What an adventure!

12/28/2009 2:54 PM

There is a now a whole new understanding of how little control we really have in life. I don’t know how people live without a personal relationship with Christ. Seriously! Just getting here has been harder than we ever expected. I thought it would be difficult in Russia. But we couldn’t get out of our own country. We couldn’t even get out of the Midwest! I think Jim is going to share the details of those adventures; hence, I won’t duplicate.

It was such a difficult time when our travel itinerary fell apart and they said there was no way to get to Russia until Tuesday. That meant that, due to the Russian holiday and the visitation requirements for the trip, we would not meet this little boy until the end of January. We were going to have to go home.

We prayed and persisted in finding anyway to make this happen. We offered to drive to Cincinnati or Chicago to make a connecting flight. It was so hard emotionally. It had been hard enough to get to where we were- paperwork, childcare arrangements, puppy arrangements, saying a tearful good bye to the children…I can still picture Alecia, standing out in the cold. Just standing there, watching us go. Once the car started to go, she started to run after the car, waving. The thought of having to turn around and go home and do that all over again was more than my mommy heart could stand.

But alas, with the Lord’s help, we prayed and persisted. As the next 24 hours unfolded, we continued to see how helpless we were and how dependent we were for His help. We came to put away the tears and laugh. What more could we do? Brick wall after brick wall came up. Each time, God would help us jump one more hurdle. But we still were unsure how far we would get in the process. Our adoption coordinator was trying to work things out so that we could visit this little boy for 2 days instead of the required 3. But we were not sure if this trip would “even count”. We might get there and they say “no” we didn’t meet the requirements and we would have to come back four more times. So we prayed and kept going, not knowing.

I am a planner and want my ducks in a row. I want the requirements laid out to follow. No such luck!

But if things had gone as planned, we would have missed out on so many lifelong lessons. God is so much bigger than anything the enemy can throw at you. And He can comfort and support you in ways that come as a complete surprise. The Lord brought a wonderful woman to help us in Chicago. She worked for United Airlines but there was someone else she was working for that night. When we arrived in Chicago and she told us that she had never heard of the airlines and that United had no relationship with such an airlines, Jim and I just looked at each other. "There is no such airline"- not words you hope to hear. But she worked and worked to find us a new plan. At this point it was close to midnight. She found a flight that would leave Chicago around 2:30 pm the next day and get us to Russia on Monday at 1:30 pm. Our adoption coordinator was called and she said we would see in the morning if that was good enough. So, we went out in the cold to wait for a shuttle bus to take us to a hotel in Chicago. Nope- no Russia tonight!



The next day, out coordinator called to say that perhaps it would work out. Our contact in Russia would do everything to make it work. No guarantee but get on the plane!



Upon returning to the airport, we looked for "Perpetual"- the young United woman that we had met the night before. She had told us to find her and she would help us in the morning. God eventually connected us. She greeted us with a smile. She said that when she had returned from work the night bofore, she had called her family and asked them to pray for us. Do you believe that? She said that she thought it was so wonderful what we were doing and wanted to help in any way. She disappeared and came back with our boarding passes. She had bumped us up to the business class. Wow! We had an eight hour flight in the business class.



I have never flown business class before. Wow! I just felt as if God was surprising us with the abundant feast and luxury! We had so much room. We were given great food, warm almonds, a damp, warm towel to wash our faces, and all the comfort you can find on an airplane. I kept giggling at Jim. "This is absolutely crazy!" I'd laugh as the stewardess would surprise us with one more extravagence. Jim and I felt so spoiled! it had been a terribly difficult journey so far and I felt the hand of God just taking care of us in an unexpected, reassuring way. We were really trying to follow God with this adoption. The whole process has been hard. But He has made Himself known to reassure us in those most critical times.



From Frankfort, we flew to Russia . We were told to start running as soon as we exited the plane. We had no time to waste . Our driver and translator whisked us away and on the road to get necessary documents signed in order to request permission to meet this little boy.



It was to be a 6 hour drive. I prayed for good weather and easy traffic. We got both!



We talked and slept on and off. People were waiting. We had to be there by 6 pm or the office would close. At 5:45 pm (isn't that like God) we arrived at the building. We rushed in, saw a few people and saw a new picture of the little boy. At first, they had things confused and were going to give us a girl but... we worked it out.



Paperwork signed, we went to the hotel to eat and recover.