Day 38 - "Getting Closer"

Hi to all of our family and friends who continue to follow God's work in our lives as He joins our family together.  It becomes more difficult here each day because we are so weary for home and for a normal routine.  Your kind words of prayer, encouragement and support lift our spirits so very much and we are very, very grateful. 

I read stories of others who are here adopting and it makes me thankful for all of the circumstances we have personally endured.  Some people experience great struggle, difficulty and hardship as they navigate the system to find children.  Some people have to endure much more difficult living circumstances than we have.  Some people have come without knowing how they will financially be able to finish the task at hand.  Some people have gotten sick while here and have had to manage through.  One thing is common among all of us.  We are all doing what we can to love those to whom Christ afforded great value; orphaned children.  Today, my prayer for my family and for all of those who are struggling to carry out the adoption of their children comes from God's own words (via Joshua 1:9 and Isaiah 41:10)

"Have I not commanded you?  Be strong and courageous.  Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go."  (Joshua 1:9) and "So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God.  I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with My righteous right hand!" (Isaiah 41:10)

We started today by waking up at 8:00 a.m. to prepare for leaving at 9:00 a.m. to continue the paper chase that is necessary to leave Ukraine.  As I have previoulsly written, the children are legally and officially ours now but we still have to get paper work that allows them to leave for America.  Today's task included visiting a notary to get a passport petition stamped and then visiting an office to file the petition, take picutres and submit for new passports for the children.  Sounds simple enough.  Although it wasn't very difficult, it was time consuming. 

To my friend Stacey and my friend Kevin who both endured multiple sessions of notarizing documents for Angelia and I - THANK YOU!  Getting something notarized and stamped here is much more of a task and if I had to re-do as many copies to a notary here that I did by each of you, I would probably have quit becuase I would have run out of money and y'all would have stopped being my friends.  :-) 

Thankfully, we were able to get these things done today and now we have to wait (likely until Monday afternoon) to pick up the passports.  Once we have these, all we need would be medical clearances and visas from the U.S. Embassy.  We are hoping to get medicals on Friday, and visa appointments  with the U.S. Embassy (of which it takes two) on Tuesday and Wednesday and then we hope to fly home next Thursday.  Please help us by keeping us in your prayers and specifically praying that we will not run into any more scheduling delays. 

Tomorrow will be another big day as far as the world of adoptions is concerned.  We will visit the orphanage where our children lived (Anna for seven years, Charlie for three) for the last time.  This very likely could be the last time our children ever see the kind hearted orphanage director, the people who took care of them, and most importantly, their friends.  This is likely to be an emotional day for them (and us) but it is something we knew would come.  Please pray that God would find families for the other children who live at this orphanage. 

One great accomplishment to share from today is that Charlie didn't have to spend any time in the 90 degree angle (corner).  I am very proud of him.  He did ask a funny question today while we were eating with our facilitator / translator.  He asked "whose going to translate for us when we get to America?" to which I jokingly replied "as long as you know what the words "get in the corner" mean, we are going to be just fine".  :-)  He is such a great little guy and Anna is a wonderful daughter.  We are surely blessed that God has given them to be our children.

Sorry that I don't have any pictures to post.  I guess we have all gotten tired of taking them.  Tomorrow we will have some for sure and I will share with everyone the details of our last visit to the orphange in Vovchkiv, Ukraine.

Goodnight from Kiev, Ukraine and may God bless and keep you all!