Prayers are being answered

Our last post was frustrating as we continued our wait but it was just the kind of spring board that launches people’s prayers into action.  We saw several of the specific prayer requests answered since then!  I wanted to share as an encouragement to you that your prayers are being heard and answered! 

1.  Our first request was that Vitaliy would not lose hope and that God will encourage him and comfort him as he waits for us.  This was answered!  Apparently, the alarm was more from a caregiver than Vitaliy himself.  He told our missionary friend when she went to see him on Saturday that he “knows” we are coming. J

2.  The USCIS documents were completed, we received our I-171H in the mail from Rome and they forwarded our approval off to Kiev.  Our marriage certificates made it to our parents and they sent them to us two Fridays ago so we are expecting them any day.  We received our Florida background checks and were able to send them off to be apostiled. This leads us to our next answered prayer.

3.   The apostilling process of all the documents, we got some more direction and help for this process and are in contact with a courier in the states that will walk our paperwork through D.C.  We even had a huge prayer answered that Ukraine is NOT going to make us get our marriage certificate apostilled in Korea.  This is going to save us tons of time and stress.

4.   Our next prayer request was that  the military legal system will find/make a way for us to get Vitaliy command sponsored to come to Italy without us all having to go to the US first.  Well this is the most unexpected answered prayer of all!  Last week I got a phone call from a woman on base that deals with passports and visas, she has worked in the past for DEERS enrollment.  She called me out of the blue and said that she heard about us running all over base trying to get this process stream lined.  She called to let us know that she would like to be our advocate in this process and assured us that it is possible to bring Vitaliy here directly from Ukraine instead of taking the long trip back to the US.

5.  On the financial side we are down to about $14,000 that  we still need and we have been told of a couple of fund-raiser ideas that friends are going to try to help us with. 

Isn’t that amazing!?!  God is faithful.  Just because things don’t fall into place right away doesn’t mean one should give up.  Sometimes when you are doing what you are called to do, it is hard and if you give up you will never know the incredible blessings God has in store for those who depend on Him.  We can do nothing on our own power, intelligence, and strength.  God is ultimately the Good and Sovereign King and telling His story of adoption will bring Him all the glory! 

Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.  Proverbs 3:5-6 ESV

Harder to have patience

I feel like I am repeating myself now but we are still waiting for news from the USCIS.  It has been 11 weeks now and still no word.  We are still waiting on the arrival of our marriage certificate from Seoul and our background checks from Florida.  We had to resubmit for those last two items because Ukraine will not accept any documents older than 6 months.  Do to the unfortunate events with the home-study provider we went over the 6 month mark.  Those documents are not expensive but they do take a long time in the turn around. 

Our latest letter from Vitaliy read, “I pray, I pray for you with all the strength that I have, for you to make all the documents go faster!”  We were also told by our missionary friend that helps us translate our letters and communicate with our son that Vitaliy is starting to lose hope that we are coming.  This process is taking so long, he fears we are not coming at all.  We wrote him a letter trying to explain that it is not a lack of desire that we have not come yet, but the legal process and paperwork that is required before we can go to him.  We know this is hard to explain to a 10 year old boy waiting in an orphanage for a family he has never met to come and bring him to a home he has never seen.  Will you who read this post join Vitaliy and our family to pray for the documents to go faster so we can be together? 

We are also facing a challenge with his enrollment into the military dependent system that will allow us to bring him to Italy with us immediately post-adoption.  It is too complicated to explain but this is a major issue that needs resolved as quickly as possible. 

Onto the financial side, we are $16,000 short of our goal for the adoption costs.  We are grateful for every dollar and euro we have raised but we are still very short of the final costs of the adoption.

Specific things to pray for us:

1.       That Vitaliy will not lose hope and that God will encourage him and comfort him as he waits for us.

2.       The USCIS documents, marriage certificates, and Florida background checks get here this week.

3.       The apostilling process of all the documents goes smoothly and without any undo surprise waits.

4.       That the military legal system will find/make a way for us to get Vitaliy command sponsored to come to Italy without us all having to go to the US first.

5.       That the $16,000 we still need will be generously donated to us in the next few weeks and that all those who have and will donate are richly blessed for their generosity. 

We REALLY need your prayers right now, please.