How Great is our God - Days 52 and 53

Thursday was our lowest day yet.
We had already rescheduled our flights from October 1 to October 9 and thought Carol just needed to sign a power of attorney for a friend here to finish our property issues and then we would be free to return with the children next week. When Carol and Natalia arrived at the Notary office to sign the documents Natalia began writing a list of items, as Russian words spun around the room. It was obvious things were not proceeding as planned but Carol had no idea how bad it sounded. They stepped out into the hall to wait for a document to be printed and Carol saw tears begin to fall from Natalia's eyes. After a few moments Natalia shared the details. The Notary explained that given the errors from the past on the children's deeds we would have a lot of clean up to accomplish and it could take months or years, and Carol and Lyonya (because he is over 14) would have to appear in court personally to begin the process. All she was saying began to sink in. Carol sent a text message to Steve. He was at the apartment with the children. One of our Ukrainian friends stopped by and spent about an hour praying with him. What a blessing. Meanwhile, Carol and Natalia called a taxi and took off in a flurry to begin gathering even more documents we would need. We also called several governmental offices and requested appointments for the following day. Our situation is not the normal. Of all the issues we could have it appears we had them all in one deed. The law here is written to protect the children but no one ever considered an exception for adoption issues. Seems we are the guinea pig for this one. They returned home at 7pm exhausted and discouraged. Steve and the children were very disheartened also. We sat down to supper and explained that there were problems and we needed a miracle. We prayed for the Lord to intervene on our behalf. We knew we didn't have money to stay here much longer.

After the children went to bed, we sent out an email requesting prayer. The emails and phone calls last night were so encouraging. Thank you seems so small. Steve spent the morning fasting and praying while the Carol got breakfast for the children. Natalia, Carol and Lyonya left at 8:30 for the first of many stops today.

After meeting with many city officials, they have agreed to meet with us on Tuesday to grant us the needed documents without a court hearing! Another committee says that they will sign off on our papers on Thursday. Once they sign off, the passport office will release the children's passports. All this today without anyone requesting any extra "expediting" fees! God's favor was so obvious. So the delay will only be an additional 3 days plus the original 8 day delay already...so we are still here, but so thankful for the favor granted. Isn't God good!!!!

We also spoke with our facilitator in Kiev and he and the US Embassy are working with us that we will not have to be in Kiev but a day for processing. If we can pick up the passports in the morning, Friday the 9th, in Odessa, we will travel to Kiev, and then Monday have medical exams and receive visas for the children. If it wasn't a weekend we could come sooner.

Thanks again to everyone. Your prayers were answered and we will be home soon.

Learning to operate in His timing,

Steve and Carol

PASHA IN CITY PARK
STREET SCENE
GALIA READING NARNIA
DETECTIVE SCHOOL SIGN
KID'S IN THE PARK
ANDREI PLAYS WITH THE CAMERA
LYONYA