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.

We got THE CALL!!!!!!

Monday morning around 11:00 am, Rachael got THE CALL from our caseworker!

We have been assigned a date for the Court Hearing to finalize the adoption of our 2 wonderful boys.  (We are not posting the date for privacy reasons)

We are now working to get our visa application paperwork in order (Rachael has been working on this at home, at school, at home and will be finishing it at school tomorrow; hopefully it will print correctly!)  We will get new pictures made Wednesday and Rachael will take it to the Consulate Friday morning.

As far as the financials go, we think we are okay.  We still have the second payment to make in Russia (Russia fee part 2 is $7250) that will take a chunk out of our savings account, tickets for this trip (around $1500) plus tickets for us (and the boys!) on the last trip, hotel reservations for this trip (will be around $450+), hotel reservations for the next trip, visa application fee ($300), plane tickets on both trips to and from Archangelsk, meals while in Russia, and any other expenses that come up (including cost of wireless Internet connections at the hotels).

We are scheduled to run the DX Kid's Cafe at the Greater Houston Ham Fest on Saturday, March 5.  That should bring in around $1000+ after expenses.

We are very excited about this last leg of our journey (even though it hasn't really sunk in completely)! 

Please continue to pray for our boys and their current caregivers as we work to get all of this finalized so they can come home. 

Please continue to keep us in your prayers as well as we deal with all the remaining papers and plans.  We have some decisions to make regarding Chris' employment with Fort Bend and Wal-Mart and his time off.  Rachael will be taking 7 weeks off from school (will have about a week of unpaid days) that includes our court hearing trip and some time at home before and after we bring the boys home. 

Please pray for the judge, lawyers and all others that are also involved in this adoption process.

WE HAVE A COURT DATE!!!!

????????

Wednesday I called our caseworker to check on the status of our dossier.  She had a referral ready for us!!!

We are being asked to consider 2 brothers (age 2 & 4) for adoption.

We have an appointment with a doctor at Texas Children's Hospital International Clinic at 10:00 am Tuesday to go over the pictures, papers, etc that we have.  We are praying that all looks good regarding their health.  We will make a decision after we meet with the doctor as to whether or not we want to pursue the boys in adoption.

Please continue to keep us in your prayers as we meet with the doctor and consider these 2 boys.  Also, keep the boys and their current caregivers in your prayers.

Right now, we are about $8000 short of what we anticipate needing for all of the travel expenses and fees.  Please keep our financial situation in your prayers as well. 

News....

Chris was offered a position on the Fort Bend ISD Athletic Crew!! Yeah!! Now we don't have to decide what to do. He doesn't know all the details, but he did tell me that it should be the same pay & hours. He isn't sure where the Athletic Crew will be located (he is currently working out of the Hodges Bend Bus Barn), but it doesn't matter to him. The two possible locations aren't that far away. He will still be able to work his part-time position at Wal-Mart as scheduled. This is great news for us!

Regarding the incident that has been in the news lately about the adoptive mom who sent her adopted child back to Russia, we are not concerned. I got an email from our Buckner Caseworker today that basically said to not be concerned or worry that it will slow or stop the process. Until they hear specifics, things will progress as anticipated. If there are any changes or such, it will take time for anything to be done.

Please keep praying that things will go well. God has His hands all over this adoption (as seen in all the really cool things that have happened lately) and we just need to trust in Him.

Good; no, it's GREAT News!

I got a call Saturday night from Chris' dad with some wonderful news! His sister Sue has been talking with the family (Grandma, Grandpa, Aunts & Uncles in California) about helping with our adoption fund. I talked with Aunt Sue last Tuesday night about how things were going. The news that Mel had to share Saturday night was that the family was going to help us out with most (if not all) of what we need for the adoption! What excellent news! It really made our Easter very special.

I spent the next hour on-line getting information from the USCIS website, downloading the I-600A form that we need to send in. This is the "Application for Advance Processing of Orphan Petition" that is required by the US Immigration Service we need to submit to get approved to adopt from Russia. It will also include getting fingerprinted. I spent time today trying to get more information (clarify a question regarding translating Chris' birth certificate from Spanish to English) and eventually had to send an e-mail (I really hate computers on the phone....). I hope to get an answer soon so we can send in the paperwork. The sooner it is processed, the sooner we can send our Dossier to Russia!

We are really excited about this new turn of events! Just when we thought that we would have to wait several months or a year to continue the process, God blesses us with this!!! God is so wonderful!!

Please continue to pray for us during this time of paperwork; pray for our children and their current caretakers; pray for our family as they help us out with the funds; pray for Chris' work situation (should know something around the 15th of April).

Any more gold for sale?

Per my mother-in-law's suggestion, I took some gold (and not gold) jewelry to Houston Gold Exchange this afternoon to see what I can get. Some of it was hers that she gave me to sell, some was mine, some was my mom's and grandmother's. About half of it was worth something and the other half I brought back home. I am happy to say, our Adoption Fund is now $1320 richer!!! God is great!

Now, to see what will sell on eBay.......

Living with Workers in our house

We are getting our house painted! The entire interior of the house! We have had someone offer to cover the cost, so we decided to get it started while I am home for the summer. We sat down with this company on Monday (we had a total of 4 different bids), liked what they had to say the best, picked out colors that closely matched what we had already chosen, and called them on Tuesday to confirm the agreement. We got an email on Wednesday morning asking if they can start on Thursday morning (we didn't think that they would start so soon!) and the crew arrived right on time at 8:30 this morning. Talk about short notice.

Chris and I started taking stuff down last night (realized that we didn't clean out as much as we thought for Joy's visit) and getting ready for the guys to start today. They are starting in the front 2 bedrooms (the kid's rooms) and the front bathroom. They are also taking all the interior doors off site to paint them (they need to be prepped before painting as they are vinyl and have never been painted). I told the crew chief (Manuel) that the only door they couldn't take was the front door! That one has been painted before, so they won't need to take it away with the others. Hopefully, we will have them back by Monday.

We are keeping our nephew overnight on Saturday so my sister and brother-in-law can go to his sister's surprise birthday party. It should be interesting to see how he is without doors in the house! I hope they get the front room completely done by Friday night so we can empty the stuff off his bed that we piled on it last night (I thought that he wasn't coming over until next weekend)!

Oh the things to look forward to next week: emptying all the kitchen cabinets & pantry, the laundry room, the bookshelves in the living room, figuring out if I have to empty the china hutch or if it can be moved VERY CAREFULLY from against the wall, emptying our closets (gives me a chance to sort though my clothes) and who knows what else I will have to do.

They should be completely done with the painting by next Friday, if all goes well. I think they are just prepping today and will paint the bathroom & kid's rooms tomorrow.

God gave us a mini-van!

Last Saturday we were able to pick up a mini-van that God gave us! It is a 1998 Dodge Caravan that seats 7, so now we have plenty of seating for our kids! We are REALLY excited about this addition to our family! It is in great shape and runs wonderfully. I got to drive it yesterday (Chris wouldn't give it up until then!) and it is really comfortable.

Now, we just need to finish other things.......