God's timing would be perfect for our family.
The next morning (yesterday), as we were getting ready to head to the beach, my cell phone rang. I checked the caller ID. Virginia again. Could it be? I answered, and heard the voice of our family coordinator. I almost screamed, because I knew this was the call! She told me we had a court date, which I quickly told Ben. I'm sure our faces were priceless--how great is our God!
We will leave the US on June 2. Our court date is June 5, and after taking care of various legal paperwork and documents, we'll return to Gainesville as a family of three on June 17. Praise the Lord! We'll be able to be in Russia with Sam on his birthday, which was one of our specific requests. It's amazing to think that we're leaving one month from today. We appreciate your prayers as we prepare for this trip of a lifetime.
We were in Tampa this week for some regional staff meetings (which, on a side note, were very refreshing for our souls). On Tuesday afternoon, I was walking near the water with a staff friend when my cell phone rang. I looked at the caller ID, and it was from Virginia (where America World is located). My heart skipped a beat, and I told my friend it was our agency. We both got super excited, but it ended up being a call from the financial department. It was definitely an encouraging call about our fundraising, but not the call I'd been hoping for.
On Wednesday night, Ben and I realized that the end of April had arrived with no word from Russia. We talked it over, and realized that even though it would be hard to perhaps wait another month to hear anything, we were confident that God's timing would be perfect for our family.
The next morning (yesterday), as we were getting ready to head to the beach, my cell phone rang. I checked the caller ID. Virginia again. Could it be? I answered, and heard the voice of our family coordinator. I almost screamed, because I knew this was the call! She told me we had a court date, which I quickly told Ben. I'm sure our faces were priceless--how great is our God!
We will leave the US on June 2. Our court date is June 5, and after taking care of various legal paperwork and documents, we'll return to Gainesville as a family of three on June 17. Praise the Lord! We'll be able to be in Russia with Sam on his birthday, which was one of our specific requests. It's amazing to think that we're leaving one month from today. We appreciate your prayers as we prepare for this trip of a lifetime.
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