Siblings4Sarah

We have 2 winners from our drawing for the Hershey Bars. Kayla Noland and Lisa Radcliff. Thanks so much for participating! You guys ROCK!

We have had the sheer JOY of seeing two of our friends “children” come home forever and we DELIGHT more than any words can say in our hearts for them.  Our faces smile from ear to ear because there is one less ORPHAN in this world and because we know that those children are LOVED with such a greater love than they have ever known before.  Does this mean that it is easy sailing for these families from here on out and that all the trials and tribulations are going to disappear? By no means! The difficult part is not bringing them home – it is in the FOREVER and working through issues that will arise because of their pasts and creating new futures. None the less, God is faithful and will continue to equip us to do the job he’s called us to do. He is in control of everything and we wait and see what he will do next – JOYFULLY.

Welcome home Bella & Levi!!!

Levi sets stroller in the USA FOREVER!!!!

We had the awesome pleasure to see two former orphans arrive HOME with their new parents this weekend. One from India and one from Russia. It gives us hope and peace about our own adoption journey every time we get to go witness how faithful God is in the lives of these families.
Psalms 68:2 – 6 is lived out every time a former orphan walks through the door to their new home and family.

Psa 68:2 As smoke is driven away, so you shall drive them away;
as wax melts before fire, so the wicked shall perish before God!
3 But the righteous shall be glad;
they shall exult before God; they shall be jubilant with joy!
4 Sing to God, sing praises to his name;
lift up a song to him who rides through the deserts;
his name is the LORD; exult before him!
5 Father of the fatherless and protector of
widows is God in his holy habitation.
6 God settles the solitary in a home;
he leads out the prisoners to prosperity,
but the rebellious dwell in a parched land.

Please, continue to pray for each the children God has put before us, that he will bless them with peace, hope, comfort and good health as we continue our journey to bring them home. God’s timing is perfect.

Click the Giant Hershey Bar to find out about our new Fundraiser!

Nothing is official until we have her home with us, but we heard this past week that the listing in the database was changed for K and now her status is listed as “ADOPTABLE” (Yipeee!!!!!) This is exactly what we needed to happen and it did. We are delighted to say the least.  We also heard that the middle brother was moved to a new orphanage, but not sure why. We still wait to hear that we can come back to get the referral and meet the brothers for the first time.

We have seen God move in MIGHTY ways this past week. Out of the blue – with someone(s) helping us financially. We have no idea who was so generous but we were both speechless at this amazing act of love and kindness. I was so touched and humbled the day I opened the envelope,  that I just cried like a little baby and then praised God for His blessing and showing us how much he loves us, takes care of us and is in control of ALL the details. It was just what we needed to cover flight and visa expenses from the trip. Thank you for the gift you have given our family – it was truly life changing and encouraged us and reaffirmed that we will walk by faith and not by sight! It has not been an easy Journey, but We accept it whole heartedly and with great JOY.

On another note, we are excited that our friends will be moving to Russia to live for a few years very soon. It will be so nice to have friends there and adds a whole other dimension to our connection to Russia.  Did I mention that we have become acquainted with another couple in our own local area that are adopting from Saint Petersburg too?  We just found out about them on Friday.  Pray for the Polks journey to adoption also. They  just went for their court date this past week and got approved!  We can’t wait for them to come back so we can connect and hear the details of their trip. They are there with another couple from Homewood who are adopting from the same orphanage together.  This is really neat and exciting to us, because our children will be able to make friends that have come from the same background, region, and country that they can grow up together. We also learned from this couple that the wait to get the kids after court has been extended from 10 days to 30 now!! We continue to trust and wait for our time.  In the meantime, we will do respite for 2 sets of boys to help out their Foster Parents – this should be good training to help us learn what it will be like to have boys in the house.

was by far Wednesday and Thursday because we got to dance, sing, be silly, play, hug and kiss a certain brown haired little girl.  We are so thankful for the time together and is right up there with the best part of visiting Russia.  On 2 occasions we would explore traveling by subway to get out into the suburbs where this little girl would be.  The Russian subways are amazing and well organized.  When you go into the subway you take an escalator straight down – it went on forever!! People stay to the right side in case someone else needs to get by quickly (like a passing zone). The suburbs were nice and not much different than ours. There was about a foot or two of snow out there and things were not as cleared off as they were in town.  It was beautiful to me -like a white blanket and so peaceful. The snow does not stop them from going outside and playing either – they just bundle up. The first day we had our cute little brown headed sweetie all to ourself and the translator and just enjoyed playing together.  The second day we were treated with a special ‘music’ lesson. A bunch of the kids came into the main area and they sang, danced, did relay races to music and enjoyed the fun together, and we got to participate and enjoy it with them also.  It was super fun and I enjoyed seeing the other children. There are many cuties!!!! Ask me to send you their photo – you’ll want to take these guys home too!  When it came time to leave we did the count down and asked her what she wanted us to bring on our next visit. Her reply was so funny as she rattled off all the same toys we brought this time plus a few more along with a ‘bigger bag’ to fit it all in  We look forward to seeing that smiling face again soon!

Amazed and encouraged by this conference this weekend. Just what we needed after getting back from Russia. It is really going to help us answer the questions left from our trip. More to come…

We can’t thank everyone enough for their prayers while we were away. We know that they were heard and testify that they helped us through many situations.  Your prayers have touched our lives in such a mighty way and we are so THANKFUL for them ALL!!! We made it into town at about 2am Friday [...]

As soon as we got back from the Ministry meeting we were on the phone trying to make arrangements to head to St. Petersburg . We would not be able to get another appointment with the Ministry before we had to be in St. Petersburg  because they only took  meetings on Mondays and Thursdays. There [...]

Ok, lots to update since Saturday’s entry….  We were waiting to hear back from “the visit” in St Pete before we could move forward in our plans. So we spent most of Sunday just hanging out and waiting for a telephone call to let us know what the next step would be. I was not [...]