Tuesday, May 20, 2008

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.

4 comments:

Stefanie and Bill said...

Gayle, Thanks for posting! Soooooo happpy for your family in your wonderful news! Orphans are truly God's special children and if we are open and patient, He is always faithful to reveal HIS plan. Stay faithful and in touch. Stefanie

Anne said...

I'm praying that Will will have his brother very soon, and that no matter what happens, you will have peace about it all.
What a cutie your guy is! He looks so happy. Remember the first video of him from Russia? He's come a long way, baby. :)
How exciting that you got to carry the torch! Good thing you didn't have far to go - Will looks like he's pretty heavy now! :)
I thought that I had put your blog in my sidebar, but I must have done something wrong. I'll try again. Thanks for commenting on my blog.
Any chance you'll be in BF the last week of July? We are planning on being there then and I'd love to see you and Will and your new house, etc.

Kathy and Matt said...

Gayle,
I came across your blog after reading Stefanie's. Just wanted to let you know lots of us will be praying for you. We started out trying to adopt from Russia and had 3 referrals fall through, then switched to Ukraine where God helped us find our daughter. It was defintely a change in direction for us, but I can't imagine a different or better outcome. He will lead you to your new son!

Blessings!

Stefanie and Bill said...

Gayle, We got our date! Check out our blog! Hoping things are moving forward for you! Stefanie