Is this the year? 2010?

Happy New Year to all who venture onto our blog soon! May you see your life as a blessing from the Lord, no matter what your circumstances are. We are excited to be getting things moving, and hope that this year is the year. We are hopeful that before Christmas or even sooner this year, we will have 2 new additions to our family. Please keep us in your prayers. We have gotten our passports and our fingerprinting done. Now we are awaiting immigration approval?? Diester and I are preparing for taking a test on adoption that is part of the final paperwork that is needed~~reading adoption books~~~ I really need to check and make sure of what other things we don't have together, and get those together, so that when we get the approval for the 'immigration' stuff, we are good to go. THEN we will actually be waiting~~once our paperwork gets to Russia and we are registered with them. So, in the meantime, we pray for 2 little boys that we do not know yet, and we pray that God graces us with what we need to handle the additions to our family. We know that God is in control, but sometimes it is hard to live in that understanding!

Sometimes it just doesn't seem real! (ramblings)

Okay, so I haven't had any updates lately, and I guess that is because this paperwork goes so slow that it 'seems' like nothing is happening, but with each day passing, I'm sure it is getting closer. But when waiting for children being adopted, you don't have the same sensations of being able to feel them moving in your womb as you wait. You don't have a date when your precious child(ren) will make their appearance. We still pray for our boys that we are expecting everyday, and ask God to be watching over them and protecting them as they wait also, not even knowing or understanding that they are waiting. It is hard to think about. And what a blessing for us to already have children. We have not been barren. God has blessed us with our beautiful girls! So, I can only imagine what it must be like for couples who haven't ever had any children. But, we do now have our homestudy done. That is a blessing! And we have requested our passports, and we have sent the paperwork for the boys to be allowed to immigrate into the country, and for our fingerprinting, etc. We have some tests that we need to study up for, and other paperwork we need to complete, but we are on the road. The reality of it is that we really aren't waiting until all of this paperwork is completed, and sent to Russia. It is still months away. So, until then, we will do other things. Mainly the studying, and getting Hannah's room built downstairs. That will be enough to keep us busy while the holidays are passing by, and the new year comes. We are waiting on the Lord! He knows when the boys will be here.

We have our region! Yeah!

Oh, Diester and I had a wonderful time in Wisconsin at the cabin we stayed in while the girls were staying with their grandma. It was on a lake, and we went canoeing in their canoes a couple of times, and just enjoyed being together for the days we had alone. Not something we get to do often. Well, we found out yesterday that we are now assigned to the region of Novosibirsk! (Try to say that just once, much less 10x's fast!) It is in south central Russia, close to where Kazakhstan, Mongolia, and China all meet, just north of there. It looks to have a lot of industry in that area. And, we have altered the age range of what we are willing to take so that it opens the window for more options, and possibly getting 2 boys sooner. So, we may get sons as young as 18 mos up to 4 yrs. God knows what will work best. We are getting done with our homestudy, and we will now be working on more paperwork to help get some other things in line for our dossier. YEAH! Praise God!