Remembering 1yr ago today

Andrew at 4 almost 5

Andrew today at 6...learning to write his name
and read in English.

Kathlena we believe at 2yrs old

Kathlena today sitting with her dog "Chase"

in our front yard.

One year ago today we received the news we had longed to hear, "We have a referral for a couple of kids". I don't think I will ever forget that moment of running about our ordinary day and answering that phone call. I was stunned, surprised, excited, terrified, crying inside, cautiously trying to guard my heart the next moment ready to get on a plane, afraid of medical information and no information, but so hopeful that this was really my two babies that I had prayed for years to meet. Staring at 4 little pictures and 3 pieces of paper we mostly didn't understand; thousands of unanswered questions would pass through our minds, but then were quieted by faith and hope that the Lord would give us what we needed when we needed it. It was by that faith that we ultimately accepted those unanswered questions this side of the Atlantic and began believing these are our longed for children, clinging even more to the Lord to trust what we could not see or understand at the time.

Over the next three weeks our hearts were drawn to this far away place called Arkhangelsk, Russia that we would soon lay eyes on and never forget this city because it held our precious Andrew and Kathlena, the place of their birth. Adopting Andrew and Kathlena has tested and challenged us on so many levels. We had no idea how hard and how wonderful this journey would be. You begin this journey with this burning desire that somewhere out in this world are children that are yours. You have no names or faces to look for only groping through the dark, trusting and believing they are out there. As we fought through the system to be given approval to adopt it was in our weakest moments that the Lord strengthened us to become more resolved at all costs through every hardship that He had given us kids to bring home--our hearts ached to know them. As in all fights there are bumps and bruises, moments of "I QUIT!, this is too hard and maybe we were wrong, this is never going to happen!" then after much time before the throne of God we would get back up--stronger, more committed and resolute to find and bring home the children we believed the Lord had given us(John 10:29;Romans 8:37-39; Jude 24-25).

Adoption-the beautiful picture of redemption. Through it all we were washed anew with a vivid picture of our own redemption in Christ. Paying a debt we could not pay, rescuing us out of a life of sin and misery(although we didn't always see it as miserable-as we were dead in our sin), given a new life-hope in Christ our Saviour. Walking(and sometimes running!) through this adoption we recaptured the picture of God's grace through salvation in His son. Earthly adoptions remind us of our own greatest deliverance through Christ alone. One day Andrew and Kathlena will have to sort through their understanding of their earthly adoption and we pray that the answers they seek will always lead them back to their saviour, Jesus Christ who sovereignly delivered them to us in their earthly adoption and we pray earnestly for His ultimate deliverance of them as their Lord and Saviour, and only redeemer for their second adoption for eternity.

More information on its way

Waiting, waiting, I thought the hard part was when we were completing paperwork and waiting for I-171 letters to arrive but that has nothing on this kind of wait. It will be two weeks tomorrow since we recieved our referral and one week since we met with the IA (international Adoption) Dr. who has some serious reservations about V. His concern is mainly lack of information for his age so, we wait, hoping to receive additional information on V to make a better medical evaluation.

Initially, I was concerned about the older ages of our referral but after much prayer, talking to friends who have adopted and reading many, many posts of those who received "surprise" referrals for older children like ours, I am less stressed on this point. I have come to a place where I think older would work well for our family even though it was not what I first thought...I was thinking babies, but then my 9yr old is still my "baby" so 3 and 6 are definitely still baby in my book. Hoping to hear back soon from our agency and have new pictures of my babies!

Telling the Kids

Oh! how I would have liked to have had a picture of E and JM's faces when we told them of the referral of their brother and sister. Bigger smiles than when we went white water rafting in Colorado this summer! (pictured above) Those smiles ran so deep and wide that it might have just reached Arkhangelsk, Russia.

It seems so much more real with each passing day. I am thinking of A and V and calling them by their new names. We will talk with an international adoption Dr. on Fri to tell us what all of the Russian medical jargon really means. We are hopeful that these are in fact the children the Lord has chosen from the foundation of time to be grafted into our family. My heart is so full, I feel as if it will burst with excitement.

Tomorrow we tell the extended family. It is very special for me because tomorrow is my Dad's birthday and it was 2yrs ago that I first told him of our desire to adopt. We,-just my Dad and I-went to a Ranger's game. When I told him of our desire to adopt he was surprised, but typical of my Dad he was very supportive and I know he was excited about having more grandkids. More go-cart riders and golfers, yipee! I know our families have been waiting 2 longs yrs with us and we are so blessed to have two sets of grandparents and one great-grandmother who can't wait to meet our new son and daughter.