70th Birthday Party

My dad turns 70 in just a few days, so we took the opportunity at Thanksgiving to throw him a surprise party. There are 5 original kids, 3 in-laws and 7 grandkids. Between the 5 siblings, we spent a month trying to plan the thing. My family members are horrible decision makers. We went from a very nice steak dinner at a restaurant to catered BBQ at home. Finally we called Mom and she said, "KFC". So yes, my dad had KFC and a banana cake for his 70th birthday. That is just the kind of dad we have.

This is the whole crew. The party went really well. We gave my Dad money to buy interior fabric for a 1950 Ford. Dad's hobby, which should probably have been his career as good as he is at it, is to rebuild cars. Starts from scratch with a clunker, searches the nation over for just the perfect parts, and builds an original automobile. The interior fabric has taken over a year to find, and he found a man that had a bolt of it leftover from 1950 in his warehouse. Dad will even go so far as to find the originally colored nuts and bolts that go into an engine. He's really good at it. Most of our family vacations consisted of stopping at junkyards to find original bumpers, engine parts and the like. Makes for good stories at the dinner table now.

Passport update

Okay, I don't know how many of you are really following our passport drama. I know it may be getting a little drawn out, so I'll end it with this last post: We got our renewed passports back TODAY!! Isn't that amazing??

The website said to count on 3 weeks. We sent it on Friday, it arrived Saturday, and on Monday night I had a notification from Fed-ex that they had been sent. One day turn-around! Can you believe it??? This is the federal government we are talking about. I can't believe our envelope made it from the mail room to the inbox of some guy's desk in one day, let alone to be completed and returned in one day!!!!

I'm pretty sure that the angel in charge of cutting bureacratic red tape was working on Monday when he received our renewal application -- thank you God!!

May I just add that the U.S. Passport website has been top-knotch. I've searched many a federal and state websites for immigration, visas, international travel, apostilles, etc information and none have been more helpful and more easily navigated than the Passport site. Hats off to you, U.S. Passport Service Site.

We are hearing from our facilitator more firmly that we won't be getting a court date in December. We are also learning that we may have to do an 8 doctor medical in Moscow instead of providing medicals from our Stateside doctors. That will mean a couple extra days in Moscow. Really not happy about that. We've seen it coming: many other regions are requiring it, but it looks like it is our turn now. The 8 doctors will be a psychiatrist, m.d. and various other specialists. It's nuts.

My God is compassionate, powerful, and loving; I don't know when he plans to schedule us a court date, but I'll continue to pray that we see His character through all of this.

Passports sent

We decided to just send our passports off with expedited service. God will get them here on time if we have a court date come up.

I Fed-exed them on Friday paying for 2 day service. They arrived early on Saturday, so that is a good start!

Dr. Pepper and Sharp Cheddar

That's what I eat when adoption stuff bogs me down. That is what I ate at 10 am this morning.

Here's the latest: Our passports expire in March and out immigration paperwork for Creed expires in February. Immigration paperwork must be renewed and is straightforward but we will still need to make a trip to San Antonio to the USCIS offices to get fingerprinted (I could give a tour of this location due to our many trips there -- bathrooms on the left, vending machines around the corner. Please turn off your cell phone.)

Passport is tricky. We'll have to have an expedited service -- even then if I send it off soon, it wipes out our chances of a court date for December b/c we won't have our passports (takes 3 weeks even with expediting). Many countries like a few months left on your passport expiration before you travel. The official answer that Russa wants is 6 months before expiration, but we didn't have that when we traveled in Sept. The unofficial answer is "it depends".

No matter when I renew the passport, we will need to renew our dossier (adoption paperwork) b/c our passport info will change. Not a fun task. At all.

Finally, paperwork that is harder to acquire will also need to be redone by January - medicals, police clearances etc. Less fun than the above.

This all can be avoided with a court date this year.

I just haven't given up yet. If the Lord sees fit to make us wait, then in faith of his sovereignty and goodness and with his added grace, I'll wait. My view of this is through a keyhole; His view is on a mountaintop. But He says I can ask. and I'm asking and asking and asking.

Dinner Conversation

West and I were eating noodles when we had a conversation that went a little like this:

Me: I'm so happy to have my West. I wanted my West so much.

West: And God gave me to you. I'm happy God gave me to you

Me: I want my Creed too. I can't wait for both of you to be together.

West: When is Creed coming, Mommy?

Me: Only God knows,West.

West: I will ask him. (West looks up at the ceiling and yells) When is Creed coming home,God? We need Creed to be here. (short pause and then West looks at me) God says it will be 30 minutes.

At that point I looked at the clock and marked the time. Russia is a day ahead, you know, and I'm not sure that there is anything more persuading than a 3 year-old talking to God. Just like He was in the room.

We are not convinced . . .

We are going to keep praying for an earlier court date. We give this to God to decide and we are not convinced yet that this reason(see post below) for a delayed court date is from God. Maybe it is, maybe it's not, but we just don't think it's settled.

Pray with us for an earlier date if you believe the same.

Update on Court Date

Called our agency today just to hear if there is anything. Sometimes, I wonder if we should call at all -- is it our agency's words we put our hope in or God's words?

Here's the scoop: The latest is that there will be no court date until January. The reason is because Tula will not issue a court date until domestic adoptions are an equal ratio to international adoptions.

Despite all the excuses and delays we have experienced and even heard of, they still knock the wind out of me. You'd think I'd get use to it, but praise God, I'm not that calloused yet.

If domestic adoptions pick up then things could happen much sooner they said. Sounds to me that everything is a go on paperwork, just have to even out some stupid numbers.

So here is my request: A righteous one and yet very, very selfish. Please pray for domestic adoptions in Tula. Pray for families' hearts to be tugged by an orphan and that they would follow through on it. Pray for domestic adoptions to happen in Tula so an international one can be completed.