To Russia, with love......

Sometimes, I am humbled by God's sovereignty and my weakness of faith. In my last post, I wrote that I still believed that God had a brother for Will and recognized that it would take a miracle of God to open any door for adoption. I'll make the story very short, but I do want to bear witness to God's perfect grace as I see this story unfolding. Last week, I was talking to the National Regional Director for European Adoption Consultants (EAC), the agency I used when adopting Will. I've talked to Pat numerous times since adopting Will and she always tries to convince me to adopt again. Russian requirements for adoption agencies have changed since 2004. EAC has been granted a non-expiring Russian accreditation. At any rate, I am able to adopt a Russian child younger than Will through EAC. Initially, I did not have that option. By God's grace, I am on a different journey than I had planned. I believe that God has been paving the way--I just wasn't always in tune with His perfect will. So......I have numerous documents to gather--Registration documents first and then 48 documents to apostille for the foreign dossier. If you are reading this, would you please pray for the child that God has created for our family? Would you also pray that God will provide the financial resources? I really don't know how this part will work. The financial issues are challenging for international adoption--because I have to "come up" the a lot of money up front.

Geneva's commencement was this weekend. My sister, Cheryl, was here for a little over two weeks--She returned with her daughters and me after being at her mother in law's funeral in Ohio. My niece, Ashley, has moved in with us for a few weeks until her rental house is available.

Will has had a lot of company and so heading back to daycare was difficult for him. We head to CA in two weeks, so he'll be able to visit a lot of family.

We're heading to the Cleveland Zoo on Saturday to attend the EAC annual picnic.

And a miracle will come?

I received another email from my American facilitator--He stated that unless a miracle occurs, the door for adopting from Ukraine has closed for me. Sadly, because the law specifically is directed at single people, I wonder about the "equity" for single people. Of course, that sends me in a lot of different directions that are probably not healthy for me. I confess that I feel at peace with the status of the Ukraine adoption--peace because I am confident that God answered my prayer. However, I grieve because I still think that God has a brother for Will. I'm saddened when Will speaks of what he will do when his brother comes. He consistently says that God is still making his brother. I have yet to hear from the "last" agency regarding any option for me in Russia--but that door is apparently closed.

On another note, my brother in law's mom passed away on thursday. The timing was unexpected. I've thought again about the distance between us and my family in CA--when will we face this situation? My brother in law, living in CA, was told that his mom (in Ohio) still had "time" and he and my sister had planned to go to Ohio on May 12. His sister called on Wed night to tell him that the end was near--before he could even make arrangements, she was gone. Our lives truly are like a vapor...what does the Psalmist say?