YEA! We are here~~

Well, we got here this Sunday a.m. (even though it is only Saturday night back home) to Krasnoyarsk, after 3 flights that went well.  We have the day to ourselves, and so I wanted to take the time to let everyone know what was going on.  We are in the hotel, instead of the apartment like we thought we would be.   That was a surprise to us, but all is good.  The facilitators that met us have been wonderful, and speak English well.   However, now that we are in the hotel by ourselves, there is noone here that speaks English enough to converse with us, and we don't know enough Russian to speak with them. 

Funny, it feels like evening to us because we are still on our 'back home' clock time, so we were thinking to head out before night to the grocery store to get some food to have in our hotel room, and as we were getting ready to go, Diester looked at his watch (realizing it was actually morning), and said "Oh, I think the breakfast buffet is still open if you want to check it out." and I realize it is morning, and said "Yeah, what time is it?"  It was 9:59 and the buffet closed at 10:00, so we headed down there as quickly as we could, and the breakfast buffet was really nice, really nice.  Under the wire, and thank the Lord, we didn't have to find food right away.  And, it was really healthy stuff.  YEAH! ! !

We have SKPYE'd with some of our family in Wisc., S.C., and of course our girls in Northern Kentucky.  That is so nice~~one of the many good things about this WWW.    Diester and I are getting ready to take a walk along the river, and go to the grocery store.  It should be interesting.

So, that is what is going on here.  It is quiet in the city on the weekends.  Apparently, everyone here goes out to their summer homes, and works in their gardens.  (That is what Elena, our interpreter told us, and I had actually commented to Diester as we were landing that it looked like a lot of people have gardens in their back yards~that were freshly plowed.)  I think that is just about the sweetest thing!  considering I was out working in our garden the a.m. we left from Kentucky.   We will take some pictures and I will add them if I can get it together here. 

Have a blessed day!   We get to meet the boys tomorrow!   How exciting!   We can't wait!   Love to all! 

The Thursday before Mother's Day!

Hello there~~just a note to say that these posts are for the purpose of showing the boys someday how God's hand was in all of this all along the way, and to give God the glory.  We are called to trust in him, and even in the hard times, to know that He loves us despite our circumstances.

As you know, we have accepted the referrals for these 2 little guys currently in an orphanage in Russia.  We have dates to go meet them~~YEA! ! ! 

This is one story of God's timing in our adoption process.  It was the Thursday before Mother's Day 2 years ago that we decided to adopt.  (Diester finally agreed to it. ~~hehe)  So, we got all the paperwork together, sent it to Russia, and it was translated as of May of last year, about one year after we started the whole process.  We waited another year to hear something, then on the Thursday before Mother's Day of this year, we got the referrals for these 2 little guys, sent them off to the Dr., she reviewed them and got back to us that evening.  We talked about it, and even though we agreed to find out why the mother's rights had been terminated, we both knew there was nothing that would deter us from taking these 2 boys.  We believe they are the ones for us.  We asked the Lord for healthy little guys that were close in age, and He answered our prayers, and on a most timely of days.  God's timing is always perfect, even if it hadn't been on the Thursday before Mother's Day, but I do see this as kind of special!  Praise God from whom all good things flow. 

Counting down the days until we travel~~please keep us and the girls in your prayers!  Thank you!

This is another day the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it!

For those of you who are receiving this, I need to let you know that I am not supposed to be sharing the boys pictures, so I have deleted them from our blog for the time being.  That being said, if you are sharing the pictures with others, please stop at this point.  I am so sorry, but we overstepped our boundaries here, and I don't want to do anything to jeopardize our adoption.  Thank you for your consideration!  Michelle

HERE THEY ARE! ! ! ~~Today, we finally accepted the referrals for the two little guys that have been referred to us.  What do we say?  It is an exciting day~~  The oldest one just turned 3 in March, and the youngest one has a birthday in June.  He will be turning 2 years old.  So, do the calculations, and you will see that they are only 15 months apart in age.  Praise God! ! !  We had asked God to give us boys that were close in age, specifically a 2 1/2 and 3 1/2 yo, and then we were told by our adoption agency to expand the age range (for more options), so we did (18 mos-4 years).   Now here is God, sovereign as he is, giving us the delights of our hearts, and answering our prayers, giving us two little guys who were close in age as we originally stated that we wanted, and they will be close to 2 yo and 3 1/2 yo, and already brothers to boot.  It may sound like a  nit-picky thing, but it is what we asked God for.   Also, we asked for no major medical conditions, and from the medical reports that were reviewed by the 'international' doctor (one who helps in international adoptions, and reviewing int'l records, etc.), it looks as though these little guys are growing on target, and all of the bloodwork for them came back negative. There is nothing that looks long term problematic physically, which is the other thing that we had asked God to help with.  Now I say all that, realizing that these little guys have been abandoned by their parent(s), have lived in an orphanage for over a year, and will have some major issues to deal with in light of those situations.   We pray that God gives us grace as we learn to deal with the issues from that.                                                                                                                                                                  

So, next we will be getting our travel dates to go to Russia in the next 2-3 weeks.  We will get to go over and meet them and spend some time with them.  It is a scary time and an exciting time! ! ! Pray for the Lord to grant us whatever it is that we need for this time in our lives please, especially the final paperwork gathering that we will need to get together.  

Thank you so much for your prayers!  We are indebted to all who have been keeping us in your prayers, and we truly covet them.  They are much needed and appreciated as we grow through this process.         

Also, for those of you who have helped us financially, that has been a blessing to us, and we appreciate that more than you will know.  Please know that your support financially was more of a blessing for us in light of the decision that we have made, believing that we were following God's path for our lives. 

Thank you and may God bless you all in your paths! ! !  Diester and Michelle