They Asked About Us!!!!

Our agency representative informed us that the Russian authorities for adoption have been asking about where our paperwork is? Meaning they are just as anxious to see our documents as we are for them to get them. Could it mean they have found some children they want to refer to us? Our representative thinks so. It still may be a couple of weeks before we get any pictures or the full referral (since they have to do some paper clearances on the Russian end first), but we may actually get some preliminary information late next week. Hallelujah! It seems my babies are getting closer to us.

Walking on Water

I have to share a reading that really touched me Matthew 14:22-33. It's the passage about Jesus walking on the water. The beginning starts with Jesus going off by himself to pray. He needed to re-charge His batteries to the source of all strength and encouragement, His Heavenly Father. then He rejoins His disciples by walking across the water to catch up to them. A miracle to be sure, but no big deal for the Son of God. The disciples are frightened upon seeing Him and He tries to calm them down. Peter asks to go out the meet Him, and Jesus says "Come." Peter bounds across the water until he realizes what is going on and becomes afraid. At that point, he begins to sink. Jesus rescues him. -- This passage expresses how I feel. I know that I am in the middle of a miracle and I am excited as Peter was to run to my Lord, yet as I realize what is happening here - I often become afraid and start to sink. Yet, I do not fail to call out to Jesus to rescue me as He always does, working miracles in and through me. He who is always there loving and supporting me.

Judge Bends

Good news! Our facilitator in Russia went to see the judge and discussed with him the notary laws in California. He agreed to bend a little and allow a specific form of notary called a jurat. Essentially the signer swears before the notary that the document is authentic and the notary signs to that. He wanted it in a little bit of an unusal format, but something that is at least legal here in CA. I just finished getting all the paperwork re-done with our notary per specification. I will take the documents back up to Sacramento tommorrow (feels like I am wearing a hole in the road from here to there). Then I will send the documents to our agency representative in Michigan, who will forward them to Russia. I have heard from several families who have adopted in this region, that the judge is very adoption friendly and really does want to see the children find a good home. His bending on this issue is an indication of this and an extremely good sign. Once again we are reminded that God is good!

Still not fixed, Still hopeful

Our latest paperwork challenge is not yet overcome. Elaine went to Sacramento today in hopes of getting our re-notarized documents apostilled, but was foiled by the California State authority for notaries. They refused to bend or to see any possible loopholes we could squeeze through. It seems we have a stand-off between the Russian Judge and our California State Law. So, we are back to the drawing board on this one. We are not giving up hope though, just strengthening our resolve; learning to take these setbacks in stride. We will find a way around this pothole on our journey 2 family.

At Our Age

We are joining a growing trend of mid-life parenting. I felt it was important to share our thoughts on this topic, since every now and again someone says to me "Wow, I don't understand starting this at your age." Usually, a comment like this is made by someone whose children are already grown and out of the house and now they are enjoying their new found freedom. These people like the majority out there started their parenting journey much earlier in life. While they were changing diapers and running around to little league, etc., Ken and I were advancing our educations and careers, travelling, improving our golf games, and indulging in our many hobbies. At a moments notice we have been ready to wine and dine with friends or otherwise enjoy some last minute invitation. We've taken advantage of and fully enjoyed our time as DINKs. I remember a time when one of my employees was lamenting her lack of advancement at work with envy toward my upwardly mobile status. She had several young kids at home who were constantly calling her at work and to whom she ran home to immediately at quitting time. Me, I stayed late, came in on weekends and was very focused on my job. I thoroughly enjoyed my career. LIFE IS ABOUT TO CHANGE DRASTICALLY. Yes, we know it. We are about to be more tied down than we have ever experienced before. But, we also know that this is the right time for us. We have no regrets about what we are giving up, since we have already done it all. Our greatest enjoyment is spent in sharing in a little persons life. We cherish watching their excitement over a catepillar, or seeing them grow in understanding of life, sharing in their learning and developing of confidence. I think our age and experience creates a greater appreciation for the small things. All the small things we have missed thus far. We are both much more patient and centered and self-confident than ever before. We have much to offer our children and can't wait to discover what they will share with us. We certainly haven't gone into this adventure lightly, we have discussed, examined ourselves, and considered many options as would be expected at our age. In fact, for anyone considering this option of mid-life parenting or adoption in general, I would highly recommend the adoption consultant that we saw who helped us sort things out. Her name was Sara Lively (see the link attached to this post). Above all we believe that family is the purpose of life, it ranks the highest in our scheme of values right below faith in God. Our journey may not be typical, but that's OK with us.

Latest Paperwork Chase

Yesterday our agency called to tell us that there was good news and bad. The good news was that the Russian adoption center was actually looking at our paperwork and in the process of trying to find a match. (We were actually bumped ahead of a couple other families since we are asking for older children). The bad news is that they rejected 5 of our documents because they did not like how the notaries were handled. There is a conflict in how the Russian judge wants them done and what California State guidelines for notaries recommend. This has sent Elaine spinning around trying to find a solution to get them redone. This has not proved to be an easy problem to solve. Several local notaries refused to redo 3 of the papers since the originals are down with our homestudy agency in So. Cal. Our homestudy agency seems to be uncontactable for some strange reason. Finally, a good friend in LA was able to take care of the problem for us. Spasiba Balshoy, John!!!!! (Many thanks). We hope to have the redone documents in hand by Friday and get them re-apostilled in Sacramento Monday and back off to Russia. Still praying hard that they meet all inspections along the way. Another bump along the long and winding road to family.