I love this quote by C.H. Spurgeon...

Right now we are waiting...

We heard from our facilitator in Eastern Europe today. There's really
no new info today. He let us know that he will contact us again as
soon as we have an "invitation" (court date). Or If there is a
problem with any of our papers.

He said we were very fortunate that we were able to get our papers in
because it was a fight to get them in due to the high volume of young,
"normal" children people are trying to adopt. Since ours are older
and with down syndrome they are often shuffled to the bottom. So
praise the Lord!!!

We'll update as soon as we know more. Thanks for your continued
prayers for is and for our boys in Europe.

Our paperwork was submitted today in Eastern Europe!  We don't have details yet.  Our facilitator sent a simple message that just said "You're submitted! Details tomorrow."  YIPPEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!

Well, there was no news today. But in this case, no news is just no
news. Maybe tomorrow.

The waiting is what gets me. My mind thinks of all the things that
can go wrong. Not all the things that have gone right. It's about 3pm
easetern Europe time and no word.

The one thing I do know is this...
God is God and He is faithful no matter what happens today. End of
story. I'm not worried. Just anxious. It's that feeling you get as a
child waiting for Christmas. It's almost time to open presents and
you can't waitto see if you got the one thing you really wanted.

Till we hear something, peace and grace.

IF YOU ARE LOOKING FOR THE EXCITING NEWS...it's the next post down called "Everything is Set"

Whoo-hoo...

The Lord gave our package wings and it arrived yesterday in Ukraine. By 8:00 p.m. Ukraine time, our facilitator had it. Oh me of little faith. I was worried about it getting there before Monday morning. Instead, it got there Thursday morning. It's funny how our minds work. The God who parted the Red Sea, provided food from the sky for 40 years, raised dead people to life, fed thousands with just a few morsels, caused blind people to see...that's the One I had a hard time believing would be able to get a package (just a couple of pieces of paper) to the right place at the right time. Silly.

We are now just praying and hoping and waiting and BELIEVING. Knowing that God's plans are not our and that His timing is just exactly perfect, we are watching to see what He will do next. We'll follow Him. He knows the desire of our hearts (after all, He put it there), so whatever He does with that as it relates to timing, is His business.

This journey has been fantastic. I need to chronicle the whole thing so I don't forget any of it. The speed at which He has provided most of the money has been blinding. The way He has given us such a huge base of spiritual and emotional support is astounding. From word God, He's been doing fantastic things that only He can do!

Our final paper arrived tonight (Kiev time).  Our facilitator is going to UPS to pick it up...hopefully first thing in the morning (Friday).   Hmmmm....maybe he can submit tomorrow...  that'd be cool!

The I171 is in Kiev!!  It's in customs right now.  Hopefully they will release it TODAY and it can be put on the delivery truck.  Lord...give our envelope favor with customs!

The I171H is on the plane from Cologne, Denmark to Eastern Europe.  In the air.  Hopefully they'll be able to deliver it to our facilitator tomorrow or Friday at the latest.  We really want to get all this submitted on Monday...the deadline day.

Yesterday, a wonderful suggestion was made through a comment on our blog from a reader.  They had called their congressman when they couldn't get a response from USCIS.  I thought, "What have we got to lose?  The worst they could do it laugh and tell me to be patient!"

Mary and I are so ready to get Jonahtan and Matthew home.  We have our whole dossier in the hands of our facilitator except our I171H.  We were told back on November 3 that we were next in line and they would get to it that same week.  Well, it's November 15 and no word.  No answers to emails.  No document.  We are getting close to when we must mail it for our facilitator to get it, translate it and get it submitted before the country to we are adopting from closes for the rest of the year.  In fact, we are just a couple of days away from that. We can't bear the thought of Jonathan and Matthew being there over another winter.  

God is in control!

Yesterday, November 7 was Jonahtan's 5th birthday!  We sure wish we could have been there with you buddy!  We had a cake for you.  It was yellow cake, with white icing and SPRINKLES!  Did you celebrate too?  Did someone kiss you and tell you they love you?  Did someone tell you they are so glad you are alive?  We love you!  We are so happy that you will be our son! Just wait...we'll have a big celebration next year!  We hope to celebrate Christmas with you! Happy Birthday!

Yesterday, our documents were emailer to our facilitator in easten Europe. Today we were able to physically mail our apostilled dossier via ups and it will be received on Monday! We can hardly believe it. Boys, we're coming to get you! And happy birthday to Jonathan D Malone! He's five today! We love you already!!!

Our fingerprints have been accepted and we're next in line to get our case reviewed and approved.  This is a short process once it starts...  They tell us they will do it this week.  We are up against a deadline (we think) with the SDA in the country we are adopting from so we are trying to get everything done as quickly as possible.  If we miss what we think is our deadline (November 24 or 27), we will have to wait until February to submit the paperwork.  Our boys are already passed the age they should have been moved out of the orphanage and into a mental institution so we are praying we DON'T MISS THIS DEADLINE.  Please pray with us! It's kind of hard and frustrating to wait...but our future and the future of our boys is in God's hands.  Not man's.  So we rest in that.  He is able to do whatever He wants!