Airline Tickets Purchased

Well....we officially have our airline tickets purchased for our second trip to Russia. Our court date is still tentatively set for July 31.  It's tentative because the judge's secretary is waiting to receive the three additional documents from us that they requested. The documents arrived in Russia today and should arrive at the judge's office next week.

I'm sure you're wondering why in the world we purchased our airline tickets when our court date isn't "official". We were a little unsure about booking our flights too, but our caseworker wanted us to go ahead and get everything taken care of so we could begin getting our visas and itineraries together. So, we did! I'll just hold my breath until we hear the "official" word!

We leave on July 25th and return on August 1st. We had quite a time trying to find flights this go round. It was MUCH easier and cheaper last time we went. We ended up using a fantastic travel agent that found us a GREAT fare! We will have a 12 hour overnight layover in Amsterdam, but for the price...that's ok with us.

We have the dates for our third trip as well. If all goes according to plan (which it rarely does), we'll be bringing "little man" home on my Dad's birthday! (It's been so long since we've seen our "little man", that I may have to start calling him "big man" when we get back from this next trip!)

On another note, please continue to pray for my grandmother. It seems to be one thing after another. Everytime we think we're taking a step forward, it seems like something else happens and we take a step back. She's very weak and tired today and her blood counts are low. My mom and my grandpa are exhausted. They've been sitting at the hospital everyday now for about 10+ days. Everyone just needs some rest and little good news!

An Exhausting Weekend

This weekend was a total whirlwind and completely exhausting! It started on Friday with Troy and I (and 2 of our kiddos) heading up to Austin so that we could get fingerprinted to receive our State Police Clearance Letters. After we got that done, we headed up to Salado to the Stagecoach Inn. Troy rented a room that night for he and the boys (one of our dearest friends, basically our kid's third set of grandparents, were keeping the girls). I got to hang out with Troy and the boys for a few hours and then my brother picked me up so the two of us could head up to Ft. Worth. My grandma was hospitalized this past week and was put in CICU, so we felt we needed to go.

We got to Ft. Worth late Friday night and then spent all day Saturday and Sunday morning at the hospital. By the time we got back in the car to head back to San Antonio yesterday, I was spent. I was physically and emotionally spent!

I did however, get to spend some wonderful time with Nanny! She's doing her best to get herself out of that bed and back home! She said she's still got some living to do, and I agree! I told her she had to get better, because she had a great-grandson that would be coming a LONG way to be able to meet her!

It's been really easy this past week to get discouraged because of all of the delays with our court date. But this weekend, I just sat back and enjoyed that God was allowing me this precious time to spend with my family. I hate that Nanny is so sick, but I am thankful beyond words that God has worked out everything in His perfect timing! He allowed me the opportunity to just sit, for hours, with Nanny and just talk and paint her fingernails and comb her hair and look at all of the ENDLESS catalogs she always gets in the mail.

My AMAZING grandma - Nanny!

So today, the kids and I are headed back to Austin to pick up our State Police Clearance Letters and then we're going to RUSH over to the Secretary of State's office to have them apostilled. If all goes as planned (HA!), I'll have everything in the FedEx envelope and off to our caseworker tonight!

Thank you so much for all of your prayers and encouragment! I KNOW it is the prayers that have gotten us all through the last few weeks!

More Documents

I got a call from our caseworker this morning. She said we had a tentative court date and that it was later than they were expecting. She said it is tentatively set for July 31. Why tentatively? The judge has asked for more documents! (I'm beginning to despise the word document!)I, of course, am doing everything in my power to get these documents done as quickly as possible!! And if he were to ask for 100 more documents, I would get those done as well!

Please pray that we do get everything completed as soon as possible. Please pray for this momma's heart as well. It's so easy to get discouraged, but I know that at the end of this long hard road......my son!

"I waited patiently for the Lord to help me, and he turned to me and heard my cry. He lifted me out of the pit of despair, out of the mud and the mire. He set my feet on solid ground and steadied me as I walked along. He has given me a new song to sing, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see what he has done and be amazed. They will put their trust in the Lord." Psalm 40:1-3 As my sweet friend wrote to me this morning, "While we're in the pit now, SOON we will have a new song of praise".

Be Still

About a week and half ago, we were notified that we would probably have a court date sometime the first week of July. Well, that was 11 days ago and we haven't heard anything. To say the last 11 days of waiting have been excruciating, would be an understatement. My stomach has been in knots that I didn't even know were possible.

In my head, I KNOW that everything is working together in God's perfect timing. In my head, I KNOW that "He works all things together for good to those that love Him and are called according to his purpose". In my head, I KNOW "blessed are all who wait for Him". My heart however, is having a much harder time believing what my head is telling me. My heart is hurting. My heart feels like this waiting is never going to end. My heart feels every painful mile between me and our son. My heart just wants our son in MY arms!

I've learned these past 11 days though that even though I'm hurting and even though I absolutely DO NOT understand God's timing, I know that He loves me. I also know that He loves "little man" more than I ever could. I know that He is fighting for me and for "little man"! "The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still." Exodus 14:14

So today, I am choosing to be thankful for the promises of God. Thankful that even when my heart aches more than I ever knew was possible, He is STILL in control! Thankful for an amazing friend that God has brought my way that speaks TRUTH to me when I feel like losing it! Thankful for parents that just hold me when I fall apart and assure me time and time again that God's got every last detail under control! Thankful for a husband that remains strong and steadfast even when I know that his heart is breaking just as much as mine is! And more than anything, thankful for a God that works out everything in His time and to His glory!

Happy Day

I got a call from our caseworker today and it looks like we're going to have a court date sometime during the first week of July!! We don't have an official date yet, but they've told us to start looking at flights and comparing prices! (Of course, I'm still slightly holding my breath until we get the official date.) But...I'll take this good news for today!

On an even more exciting note, my sweet friend received a court date today! It looks like we'll head over for court within a few days of each other. How cool is that?  It gives me the chills just thinking about it!

I've been checking flights, and they've definitely INCREASED in price since our last trip! My God is big though and he'll take care of that, too!

Hang on "little man", mommy and daddy will be there before you know it!!!

What's Happening

I'm actually laughing a little as I type this, because this blog post is going to sound almost exactly like a blog post a dear friend of mine posted earlier today! It's crazy how God places people in your life, walking the exact same path at the exact same time, to encourage and support you!

Our paperwork has reached Russia! It still has to get to our region (which will hopefully be early next week), but it's in Russia, nonetheless! It's SO easy to get discouraged on this beautifully chaotic road of adoption, but I learned a while back that the best thing I can do is to celebrate EVERY victory (whether tiny or huge)! So today we'll celebrate one more small victory on the way to our son!

On another note, I was introduced to an amazing website today. It's a group of women that have come together to read the same passage of scripture, at the same time and discuss and encourage one another while doing so.  I'm loving it!! I'm liking it so much, that I broke down and got a Twitter account just so I could follow the discussions better.

http://shereadstruth.com

I'll end with something Beth Moore wrote yesterday on her Living Proof blog that hit me like a ton of bricks.

"I want to live in such a way that I know - absolutely know- after a long, hungry spell that, when the sun comes up warm and gold and the ground shimmers with manna, only God could have done that. You did it, Lord. You did what I couldn't do. You did what no one could do. You gave me what I didn't have. Made me who I couldn't be. Took me where I couldn't go. "