We had our Appointment!!

Mary says:

So, we arrived here in the Capital City yesterday morning and were taken to an apartment downtown while our facilitation team worked on getting us another referral appointment.

It was hard to wait and I'll be honest, I was not good at it yesterday. I had a complaining, grumbling attitude which only served to make things worse. I was tired from traveling (still didn't sleep a lot on the train), things were not going as we had originally thought, and we didn't want to stay long in this city. One because we wanted to get back to the City by the Sea and our visits with Alina and now Tolly, and because we're concerned about the extra expense of staying here for a few days. The Holy Spirit kept pricking at me to step back from my complaining and bring my requests with supplication before the Lord. I kept pushing Him away and staying in my little complainfest.  Maybe it's stress, but mostly it was lack of focus.


But then I spoke to a friend that is here too, Trina, who always has a way of bringing my perspective back to where it should be. Focused on God and not on what I can immediately see around me.  Our facilitators ARE working for us, we are in the Capital to GET Vitaly's REFERAL, God knows our finances and He provides.
Lord, forgive me for taking my eyes off of You again. Each time I fall, I get back up and You put me back on the right track. Thank You! And thank you Trina for being the audible voice that God used. May everything work out well for you and your new little man today. What a joy to be able to share this journey with you and Jay! Can't wait to get our families together again!


A big THANK YOU to our facilitators too! They have not even flinched at this new twist we have given them by adding Tolly. They have worked for us far more than we have seen. The govt agency here in charge of adoptions has been very busy lately. You see the govt just passed a new law changing what children can be adopted internationally, specifically they have to be at least 5 years old and have a special need that is on a list the government makes. This new law does not take affect for another month, so the govt agency in charge are trying to get as many families their referrals as possible so that they (the families) are not affected by the new law. And also after the new law takes affect, the govt agency will shut down for at least one month, maybe more to restructure. So it was really wonderful to get a second appointment with them. Thank you Lord and our facilitators.


So, our appointment went very well. The govt agency asked how we "met" Tolly. Tom explained that we saw him from our first visit with Alina since they are in the same group. Tom also told her that we have watched Tolly play and how rough and tumble and fearless he is. He spoke in such a way that the love in his heart for this little boy showed through his face. He told her about the little walkway with a step that Tolly likes to ride down on one of the little riding toys and how he seems to love things with wheels. All boy! After Tom was finished describing Tolly, the govt lady said that it sounds like he (Tolly) chose us. I like that.

We heard more about his medical history and diagnosis which may or may not be accurate. We will see what our Pediatrician says for both him and Alina after we get home. So we go back tomorrow afternoon to get the paperwork that we will need when we get back to the City by the Sea. After we collect the paperwork, we will head to the train station for the overnite ride again. For not having been on a train before, I will have ridden the train four times before we leave this country. That should last me a while. :)


We took some pics, but didn't bring the drive that enables us to move the pics to the computer so we'll use some recent pics from the City by the Sea. Enjoy!  Thank you again for your prayers and lifting us up!


ps - Phoebe, yesterday I read one of the books you gave me to bring...Out of the Dust by Karen Hesse. It was very sad but also good in showing that life goes on and family matters. It was hard to put down. Thank you for encouraging me to bring it.

Love

Look at the size of this leaf! That's Tom's arm holding it up.

"I'll get to my Daddy no matter what stands in my way!"

Science class with Alina. Tom "dissected" a green bud that fell from a tree. It was foul smelling and stained his hand for a couple days. We learned later that it was an immature walnut.