Court Trip to Russia

We are home from our very quick trip to Russia for the Court Hearing to finalize (make official) the adoption of our two boys.  All went well.  Our hearing was at 2:00 and we were back at the hotel by 4:00.  Other than the judge stating that we are now the parents of David & Michael, we don't actually have anything to show (we won't get any of the documents until we go back to pick them up and bring them home).

The weather was rather nice (averaged around 0-1 degrees Celsious).

view of the S.... airport from the Park Inn Hotel in Moscow our first night in Russia

view of the Dvina River from our hotel in Arkangelsk (the river is actually frozen over)

 The person in red (lower right side) is cross country skiing on the river

On the way to dinner after our court hearing

 Natalie (our translator) took our picture outside of the Arkangelsk Regional Court after our hearing was over and we were declared to be the parents of David & Michael Larkins

Resting at the hotel in Moscow near the D... airport the night before coming home.


We are now waiting to return to pick up our boys.  Please continue to pray as we have had to make some airline changes and have come across some unexpected financial issues (possible problems). 
We are trusting in God to provide what is needed.  He has been faithful to us in so many ways, but it is hard to not get frustrated or nervous about the issues.
We are looking at about $2200 in various fees in Russia for the boys' papers.
We are anticipating about $2300 just in lodging (hotel stays, not counting meals).
Katy ISD has docked Rachael's March 15 paycheck by just over $1000 which is throwing us off (the offices are closed for Spring Break until the 21st) and we won't be able to get it sorted out before we leave again.
Chris' last day with Fort Bend ISD is this Friday (March 18), and will be on leave from Wal-Mart for about a month, which means no income from there.

Please continue to pray for us, our boys and all the little things that have to be done and in place before we go to pick them up.  Also pray that we will have a good transition home.

Hiccups and Blessings

Today has been a really long and ???????? day.

This morning started off as usual at 5:10 when Rachael got up to feed Sheba, fix lunch & breakfast for Chris and then get ready for the day (after going back to bed until Chris' alarm went off).

We both headed off to work.  Today was the 7th grade TAKS testing at school for Rachael.  Just a regular day for Chris (they mowed softball fields).

Fairly normal start to what should have been a normal day.

It developed a hiccup.  Rachael got back to her room around 10:15 to find that our caseworker had called her office and cell phones.  Upon returning the call, we found out that the judge in Russia decided that some of the papers we had submitted (and had been approved by the Ministry of Education and the judge) were 'out-dated' and need to be resubmitted with current dates.

Okay. 

Our medical evaluations & doctor's license as well as the psych evaluation (that was done 18 months ago, but not notarized until recently) needed to be updated before our court date.

Rachael took the afternoon off from school (She has a great administration and school secretary!!) to go to the doctor's office (after going by the house to get blank forms) and was able to get what we need there.

The psych evaluation is another story.  The psychologist is rather hesitant to do anything without sitting down with us first.  We are on a very tight schedule right now and he doesn't seem to understand that.  I emailed him information that he requested this afternoon as well as a sample of the letter we need him to write.  Hopefully, he will be able to get it written tonight and get it notarized tomorrow so we can pick it up.  We still have to take all the papers to Austin to get them Apostilled.  Chris can take them Thursday or Friday.  Please pray that the psychologist will get it all together and ready for us in a very timely manner (we want to have it tomorrow or Thursday).

Rachael was able to go back to school for a few hours to work on the lessons she needs to get ready for her long-term sub (her leave starts this Friday and goes through April 29).  She got 3 of the 6 weeks ready. 

We were able to get the last of the agency papers signed and notarized this afternoon, thanks to our wonderful church secretary!  They will go out in the mail tomorrow (Rachael will drop it off at the post office on her way to pick up our passports with the visas in them from the Russian Consulate), along with the last payment to Buckner/Dillon.

BLESSINGS: we got a call from some friends tonight to tell us that they have a check for us to help with our adoption expenses!!  God is so great!!  When Rachael left school this morning to get the papers done, she had about 1/8 tank of gas in the van.  It wasn't really enough to get her home, doc's office and back to school, but she trusted that it would be enough to get to a gas station after the doc's office.  After praying with our pastor's wife and pulling out of the driveway to go to the doc's, she noticed that there was 1/4 tank of gas, not the 1/8 that was there just a few minutes earlier.  The 1/4 tank lasted from the house to the doc's office and to the gas station.  God surely does provide all we need!!

Please continue to pray for all involved in the process to bring our boys home: us, David & Michael, their current caregivers, the judge and her staff, the Buckner/Dillon staff in Russia, and any other government workers (Russian & American) the we will have to deal with.

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!!!!

Bad news & Good news.....

We have bad news & goods news.

As of April 30, 2010, Chris will no longer be employed as a groundskeeper with Fort Bend ISD. They have 'outsourced' the groundskeeping department. The good news regarding it is that Fort Bend ISD will keep 14 of the guys on the Athletic Crew and 6 on a new HVAC (not quite sure what that all entails) Crew. There are 6 positions available in the Custodial department that those not chosen for the other 2 crews can interview for. Chris thinks that he has a decent/good shot of being selected for one of the Crews (the selection process is being done in the 'office' and the guys don't have any say-so in the process) based on the criteria they were told last week. They have been told that they will know if they are selected for a crew around the 15th of April (or so they were told....) we we will have to wait and see what happens.

Either way, Chris still has his part-time job with Wal-Mart and there is the possibility that he will be able to go full-time if he needs to.

I will be back at Beckendorff Junior High next year (turned in my contract this past week) teaching the same thing with a new name. The class name is changing from "Personal & Family Development (PFD)" to "Principles of Human Services (PHS)" but it is still Home Economics.

So far we have about half of the funds we need to continue the paperwork for the Adoption. Because of things going slower than anticipated, we are now looking at starting the paperwork this fall, hoping that we will be able to meet our children and bring them home next summer (unless God provides for things faster; He is in the Miracle business.....).

Please continue to pray that we stay on track. As things have slowed down, it is easy to get discouraged about all of this.

Please pray for my sister and I as we have 3 craft shows coming up: Seven Lakes High School Garage Sale (April 10), Fishers of Men Lutheran Church Mom's Market (April 24) & St. Andrew's Episcopal Church Spring Craft Fair (May 15).

Chris and I are planning a Garage Sale at our house on April 17. Please pray for us as we prepare for it and that we have a good turnout (good profit).

January 29: Update

Since my last post, there hasn't been a whole lot of new stuff to report:

**Sold the baby blankets on Monday and deposited the check on the way home from their office. :)

**Meeting up with my dad on Saturday (while Chris is at work) morning to check prices and go over stuff for the Ham Fest on March 6. Worked on it this week and just need to get prices before figuring out how much of each item we need to purchase. They had about 800 people last year and Dad estimates around 1000 this year. I plan to get the one day food vendor permit application turned in late next week (have to wait till I get paid Monday).

**Waiting to get my passport in the mail. Hopefully it will be here soon.

**Chris has been reading a book, Parenting with Love & Logic, to fulfill this quarter's education requirement. I will read it when he is done.

**My sister is going to have a booth at the Ham Fest to sell our items (check out our store: www.landrdesigns.etsy.com ) She is also getting information about a local craft fair at a church in Sugarland on Saturday, April something. Obviously I don't have much information yet......

**Our adoption fund is just over $8000 today! Please continue to pray that we will see a steady (and large) increase. We know that God has it all under control, but it is getting harder every day to be patient.

**I posted a baseball card that a friend gave us to sell to raise funds. There are about 2 days left for the auction, and no bids yet. Check it out on eBay: 1973 Rookie Third Basemen (Rey, Hilton, Schmidt). If it doesn't sell this time, I will repost it and continue praying! I also plan to post several other items in the next week or so.

Update

It's been a while since my last post; here's what is going on right now....

1. Working on 10 blankets right now (ordered by Family to Family Adoptions to give to their new adoptive families). 6 are completed and 4 are still a work in progress. The proceeds will go into our Adoption Fund.

2. Working on menu and stuff for a concession stand at the Greater Houston Ham Fest (run by Brazos Valley Amateur Radio Club) on Saturday, March 6. Our stand is called "DX Kid's Cafe" and we are hoping to bring in a fair amount of money for our Adoption Fund.

3. My students at school are now working on their sewing projects and I am really enjoying it!

4. Chris is working at Wal-Mart, with his paycheck going into our Adoption Fund. He is still a cashier, but is hoping that they will move him to another area soon.

5. My sister is donating a portion of items that she makes and sells (from today till January 31) through our Etsy shop: www.landrdesigns.etsy.com to Compassion International that will go to help those in need in Haiti. Stop by our shop and check it out.

6. I sent the paperwork yesterday to renew my passport. Pray that it gets processed quickly.


It doesn't seem like much, but we are busy!

Please keep us and our children in your prayers! We currently have just under $7,000 in our Adoption Fund. We need about $40,000 before we can send our paperwork to Russia.

Back to the blankets; they won't make themselves!!

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.......

Last Christmas without a tree...

Chris and I decided to not put up a tree or decorate for Christmas this year, as it will be our last year to get away with it! We are looking forward to next Christmas season and all the fuss that will go in to pulling out the tree from the garage, finding all the ornaments (or buying new ones), stringing lights inside and out, etc.

We did have a good Christmas with family. We joined my sister, her husband, child, and my dad at her house for lunch as spent a nice 2 hours with them. Then we went 'down the street and around the corner' to Chris' mom's and step-dad's house. We spent a few hours with them and other family stopped by (step-brother & wife). It was a really nice time with all!

I am enjoying my last week off from school! As nice as it is, I will be ready to return next week. We are starting the sewing unit on the 11th and I always enjoy those 6 weeks! Chris is off from Fort Bend on Friday and is working at Wal-Mart all week (the only day Wal-Mart ever closes on is Christmas Day).

Our Adoption Fund is now at $5000! It is slowly but surely getting there (we still need about $35,000 more....). One of our friends at church gave us an autographed NFL football to auction/sell as we see fit. It is an NFL (has a serial number sticker on the box) football signed by Roger Staubach from the Dallas Cowboys. The football is engraved with the 5 Superbowls that the Cowboys were in and it also says that it is a limited edition of 5,000. It is in the original box (has never been taken out of the box). Can't wait to see what it brings in! Chris' mom gave us a calendar that she had been given to post on eBay: 1954 Golden Dreams with a nude picture of Norma Jean (later known as Marilyn Monroe). The calendar is in mint condition! It will be interesting to see what it brings in!

Well, I guess I had better get moving. I plan to take some gold jewelry and stuff to sell at Houston Gold Exchange. Chris' mom gave me some to add to what I already have. Anything at this rate will be helpful!

Hope you had a great Christmas and an even better New Year!

Trying not to get frustrated.....

Okay, I have been researching grants and I am getting frustrated! We have passed our Homestudy, but it is not 'officialized' yet because it is only valid for 12 months. Our caseworker and I agreed to wait to 'officialize' it until we have the bulk of the funds we need so that it won't expire before we are able to finalize the adoption. Problem: in order to apply for any grants, we have to submit current homestudy papers. So, I will be calling Buckner to talk with Irina tomorrow (at some point, hopefully during my conference period) to get some clarification about all this. We may have to wait until next spring to apply for any grants.

On a good note, I had a call from a friend at church today to place an advance order for goodies: coconut creme pie, a dozen cinnamon rolls with pecans & raisins, a pan of cheese enchiladas & a pan of beef enchiladas! That will bring in $79 for our adoption fund. Slowly but surely it is growing.

Please contine to pray that we have patience while the funds are gathered (winning the lottery would be really, really helpful at this point!). Also, pray for our children and their current caregivers.

Still planning, working, etc

We are still working on paperwork! It never seems to end! I haven't finished our written financial plan for Buckner yet (I am still waiting to here that Chris got the part time job at Wal-Mart - it's been a month and he has been assured that they want to hire him, they just haven't called him in for the interviews & finalization yet!!). Please continue to pray for this situation. We really need this second income for Chris to go towards the adoption expenses.

I have been working on a Wish List at Wal-Mart. I think most of the things we need for the kiddos is listed. It is a work in progress (like the adoption!). You can access it through my name or Chris' name. It is registered as a Wish List, not a registry. I put our anniversary next year as the 'event date' for lack of a better date. It will change as we get closer to bringing our children home.

I talked with Donita Potts a few weeks ago and got some great ideas for fundraising! I was originally told that they fundraised both of their adoptions. Apparently that is not the case. She said that they fundraised the first adoption 100% through donations & activities. The second adoption was a gift from God. They prayed and said "God, if you want these children to join our family, you will provide the money". They didn't do any fundraising at all!! Just goes to show how great God is and how He provides for His children.

I heard from Amy Norton, a friend of our pastor's wife, and got some suggestions for agencies that we can contact about financial assistance (scholarships, grants, etc). I will be working on that this week.

Please continue to pray for us: stress levels are lowered (especially for me), we get clear direction on fundraising ideas, our children as they wait for us.

On a side note, my sister and I will be participating in a craft show at St. Andrews Episcopal Church in the Heights area here in Houston on Saturday, October 3. Feel free to stop by if you are in the area. Money from the items that I make goes toward our adoption expenses. Also, I make homemade goodies (desserts, enchiladas, lasagnas, etc) and the money from that also goes towards our adoption expenses. So if you don't bake or cook ......

Oh, the car is still for sale if you know someone who is looking.....

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.......