What does the Tooth Fairy have to do with our adoption? Well, Mr. Working-On-Not-Being-Selfish came to me this morning after discovering $1 under his pillow from the Tooth Fairy and said, "Mama, do you still need money for the adoption?" When I replied, "Yes" he handed me his hard earned Tooth Fairy money and then went to his piggy bank and gave me everything he could (he's saving $3 for Awana). I am not one who cries easily but this brought me to tears this morning. I know that I've already experienced this with my older daughter, but it was different for Mr. Working-On-Not-Being-Selfish. He is selfish about everything...money, food, toys, time...you name it. This was uncharacteristic behavior for him and I cannot discount the depth of the sacrifice for him. Thank you, Lord, for using this adoption journey to mold the hearts of my children along the way.
II Corinthians 5:7 "For we walk by faith, not by sight."
Friday, March 21, 2008
Thursday, March 20, 2008
Waiting...
There seems to be a theme in our life right now...waiting. You would think that after being on this adoption journey for over 2 years, we'd be pros at waiting, but I guess not. I guess God thinks we still have something to learn.
At this point, we are just waiting on those two documents that should arrive any day in the mail. As soon as we have those, we will be able to get travel dates. I feel like an expectant mother. I wake up every day wondering if this will be "the day"--the day we find out when we will be able to return for our daughter. The more I wait, the more there is an ache inside. I miss her and cannot wait for her to come home.
The kids and I spent a part of yesterday and today getting things ready for her arrival. We made her bed, hung her dresses, put clothes away in the dresser and made room for her toys so that it doesn't feel like she's a guest in our oldest daughter's room. The kids are so excited. They've made so many pictures for her that I don't think there is enough wall space in our whole house to display them all.
Our whole family waits in anticipation and feels like they might burst soon. I'm pretty sure our little daughter on the other side of the ocean can relate with our feelings. Pray for those documents to return so that our family can be reunited ASAP.
II Corinthians 5:7 "For we walk by faith, not by sight."
At this point, we are just waiting on those two documents that should arrive any day in the mail. As soon as we have those, we will be able to get travel dates. I feel like an expectant mother. I wake up every day wondering if this will be "the day"--the day we find out when we will be able to return for our daughter. The more I wait, the more there is an ache inside. I miss her and cannot wait for her to come home.
The kids and I spent a part of yesterday and today getting things ready for her arrival. We made her bed, hung her dresses, put clothes away in the dresser and made room for her toys so that it doesn't feel like she's a guest in our oldest daughter's room. The kids are so excited. They've made so many pictures for her that I don't think there is enough wall space in our whole house to display them all.
Our whole family waits in anticipation and feels like they might burst soon. I'm pretty sure our little daughter on the other side of the ocean can relate with our feelings. Pray for those documents to return so that our family can be reunited ASAP.
II Corinthians 5:7 "For we walk by faith, not by sight."
Thursday, March 13, 2008
The Heart of a Child
Yesterday, out of nowhere, my oldest daughter came to me with all of her money. She said, "Mom, I really want a sister. I really want her to come home soon and I know we still need some more money to do that. So here is all of my money I've been saving. It's only $26.63 which I know isn't much, but you said that every little bit counts. I want you to use all of my money to bring my sister home."
Talk about a touching moment! I am so proud of my oldest daughter for being willing to give up her precious money she had been saving to invest in the life of an orphan. I am so proud of her for realizing that although what she gave was little, that it makes a difference--that God can multiply it. I am one proud Mama right now!
II Corinthians 5:7 "For we walk by faith, not by sight."
Talk about a touching moment! I am so proud of my oldest daughter for being willing to give up her precious money she had been saving to invest in the life of an orphan. I am so proud of her for realizing that although what she gave was little, that it makes a difference--that God can multiply it. I am one proud Mama right now!
II Corinthians 5:7 "For we walk by faith, not by sight."
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Closer...
We're getting closer...yesterday we received the coveted document in the mail that will allow our daughter entry in the US. Woo hoo!
Today we also got back a few more of the documents we need. The 8-doctor nightmare document came back today. We had to have our CPA do one of our documents over again (for the 4th time) and it he did it in one afternoon--and with a smile (at least it sounded like he was smiling over the phone). He rocks!
Pray for our pediatrician as he is in the midst of crafting a letter that will hopefully get our 10-day waiting period waived since our daughter is special needs. He asked me to compose it, so I did, but now he will look it over and put in his two cents. Pray that the end result is exactly what we need it to say and we don't have to go round and round over it. I've had enough of that lately. I don't want to do it again.
Tonight our friend Alicia found me while at Awana and had a brand new baby gate in her hand. She had heard that we needed one for the top of our stairs and "just happened" to have one laying around that has never even been unwrapped! Hmmm....I'm not sure that I believe her that it was laying around her house, but nevertheless, I am so grateful for her generosity. Thank you Alicia, Joey and the crew!
II Corinthians 5:7 "For we walk by faith, not by sight."
Today we also got back a few more of the documents we need. The 8-doctor nightmare document came back today. We had to have our CPA do one of our documents over again (for the 4th time) and it he did it in one afternoon--and with a smile (at least it sounded like he was smiling over the phone). He rocks!
Pray for our pediatrician as he is in the midst of crafting a letter that will hopefully get our 10-day waiting period waived since our daughter is special needs. He asked me to compose it, so I did, but now he will look it over and put in his two cents. Pray that the end result is exactly what we need it to say and we don't have to go round and round over it. I've had enough of that lately. I don't want to do it again.
Tonight our friend Alicia found me while at Awana and had a brand new baby gate in her hand. She had heard that we needed one for the top of our stairs and "just happened" to have one laying around that has never even been unwrapped! Hmmm....I'm not sure that I believe her that it was laying around her house, but nevertheless, I am so grateful for her generosity. Thank you Alicia, Joey and the crew!
II Corinthians 5:7 "For we walk by faith, not by sight."
Wednesday, March 5, 2008
Forms, forms and more forms!
Just when you thought you were done praying for our document chase...ha, ha...we still have more to do and re-do before out court date. We are anticipating that date to be at the end of this month so there is no rest for the weary.
Please pray specifically for our I-171H to come ASAP. Without it, we cannot bring our daughter into the United States.
Also, please cover us in prayer as we get this crazy 8-doctor medical specialist document done. We got the psychiatrist part done today, but will be going to see our Internal Medicine doctor tomorrow morning. He needs to fill out the rest of the 7 parts and write up a letter for us.
On Monday morning, we have an appointment to see our pediatrician to have him do and re-do a few documents.
We would appreciate your prayer coverage as we are exhausted at this point, but need to keep on going and it would really be great if all of these documents can be done and some of them returned to us by mail ASAP. The faster they return, the faster we can return to our daughter.
II Corinthians 5:7 "For we walk by faith, not by sight."
Please pray specifically for our I-171H to come ASAP. Without it, we cannot bring our daughter into the United States.
Also, please cover us in prayer as we get this crazy 8-doctor medical specialist document done. We got the psychiatrist part done today, but will be going to see our Internal Medicine doctor tomorrow morning. He needs to fill out the rest of the 7 parts and write up a letter for us.
On Monday morning, we have an appointment to see our pediatrician to have him do and re-do a few documents.
We would appreciate your prayer coverage as we are exhausted at this point, but need to keep on going and it would really be great if all of these documents can be done and some of them returned to us by mail ASAP. The faster they return, the faster we can return to our daughter.
II Corinthians 5:7 "For we walk by faith, not by sight."
Monday, March 3, 2008
I Love America!
I never knew how much I loved America until I was in Russia for a week. Again, I'm such a woosie, but it's just so good to be where people smile and speak my language. I went to Costco & Savemart tonight and felt like a celebrity with all of the people I knew in the stores and because of all of the friendly people that talked to me. It was so great! Did I tell you I love America?
We had Me-n-Ed's Pizza for dinner tonight. We couldn't help it. We needed to taste good pizza again! Tomorrow will be back to the grindstone of making homemade meals, but it will be so great to make and eat the things we love!
Nate went back to work and I went back to being full-time mom again. I kind of got thrown right back into it because our youngest one is still sick and The Talker has quite a fever. Apparently while I was gone, it was "Top Secret" that our littlest one was really sick. My trooper of a friend that watched her 6 kids plus our 4 while we were away, swore everyone to secrecy so that I wouldn't worry about him. What a good friend. Thank you to everyone who kept that secret, but yet prayed for her while she managed a full house and even consoled and cleaned up after our littlest one.
Also thank you to everyone who pitched in with our kids while we were away. Whether it was watching the kids for a little bit of time, driving my kids to their regular activities, delivering pizza, doing laundry or even cleaning my kitchen while I was gone--THANK YOU!!!! I've heard it said that it takes a whole village to raise a child and it couldn't have been more clear this week. Everyone rocks!
Now the big question is, "When do we expect to return for our daughter?" Well, when we left Russia, our Coordinator said, "We'll see you in a month!" It could be sooner or later, but for now, we are planning on returning in a month. Please be praying for us as we prepare for that yet, at the same time, get our home back in order. Pray for the health of our family. Pray for our daughter as she waits each day for our return. And don't forget to pray for that 10 day waiting period to be waived!
In the meantime, we have more paperwork to do or re-do because some of it will expire before our court date. We have one particularly tricky document to be done by our doctor and psychiatrist this week. This one document requires 8 different notary stamps. Please pray for it to be done seamlessly. That would really be a pain to re-do! The paperwork is less now, but yet there is still some to do. I have to keep in perspective that it is almost over...one more month of this insanity and then we'll have our daughter in our home--to start a new kind of insanity--adjustment to our home, but I'll take that any day compared to all of this tedious paperwork!
II Corinthians 5:7 "For we walk by faith, not by sight."
We had Me-n-Ed's Pizza for dinner tonight. We couldn't help it. We needed to taste good pizza again! Tomorrow will be back to the grindstone of making homemade meals, but it will be so great to make and eat the things we love!
Nate went back to work and I went back to being full-time mom again. I kind of got thrown right back into it because our youngest one is still sick and The Talker has quite a fever. Apparently while I was gone, it was "Top Secret" that our littlest one was really sick. My trooper of a friend that watched her 6 kids plus our 4 while we were away, swore everyone to secrecy so that I wouldn't worry about him. What a good friend. Thank you to everyone who kept that secret, but yet prayed for her while she managed a full house and even consoled and cleaned up after our littlest one.
Also thank you to everyone who pitched in with our kids while we were away. Whether it was watching the kids for a little bit of time, driving my kids to their regular activities, delivering pizza, doing laundry or even cleaning my kitchen while I was gone--THANK YOU!!!! I've heard it said that it takes a whole village to raise a child and it couldn't have been more clear this week. Everyone rocks!
Now the big question is, "When do we expect to return for our daughter?" Well, when we left Russia, our Coordinator said, "We'll see you in a month!" It could be sooner or later, but for now, we are planning on returning in a month. Please be praying for us as we prepare for that yet, at the same time, get our home back in order. Pray for the health of our family. Pray for our daughter as she waits each day for our return. And don't forget to pray for that 10 day waiting period to be waived!
In the meantime, we have more paperwork to do or re-do because some of it will expire before our court date. We have one particularly tricky document to be done by our doctor and psychiatrist this week. This one document requires 8 different notary stamps. Please pray for it to be done seamlessly. That would really be a pain to re-do! The paperwork is less now, but yet there is still some to do. I have to keep in perspective that it is almost over...one more month of this insanity and then we'll have our daughter in our home--to start a new kind of insanity--adjustment to our home, but I'll take that any day compared to all of this tedious paperwork!
II Corinthians 5:7 "For we walk by faith, not by sight."
Saturday, March 1, 2008
Never Thought I Would See the Red Square
Today we were American Tourists. Our hotel is in the heart of Moscow, so we had to see all the famous sites. We are only about a mile from the Kremlin, which is in the center of Moscow, so we decided to walk everywhere. It’s pretty much just like New York…but without the smell. The city is very large, around 9 million people, and everyone seems to walk or ride the Metro. The weather was really nice today.
We got to the Red Square (which is really a rectangle) and saw the Pokrovsky Cathedral (also known as St. Basil’s Cathedral) and took a picture as every good tourist should. I was really excited to take a picture while it was snowing…but by the time we found someone to take a picture of us…it stopped.
Lenin was not out of his tomb, so we didn’t say hi. And we got to see the changing of the guard process…but we’re still not sure what they were guarding.
Old Arbot Street was pretty cool. Lots of old buildings with little shops and craft peddlers out there. And then low and behold…there it was…Starbucks! There is only a few in Moscow (Russians don’t drink coffee at the rate Americans do). There is another coffee place that seems to be everywhere…on every corner…just like Starbucks in the US. We stopped in one of those too just to see what it was like. Amazingly…it was just like Starbucks…but neither of us could pronounce the name.
On Old Arbot Street, there was a McDonalds and we hadn’t eaten yet, so we decided to go there. Now you might ask, “Why go to McDonalds when in a foreign land?” Well, because this McDonalds was GIGANTIC and we thought it would be neat to go there…in a foreign land…and also because we’ve learned we don’t like Russian food very much. While we waited in line…I counted 29 employees working behind the counter and at least another dozen out in the lobby area. It was really quite the scene…for a McDonalds anyway. (On a side note…I learned that the Russian women who clean the men’s restrooms don’t care that men are in there when they need to clean it!)
Along the way, we found some fun treasures to help us preserve our new daughter’s heritage and after walking about 100 miles, we decided to head back to the hotel. We needed a nap…and another potty break. Maybe we’ll head out again this evening just to see the city lit up at night.
We got to the Red Square (which is really a rectangle) and saw the Pokrovsky Cathedral (also known as St. Basil’s Cathedral) and took a picture as every good tourist should. I was really excited to take a picture while it was snowing…but by the time we found someone to take a picture of us…it stopped.
Lenin was not out of his tomb, so we didn’t say hi. And we got to see the changing of the guard process…but we’re still not sure what they were guarding.
Old Arbot Street was pretty cool. Lots of old buildings with little shops and craft peddlers out there. And then low and behold…there it was…Starbucks! There is only a few in Moscow (Russians don’t drink coffee at the rate Americans do). There is another coffee place that seems to be everywhere…on every corner…just like Starbucks in the US. We stopped in one of those too just to see what it was like. Amazingly…it was just like Starbucks…but neither of us could pronounce the name.
On Old Arbot Street, there was a McDonalds and we hadn’t eaten yet, so we decided to go there. Now you might ask, “Why go to McDonalds when in a foreign land?” Well, because this McDonalds was GIGANTIC and we thought it would be neat to go there…in a foreign land…and also because we’ve learned we don’t like Russian food very much. While we waited in line…I counted 29 employees working behind the counter and at least another dozen out in the lobby area. It was really quite the scene…for a McDonalds anyway. (On a side note…I learned that the Russian women who clean the men’s restrooms don’t care that men are in there when they need to clean it!)
Along the way, we found some fun treasures to help us preserve our new daughter’s heritage and after walking about 100 miles, we decided to head back to the hotel. We needed a nap…and another potty break. Maybe we’ll head out again this evening just to see the city lit up at night.
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