God’s Chisel

Another Step Closer…

Here it is! The document we have been waiting for (the best one yet…but better ones yet to come!)

Yesterday we received our Approval Notice from the US Citizenship & Immigration Service. Quite simply this means that the US government says we are “Suitable” to adopt a child…and this is what the Latvian government wants to see. Our dossier is already over there…but you know that. The translation should be complete and is simply waiting on this approval document. Within two hours from receiving this in the mail, we had it notarized, apostilled and in an overnight envelope. It was then placed in the hands of our good friend Matt…the best “Brown” driver in America.

Tomorrow our papers will be on a plane to Latvia where they will be delivered to the Latvian adoption attorney on Monday. In a few weeks we should receive an e-mail from the Latvian government  stating that we have been approved to adopt Aleks if we wish to. We will send an approval back immediately and then wait for a follow up communication inviting us to come to Latvia to meet Aleks in person. At that time we will travel to Latvia and present our petition for adoption to the Latvian court and spend the next two weeks getting to know Aleks.

Exciting…YES! A little scary…yes, some of that too. It is all moving so much quicker that we could have ever dreamed of…but yet, God knew this all along, and had it planned. (Yes, we actually do believe that) We still have some obstacles ahead of us, but nothing compared to how far we have come in the last three months! We still need to prepare Aleks room with furniture, clothes and boy stuff. Yes, we also need to paint that room because neither he, nor I would feel comfortable with the pink walls that are in his room. We also have a large financial piece of the adoption ahead. We still have about 2/3 yet to raise.

Here are some specific prayer requests we ask you to pray with us about:
~ That God would continue to prepare our hearts for Aleks.
~ That God would prepare Aleks' heart for the changes ahead. That he would learn to trust us and accept that our love is unconditional.
~ For the rest of the finances needed for the adoption.
~ For the finances to finish getting the things we need to prepare our home for Aleks.

Once again words cannot express our appreciation for your continued support and prayers. For those of you who have given financially, again, Thank You!
If you would like to know more about our journey or to help us financially, please visit our blogs.

Thank you from our entire family!
Kevin, Cindy, Kristen, Rachel...and Aleks!

Perspective…

This evening I decided to spend some quiet time just sitting on the front porch. It’s in the mid 60’s, the rain has stopped, the sun is beginning to break through the clouds and blue sky is appearing. The rhododendron is in full crimson bloom. The azaleas are hot pink and snow white, The grass and trees are that intense green that only happens after the rain. Birds are singing and the deer are coming through the woods only a few yards from the swing I am sitting in. It’s peaceful, quiet and beautiful.(except for the mosquito's after days of rain)

How a day can change things. Today I received the following e-mail:

Good morning,

The system we use to approve cases, generate approvals, and send the approvals to the Department of State was down all of last week.  It is up and running again today.  I approved your case first thing this morning.  You will receive your notice in the mail shortly.  Have a great day.

With that I have just two things to say….Thank You and stay tuned, more to follow soon!

Random Thoughts

Still no paperwork from Immigration. We hope to receive the approval from the USCIS soon. There are three families heading over to Latvia in the next week and it would be great to send the approval over with one of them. Maybe tomorrow…

Unplugging. That is one of the most uncomfortable and difficult things to do in our modern “busy” age. The harder we run the faster life chases us. We (me) get so caught up in keeping up with everything around us (me again) that we begin to neglect the really important things…our family and our own personal growth. It takes work to keep both in tact and on the calendar. Unplugging from everything and removing the distractions…one of the biggest challenges, yet so worth it!

And wow…have you ever really spent time considering just what Christ did for us? This morning in our student ministry, Dustin Dozier put some clips from The Passion of the Christ, to use as the background for the song Amazing Grace our Chains are Gone. That along with Chris Huff leading worship, was Strong! Kudos's to both. Today was an amazing day and thought the powers of darkness tried to jack things up…The Light had the victory. The study in students called SHIFT is making us all take a step back and shift our perspective. A shift that is well needed.

Are You Making a Difference…

And Life Goes On…

Cold but true. Life goes on while we wait.

No matter what perspective you looking from, we are Extremely Blessed and the process is going Extremely Well! Yes, there have been a few minor details to be corrected with some documents but nothing that couldn’t be fixed with an overnight envelope. Our last set of fingerprints are done and the man at the Hague Adoption Unit of the USCIS said he is ready to approve our application! Yahoo!! Once we get that approval paperwork from him we will get it to Latvia. Then…it’s only a short time…

Tick…Tick…Tick…

With each tick of the clock and each day that passes we are another step closer to bringing Aleks home. Thank you to each of you who continue to pray and encourage us. I cannot help but give a shout out to those of you who have also given financially…THANK YOU. We are making progress, but we still have quite a way to go.

The Elements of Easter…