Week of Blessings

This week has been a week full of blessings (and a little bit of frustration).

Rachael's paycheck on the 15th was docked by just over $1000 and we won't know exactly why until the office opens back up after Spring Break (Extreme Frustration!!)

Monday we cancelled the tickets we had already bought for our last trip to Russia.  That could take up to 5-13 days to get refunded (frustration).

Monday we bought the one way tickets for us to Moscow (lower cost than we first thought it would be).

About 15 minutes later on Monday, we tried to buy one way tickets for all 4 of us to come home from Moscow (extreme frustration!).  Since we had 'unusual activity' with our card, the bank flagged everything and wouldn't let anything else go through (frustration).  Finally spoke to someone that night that said all the previous charges/reversals would be cleared by 9:00 am the next morning and we could try again.  Tuesday morning I called the fraud department at the bank to notify them that we would have charges to Singapore Air going through and to mark our account for this so that it wouldn't be flagged again.  They were very nice about it and said that if we had any other problems to call them directly.  About an hour later, Singapore Air called, we placed the charges and it all went through! (blessing!!)

We have the tickets we need to go and bring our boys home!  We even have the same row of seats that we have had on the past 2 flights.  We like those seats!!

Tuesday afternoon we got the call from Wal-Mart letting us know that Chris' Leave of Absence (4 weeks) was approved and he would need to fill out the papers that night when he went in to work. (blessing!)

On the way home Tuesday, Chris called and said that he was stopping by Wal-Mart to get his battery checked (light was coming on).  He had to get a new battery and also found out that the alternator in the truck was dead (hence the battery problem).  We took the truck to our car place in Richmond and thought it would cost around $300 to get a new alternator put in.  When we went to pick it up about an hour later, they told us that there wasn't any charges! (BLESSING!!)  The people that own the car place are friends from church and we were talking with them when we dropped off the truck about how the adoption was going.  We had absolutely no idea that they were going to bless us in such a way.  God has truly blessed us this week.

Today some really good friends emailed and have a donation for us to help with our final travel expenses.  The amount is more than enough to cover the travel insurance we took out for the trip! (Blessing!!!!)

We are supposed to take small gifts for the director and caregivers at the Baby Home and Rachael has been able to find some nice things for very low prices!  Also, some of the other things we need for this trip have been a lower cost than anticipated!  (Blessings!!!)

Some other really good friends are going to take Sheba (our dog) in while we are gone, allowing us to save the $420 we would have had to spend at the kennel. (blessing!)

Sunday, we were listening to KSBJ and a song came on (I don't know the title) that seems to be our 'theme song' right now.  It was all about how God uses the little things and frustrations to bring us back to Him and to rely on Him.  Through out this process, we have trusted in God to provide and He has in so many ways!

Please keep praying for us as we get all the little things done and bring our boys home.