A busy week...paperwork overload

I am a little behind in posting this week with updates. It has been very crazy trying to complete the last of our paperwork. We did receive our FBI clearances and had them notarized today( Thank you Carol, our faithful friend and neighbor who has helped us notarize too many papers to count now). Our home study update is finished and we should have that paperwork by Fri. ready for apostilling.


We have had some serious problems completing our medical paperwork...it seemed simple enough since we are all in excellent health but that seems to be the problem?? Proving yourself well means having lots of unnecessary tests repeated which were already done last year. At that time we had never been tested (no cause to be), but the Dr. needed to be sure for the purpose of signing off on the paperwork. What was unforeseen for us this time was the refusal to sign off on a simple update that we are still in good health and nothing had changed. Well let's say it wasn't quite so simple, therefore much time and insurance dollars had to be wasted on tests that normally aren't requested for physicals, all to arrive at the same answer...negative!!!


Our agency has been trying to work around this so we do not lose precious time and delay our court date. So, we were off to the lab today to have blood drawn for tests again. The ladies at the lab were very nice and even remembered us from last year. They asked if we would bring the kids by some time after we brought them home so they could meet them and were so helpful! PTL, it was a refreshing experience from what we have been through in the last week. We are praying the test results will be back by Fri. so we can get those results to our Dr. to fill out paperwork again and have it notarized again so we can take it to Austin next week for apostilling. We are praying that we have no further complications in having the paperwork completed correctly and quickly. We greatly appreciate your prayers on this, David and I both have spent everyday for over a week now either on the phone with the Dr.'s office or in the Dr.'s office or lab, trying to get this completed correctly. We know that all things have a purpose, we pray that we can complete this medical paperwork with grace, humility and a grateful attitude amongst our frustration with an impersonal, overburdened system. Most of all we're grateful to the Lord that He has blessed our family with health. This too-close-to-socialist system is difficult enough for healthy people.

Special Delivery

Thank you Nana! Look at all of these adorable clothes. I cannot wait to see them in these outfits. Nana sent a special delivery for her new grandbabies. J.Michael said "as long as Nana is on the job these kids don't have to worry about not having enough clothes to wear!" It was very sweet to see E and J both so excited to open and put their brother and sisters clothes on hangers and place them in their closets they will now share with them.
J. was doing some fort building today also and commented to me that he could not wait for his brother to get here as they would have so much fun building forts together in the back yard. I too, can't wait to look out and see them playing in the backyard together soon. Kathlena will have so much fun making "mud pies" in her new outdoor house with Emily. We have had some beautiful sunny days here in Houston of recent and it has been a sweet reminder of the Lord's provision and faithfulness as Spring is in full swing.
We have planted seeds in the garden that we look forward to harvest time with Andrew and Kathlena. What fun they will have picking fresh veggies from the garden. I think this would be a first for the both of them. I am really looking forward to all of the "firsts" with Andrew and Kathlena...seeing their faces light up over things that we have grown so use to will be such a sweet time together.

3 weeks have passed

It has been three weeks now since I first met my precious children. In some ways it seems like it has been so much longer and that 2-3months is an eternity. We continue to plow through our renewing of paperwork. We should have FBI background check arriving tomorrow then we will need to notarize and apostil. We have several documents that should be ready by mid-week next week for the apostilling process. We pray this all comes together as we are still hopeful of an early May court date.

Prayer needs:

• doctor visits for all of us this week, pray that we are able to get all paperwork completed quickly(several other documents depend on this one being completed first).


• home visit with our social worker Thurs. night for our home study update.


• FBI background check would arrive tomorrow completed and ready for notarizing


• Andrew and Kathlena, peace and that they would by the Holy Spirit know that we are coming back for them soon.

Thank you for lifting us up during our time of separation...we are so grateful for your prayers and words of encouragement.

Hitting the Garage Sales

Today turned out to be a beautiful day...perfect for hitting garage sales. We got a late start but still managed to find some good deals. We found a Little Tikes outdoor playhouse in good shape for a great price and it was even delivered to us! Oh, what fun they will have playing in the yard.

We also found a very nice Eddie Bauer car seat that has way more bells and whistles than when E and J were little. I am amazed at how much has changed...but then it has been almost 10yrs! Well it was a good day to find deals in our neighborhood and all four of us had fun dreaming about having Andrew and Kathlena home soon.

Psalm 40

My prayer for Andrew, Kathlena and all of us during this time of separation:

I waited patiently for the LORD; he inclined to me and heard my cry.
He drew me up from the pit of destruction, out of the miry bog, and set my feet upon a rock, making my steps secure.
He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God. Many will see and fear, and put their trust in the LORD.
Blessed is the man who makes the LORD his trust, who does not turn to the proud, to those who go astray after a lie!
You have multiplied, O LORD my God, your wondrous deeds and your thoughts toward us; none can compare with you! I will proclaim and tell of them, yet they are more than can be told.
Sacrifice and offering you have not desired, but you have given me an open ear. Burnt offering and sin offering you have not required.
Then I said, "Behold, I have come; in the scroll of the book it is written of me:
I desire to do your will, O my God; your law is within my heart."
I have told the glad news of deliverance in the great congregation; behold, I have not restrained my lips, as you know, O LORD.
I have not hidden your deliverance within my heart; I have spoken of your faithfulness and your salvation; I have not concealed your steadfast love and your faithfulness from the great congregation.
As for you, O LORD, you will not restrain your mercy from me; your steadfast love and your faithfulness will ever preserve me!
For evils have encompassed me beyond number, my iniquities have overtaken me, and I cannot see; they are more than the hairs on my head; my heart fails me.
Be pleased, O LORD, to deliver me! O LORD, make haste to help me!
Let those be put to shame and disappointed altogether who seek to snatch away my life; let those be turned back and brought to dishonor who desire my hurt!
Let those be apalled because of their shame who say to me, "Aha, Aha!"
But may all who seek you rejoice and be glad in you; may those who love your salvation say continually, "Great is the LORD!"
As for me, I am poor and needy, but the LORD takes thought for me. You are my help and my deliverer; do not delay, O my God!
Psalm 40
(ESV translation, boldface type my emphasis)

PTL!! we are back online

Thank you for your prayers...I know it may seem like a small thing to be without internet but we realized through this how much of our adoption communication depends on it. Today we were able to send Andrew his first email from us since we left him two weeks ago. We are praying that he receives it and that the Lord is protecting and encouraging him during this time--beyond our feeble attempts of words, through translation of an email.

At the time of this post our children are fast asleep 6,000 miles away....we pray they are at peace when they sleep and that the Lord speaks to their souls of our return. More importantly, we pray He is preparing them to love and know their only savior, Jesus Christ...the one who has ransomed them and brought us to them. The one who provides all things for them now and when they are with us.

Day 1 Slideshow

I am missing my babies but working on slideshows and archiving video and pictures keeps them close to our hearts and minds.

Still without Internet

I am back at Panera Bread today to check email and try to get caught up. We are suppose to have another tech out today working on our Internet situation. Please pray that it is fixed today. David has had to spend so much time on this and he has much to catch up on at work. It has been so frustrating for us as time seems to be in short supply right now to get all that we need to get done.

I was able to get my fingerprinting done today and David is trying to get over here today as soon as he can...pray this all works out.

It is hard to believe it has been almost two weeks since we laid eyes on our precious children. We have so much to do so, time seems short but then it seems to be passing so slowly as we look forward to leaving again in 2-3months. We are praying for the Lord's grace and protection over our children...that somehow they know we are coming back for them. It was so hard to explain it to them and just like for us each new day we are not there it is hard to be apart. We do have email addresses for the orphanage that we can send emails to them and hope that they are passed onto them.(again a reason we need our Internet fixed!:))

I made some of my first purchases since being home for Andrew and Kathlena today. Not the usual toys or clothes but a trip to the health food store. I am already thinking of the things they will need to help boost their little immune systems. It was so fun to see all of the options available in powder form that will travel well so we can get started right away. I know I am quite strange but I so look forward to giving them natural, healthy foods and I can't wait to see what the Lord will do to repair and strengthen their little bodies!

We are working on a slide show to post of our pics from the orphanage and video editing is going slow as Daddy is our main video editor but E is learning. It is hard but good to go through all of our pics and video footage. I am so thankful for every moment we were able to record...I am sure we will wear out the tape...(thankfully, we have dvds now, heehee)

Okay, I suppose we are wearing out our welcome here at Panera Bread so, I better go for now and hopefully my next post will be from home. If not there are much worse places to be than Panera Bread....great Caesar salad!

Home Sweet Home

Hello all! Sorry, it has taken so long to post. We arrived home Wed. around 5pm TX time(felt like midnight for us, though). Our 11 1/2 hour flight back from Germany was mostly uneventful. We were delayed some as there was a strike going on with the airlines we were flying on. Thankfully, it did not effect international flights dramatically but, the airport was a zoo when we arrived. We were welcomed home by our dear friends the Hoods who had checked flight delays and were waiting for us at the airport. Ya'll are awesome!!!

We all (except David) have had head/sinus congestion but, seem to be better after getting some good sleep. We discovered on Thursday morning that our internet had been knocked out and we have been battling with our service provided to get it fixed since then. Had a tech guy out today for 4hrs but could not get it back online....hence I am at a Panera Bread posting and checking email. Oh, well the adventure continues....

We tried to get our fingerprinting done today for the FBI clearance but to no avail as the office was closed by the time the internet tech guy left...bummer! We will be back on Mon. though. This is one of several hoops we have to jump through before our court date is assigned. The never-ending cycle of paperwork. It seems less of a drudgery now though since we have two sweet faces to remind us that it is all worth it and that we would do anything to bring them home.

I have much more to post about our trip but, will have to save that for later when we have internet at home again. Thank you all for your continued support through this journey. It is such a joy for us to share this with all of you.

One last post from across the Atlantic

It is hard to believe it has been two weeks since we left the states for this journey. In a few hours we will be boarding our plane headed for home. My head is still swimming with all that we have experienced and my heart is so full of the wonders the Lord has shown us through this adventure so far.

Thank you dear friends for praying and following us along on this journey so far. The Lord has been so gracious to us through your many kind words and the excitement you share with us in bringing Kathlena and Andrew home. We are so blessed beyond measure to have the opportunity to adopt internationally. We love you all and will see you soon.

Love,
The Shiflets

Day 2 at the Orphanages

Day 2 began with Kathlena's orphanage. We had some concerns about Kathlena's development and conveyed these concerns to Helen our agency representative. She then set up the necessary meetings with the orphanage neurologist and speech therapist as well as Kathlena's caregiver to give us a better picture of her personality and development. The previous day we simply had so little time with her and none of it with just her, and she had been overwhelmed with 5 new people showing up all at once.

Today we were able to spend much more time with Kathlena and understand her better. She is a very bright, busy and curious child. She has a sweet smile and laugh. She understands much but, due to her institutional life she verbalizes little of what she knows unless prompted by those she is familiar with. This is a very healthy sign of attachment.
She can sort colors, tell us where her nose, eyes, and mouth are as well as name many animals in picture books. She really seemed to enjoy the opportunity to look at books and answer questions. She will love home schooling and will be talking up a storm in no time. One of her favorite words is "wheight" which means "wow" in English. She tires easily but much of this is due to a lack of stimulation and exercise in the orphanage. She spends most of her time indoors and sleeps quite a bit due to the orphanage schedule. We were told that she had recently been moved (3 months ago) to a new group with older children and that her language has increased significantly since then. This was encouraging news...three older siblings should really have an impact on her verbal skills!!

We had a really lengthy morning visit with Kathlena, but we had to go as it was time for her lunch. So, we were off to see Andrew and had the opportunity to see where he sleeps and meet some of the kids in his group. Oddly enough, Andrew's group is a multi-age group; boys in one room and girls in another. We saw kids in his group who were 15-16yrs old. We got to see where he sleeps, a small bed set end to end with two other young boys as well as bunk beds that house older boys. We saw tv's, computers, and video games in his group's common area. I have to say I was surprised at this. I really did not think they would have access to computers, but Andrew said he does not get to use the computer much so it must be mainly for the older children. We also had the opportunity to meet and visit with Andrew's caretaker; a sweet lady who wore the biggest smile and reminded me of my Aunt Linda. She seems to really love the kids and was so thrilled for Andrew to have a family.

The kids in Andrew's group operate somewhat like a family; multi-ages that work together with chores, and the older children even cook the meals for the kids in their group. We saw where they eat and the little kitchen where they cook. It was hard not to notice how the other children looked at us...all old enough to know who we are and why we were there. We saw a little girl maybe 7 or 8yrs old-hard to tell she could've been 10 but small. I could not help but notice her longingly watching us. She was a sweet looking girl; I wanted so much to ask her name but did not have the chance. I am not sure I will ever forget her face...she will be the face of the many left behind in orphanages like this one who want so badly to have a family of their own. I do not even know if she is adoptable. I learned through this process that not all-not even most-are "adoptable" internationally. Orphanages full of children yet only certain kids are allowed to be adopted internationally. I am not even sure how that is determined and it seems to be inconsistent from orphanage to orphanage.

Andrew has a 6yr old sister in foster care right now but she is not adoptable by foreigners. It does not make sense to me but even though they are siblings we cannot take her too. Helen our agency rep. said that sadly the children that are given a "better" opportunity through a foster family often end up back in the orphanage by age 10 only to have missed their real window of opportunity to be adopted, as children past the age of 7 (school age in Russia) have so little a chance of being adopted.

Andrew already attends kindergarten 5 days a week from 8am-6pm. He is in a special kindergarten for children with vision problems. He walks 20mins in the snow to school each day from the orphanage and back. We are told he does very well at school. While we visited he was allowed to stay at the orphanage and not go to school so we did not get to see where he attends. Once again we were allowed to take Andrew with us so we headed off to see his sister Kathlena one last time until court.

Kathlena was brought to us again in the play room where we were able to all be together as a family. We took our family portrait by the mural that was posted previously. We were not allowed to see her on our third day...orphanage had scheduled a special day of some kind and outsiders were not allowed in the building. We were allowed to observe where she sleeps, eats, and plays-all in two rooms. Where they sleep is a room that is 10 X 15 that housed 10 tiny beds end to end. The other room where they do everything else was 15 X 20. Other than a few occasional opportunities to go outside and her visits to the various doctors this is her whole world for the past 2 1/2yrs.

She was taken back to her group and we were allowed to observe her briefly with her group then quickly asked to go as they had "things" to do. She saw us, even though we were hidden in the "kitchen" area taking pictures. She saw me and began to yell "Momma" the sweetest words she has said to me. It was quickly echoed by 10 tiny voices of her group saying "momma" too. It broke my heart to hear all the voices of those children who just want to have a "Momma" of their own.
We were allowed such a brief time to observe her; it was over so quickly and I could hardly contain my sorrow that I would not see her again for months. She seemed busy and happy so it was not so apparent to her that we would not see her for a while...I am glad for her as she is so young the wait will be easier for her I believe. I had to go back and give her one last hug and kiss that would have to last me until court...a day that cannot come too soon for us.

We leave Kathlena's orphanage and decide it is best for Helen to take Andrew back to his orphanage as it makes it harder on him to understand that he must go back when we take him to the hotel with us. We would have one last opportunity to see him again tomorrow before we must board our plane for St. Petersburg.

DAY 1 - VIDEO

Here's our "Day 1" video showing the drive to the orphanages, and also video of both new kids! We had much more time with Andrew than Kathlena on the 1st day; it's interesting to see in this video his personality gradually revealed--from shy and reserved to talkative and outgoing--right before your eyes. We can also see Kathlena's sweet personality too. She likes to laugh and play.

The video is too large (about 19 minutes) to post directly to the blog, so the link below takes you to Google video. The quality is not the best, but hey, we're 5,231 miles away from home. Praise the Lord we can use this technology.

I hope the link works; I had to run it through a British server, because Google acts goofy in Germany. You will have to copy it and paste into your browser.

David


http://video.google.co.uk/videoplay?docid=-2382723307102068596&hl=en-GB

Day 1 at the Orphanage

Through Mommy's eyes:
Our day began with visiting our little boy first. He is in an orphanage outside of the city of Arkhangelsk. It is an orphanage that houses children ages 4-17. While there we saw a number of older children mostly 10 and up.

We were quickly ushered into the orphanage director’s office. Dina is a delightful woman, possibly the first smile I had seen since leaving Alex in St. Petersburg. She honestly loves the children and wants them to be adopted into a family. I really liked her…she answered all of our questions, and what she could not answer she tried to find out for us.

Andrew came into the room unexpectedly, for us. He was quiet, shy and kept his head down at first not knowing what was going on. Dina began asking him questions that he gave simple answers to, just like any young boy would. She then asked him to draw a picture for us. At first he used his left hand then he switched and used his right hand then he drew a sun. It is beautiful and detailed…he spent a good while on it perfecting it. I kept it to frame…his first artwork for us. We talked some with the orphanage doctor, and then Dina told us that we could take Andrew with us…for the whole day. We were quite shocked at this but jumped at the chance to spend so much time with him. We all bundled up in our jackets and headed out…without thinking I reached out my hand to grab Andrew’s and he took mine. It was over from there for me…I knew he was mine. Not because he had taken my hand but because the Lord washed over my heart with the picture of us one day soon leaving this orphanage together for good. As we walked down three flights of stairs I could not hold back the tears of relief and joy that this day had finally come and I was holding the tiny hand of my long-awaited son. While waiting for the cab to arrive we saw dozens of children walking hand and hand to school from the orphanage. Andrew was waving wildly with excitement telling the children “Das vee DON ya!”(goodbye) I looked at David and said “I think he thinks we are taking him home today”. “I think he is just saying bye”, David said, but the next day we would find out that in fact he did think he was leaving the orphanage with us today. It broke my heart.

The cab ride to the other orphanage with Andrew was so much fun. He talked up a storm but we did not know what he was saying. He would just smile at us though. He is quite patient with us already. We had given him a tractor and he liked playing with the wheels on it. He kept a firm grip on it.

We arrived at Kathlena’s orphanage. We spoke with the social worker and she gave us a recap mostly of the information we had been given on Kathlena. Finally, Kathlena is brought to us. She immediately heads for the toys. She loved the shape sorter bucket. She talked and played with the kids at first. I got on the floor with her and she would bring me the bucket to open so she could put the legos and shapes in it that would not fit through the holes. She was only allowed to stay with us briefly as she was to be put down for her two hour nap. We were told that we could come back later and visit her again today. She gave hugs freely as she left the room...a sweet girl...our little girl.

This orphanage is quite different than Andrew’s. Schedules are strictly kept even when adoptive parents are visiting. The children here are not allowed outside for their first year of life. Kathlena has been moved to a new group in the past 3 months so she is now allowed to go outside briefly in the warmer months, and she is almost 3yrs old.

We later met with the neurologist to go over more medicals. The neurologist was a warm lady who seems to really care for the children and seemed very thorough in her work with Kathlena.

Now, with several hours before we can see Kathlena we are told we can go back to our hotel and again to our surprise we are allowed to take Andrew with us unsupervised. Wow! And this was such a sweet time with him. We really had the opportunity to feel like a family for a few hours; it was precious time with him.

We head back to Kathlena’s orphanage and have a chance to play with the kids in a room to ourselves. It was a small room I must say for the six of us, and quite warm. Kathlena seemed tired and a little distant…perhaps all of the commotion going on with the boys chasing balloons wildly was over stimulation for her. She did love the bubbles though and would crawl into my lap with the blanket we gave her. This was the first real glimpse of our lives together as six. It was a bit overwhelming for me and I had moments of “Wow! Do we really know what we are doing?” Thankfully, the Lord quieted our fears and gave us a peace that this is His plan.

We then took Andrew back to his orphanage and said our goodbyes until tomorrow. We were all exhausted…

Through Daddy’s eyes:

I didn’t sleep well at all Monday night, tossing and turning thinking of meeting the kids Tuesday morning. We thought we had to go to the Ministry of Education before going to the orphanage, but were pleasantly surprised to hear that our caseworker in Russia was able to appear on our behalf instead. We went directly to Andrew’s orphanage at around 10am local time, while our family and friends back home slept soundly (9 hours behind us).

As we talked to the director in her office through our translator, I got the sense that it would be awhile before we saw Vladimir, or “Volva” as we learned he is called. But within just a few minutes, I turned around and saw a little boy coming in dressed in a snow suit, complete with hat. He looked like a little man. My little man. I helped him take a seat at the table next to me, and it took some effort to keep from scooping him up in my lap. After all of these months and thousands of miles, my newest son was sitting mere inches from me. I didn’t expect to be attached immediately, but there is something about his presence that makes that easy. He has a charming smile and engaging eyes that promised much more personality than we had seen yet. He was very reserved at first, and we had to be reserved too. He didn’t know who we were, but he began to figure things out quickly.

The itinerary for the day was to take him across town to the other orphanage to meet Kathlena, but we didn’t know we would actually get to take him with us in our car. It was at this point that we began to see his personality. He was sociable with some passing children outside near the car, and he began to warm up to us.

When we arrived at Kathlena’s orphanage, Andrew immediately began to play with toys and J.Michael on the floor of the office we were in, while we talked to the social worker at the 2^nd orphanage as we waited on Kathlena. We had asked in advance to see the children together on our trip, but we didn’t really want or expect that to happen on the first day, much less during our first meeting. By the time Kathlena came in, it was almost noon, and we had a crowd in this office with a small corner toy area. With everyone in the room, she hardly noticed us and went directly to playing with toys and with Andrew. We had only a few minutes with her before she was ushered off to lunch and nap-time for two hours.

The real treat of the first day was getting to take Andrew with just the four Shiflets to lunch. After a stop at a local market for some lunch stuff, we headed to our hotel for some sandwiches. Andrew was coming out of his shell right before our eyes. The quiet boy we first met surprised J.Michael as a skilled Russian Olympic wrestler within just a few hours (see the video for proof!).

The afternoon took us back to Kathlena's orphanage. As much as we enjoyed spending the time today with Andrew, it worked against us with Kathlena. The orphanage staff placed the six of us in a tiny playroom for a couple of hours with no interpreter. The boys were keyed up pretty good, and Kathlena was overwhelmed. I think she also didn't feel well, and may have been taking cold medicine, although we never got a firm answer on that. We really need more time with her to get to know her. She has a very sweet personality; my bond with her hasn't been instant, but I look forward to getting to know my new, precious daughter.

Through Emily’s eyes: When Andrew first came in the room I reacted much like he did: timid, reserved, and unsure of what I should think; but that hardly lasted through the hour. In no time at all Andrew was calling us “Mama”, “Papa”, “Brat”, and “Sistra”, and was interacting with us as if he had known us all his life.

It was such a joy to play with him, as he told us all sorts of things in Russian, playing with us and the various toys around him, his laughter filling the air, and his smile-I'm grinning even now as I recall it-it was irresistible with those grinning blue eyes. As for me, I went home that night with confidence that yes, in my heart he was already my brother, and had been since before time began. The Lord has ordained it to be so, even though the Russian law says not until our court date is he legally my brother.

When Kathlena first came in I was primarily focused with getting some good pictures and video, so I didn't really get to be with her much for the those first few minutes she was with us. She soon was ushered off to her nap, and we were told that we could come back in a couple hours to see her again before she goes to bed.

Later, when we came back, we were led down several winding hallways and up numerous staircases until we got to a room where they left the six of us alone for a long while.

It was a very exciting yet exhausting night with bubbles floating about the room, balloons bouncing from wall to wall, and the hum of a large family in a small room.

Kathlena seemed very tired and worn that day and therefore disinterested in us and a lot of what we were doing. I was very thankful that we still had another day to get to know Kathlena, so instead of dwelling on how much I lost that day, I looked forward to what I hoped to gain tomorrow.

Through J.Michael’s eyes:

When I first saw Andrew he seemed smaller than I thought. I really enjoyed playing with him. He seemed to like me and want to play with me. He took me by surprise though when we were at the hotel. He jumped up and wanted to wrestle. In no time he had me on the ground in a headlock...suddenly he was pretty strong for a little guy. I definitely think we will have lots of fun running and playing in our backyard at home.
Kathlena is cute and actually pretty big for her age. She climbed into my lap and wanted me to hold her. I think that she likes me too.

Switching Hotels

My resourceful husband took off on an adventure to find us a more suitable hotel, and he was successful So, we have switched hotels to Courtyard Marriott in Germany. It is much better for us with a delicious breakfast included! Our first hotel had only pay-by the-minute internet in the lobby which is rather expensive and inconvenient for us since we are trying to get as much posted to our blog as possible of this trip. Courtyard provides an excellent wireless connection in our room. Apparently, in all of Europe though, you have to pay for internet extra but at least here we can get it in our room and were able to get a 3 day pass which is much less expensive than by the minute.
We should be posting "Day 1 at the orphanage" today...it will probably not have video as that is taking some time to go through all of it (9hrs) and edit for posting. It's so difficult mentally to process all we have experienced in the last week; even more difficult to "translate" that to the blogosphere. We want to share this as accurately and as timely as we can.

We will be doing a little sight seeing in Germany today if the weather holds...but looks like rain.

E and J are feeling much better today; thank you all for your prayers. Germany seems much more like home...even a Starbucks on every corner! People are quite friendly here too and most places people speak English although David has remembered more of his German than he thought he would. We are heading out now and will post more later. Love to all, looking forward to getting back home soon.

Arrived in Germany!

We arrived in Germany late Friday night. We are exhausted, and we did nothing today but rest. E and JM are sick; I think the physical and emotional demands of the week have caught up with all of us.

Today has given us opportunity to reflect with the kids on all the Lord has done. He is so good to us!

We hope to post more details of the last week over the next few days. We leave for Houston Wednesday morning, and we're ready to be home.

For now, please pray for us for the following:

• Physical health, especially E and JM.
• Protection & health for Andrew and Kathlena at their respective orphanages.
• Speedy court date so we can come back and get them; we want Kathlena home for her 3rd birthday May 1, but Russian officials say it can't happen that quickly. God can make this happen.
  

Thank you all for your prayers,
David