Happy Birthday!

Today marks the 3rd birthday of our Hidden Treasure. That was one thing that I prayed...that God would allow us to have her in our custody before her birthday. He answered that by allowing us to slide in just in time! What a way to celebrate her birthday--by having a family! Isn't God cool like that?

We've spent the day exploring the Moscow Zoo. It has been nice to have something close and fun to do with her for the day. We are pretty much waiting on our Embassy appointment on Monday so filling in the next few days with a toddler is interesting, to say the least!

The Moscow Zoo is interesting in itself. On the main street loop, it has a discreet gate to enter, but as we discovered there is quite a large zoo hidden behind the big city buildings. We were surprised at how large their displays are and how far it spreads. It's a strange thing to taking the sights of zoo, giraffes in your immediate field of vision, but towering apartment buildings framing the background.

We've deliberated back and forth as to what to name her--her pseudo name for blog. Just as we view her as a treasure that we have sought after with hidden things left to discover, our thoughts are mirrored in Matthew 13: 44:

"The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field."

Happy Gotcha Day!

Today was the big day--Gotcha Day! We brought our daughter home from the orphanage this morning and now she resides with us in the hotel while we finish up paperwork with the Embassy. Here are a few fun photos from today. The bottom one was the smile we caught when I bent down to her level and she could see my face. That is when her face lit up! Sorry so short. We are very tired after listening to her scream her head off at naptime. She is tired and we are tired. Hoping that we don't repeat that scene for bedtime, but yet we know and understand that it's a very real possibility. Everything from surroundings, to sights, sounds, smells, voices, routines, foods, etc have all changed for her in one day. She's a bit overwhelmed! Can't really blame her, I would be too! Say a little prayer for us as she adjusts to everything new and that we get some rest. Tomorrow we meet with the Embassy doctor and then head off for a trip to the zoo.

Court Completed

This is a bit delayed, but court has been completed! We are officially her parents!

While in-country, our facilitator prepared us for court by letting us know the questions we would be asked and also making sure we understood that the hard work had already been done, court was merely a formality. The judge had already scoured our information and this proceeding was simply for her to hear our answers from our own mouths. I had heard rumors that this might be true, but honestly, I wasn't ready to believe it until I experienced it myself.

Well, to my relief, the rumors were true. We had a great time in the hallway as we waited with the orphanage director, who is a very laid-back jovial kind of guy, the social worker and our facilitator. Even though the faces of the prosecutor and the judge were stoic, they also brought humor to the proceedings. The prosecutor had no added questions and the judge scrolled through pictures we'd brought while she listened to our answers. The judge asked my man to state our anniversary date--if he could remember. That lightened the mood. They also wanted to know what foods we liked and served in our home from her culture. When he shared our love for Borscht, Podliva and Kasha, they were delighted and it brought smiles all around.

From start to finish (including time for the judge to go into her chambers to "think about it") our court proceedings were a total of 25 minutes! Can you believe that?

Only God.

Sweet Reward

 After many weeks apart, we received our sweet reward today. Our daughter was beyond excited that we were here to visit again. Even a few of the other kids in her groupa identified us as our daughter's mama and papa.

As you head off to bed, we've begun a new day. This is the day in which we will have our court proceedings to adopt her. We're going to go visit her another time this morning and at 3:00 pm to be exact--we'll have court! Her country is 11 hours ahead of PST. Now that we are in country, we've been assured that this is a formality so we have nothing to worry about, but as you drift off to sleep, lift us up in prayer. We're counting on you!

Preparing for Court

Laundry is running its cycle, clean clothes are being folded, suitcases are being pulled out and Russian phrases are playing in the background--evidence that in less than a week we will be in Eastern Europe standing in court on behalf of her. Some months go really fast and some go painfully slow. July was a slow one, but August is finally here and we are all that much closer to bringing her home!

Our court date is August 9, but since her country is 11 hours ahead, mark your calendars to pray for us when you go to bed on August 8. While you are sleeping, we will be grilled! Our court experience with DOP was exactly that...we were grilled. It was long and it was hard. We even had to provide additional documents from across the ocean and go back a second time. It was brutal. To be honest, I don't care to repeat that experience. Well, who in their right mind would?!

God has moved mountains for her and I do not doubt that He will continue, but please do not take your part in prayer lightly. We are relying on you to pray us through. I would love to think that because everything else has been easy-ish that court will be too, but I also realize that we asked for the court to make an exception for us so we could adopt her, despite our family size, and I expect that they will ask us to defend our reasons. They will want to know exactly why we think we are the absolute best family for her. Standing in a foreign court before a foreign judge and prosecutor is no easy feat. It's intimidating to say the least. Enough to make me quiver in my boots if I didn't have the God of the universe on my side.

It probably wouldn't even hurt to start praying now. Pray for the judge and prosecutor. Pray for us. Pray for our translator/coordinator. Pray for her as we visit her briefly, but leave her for another 2 weeks. Pray for our travel to go smoothly. Pray for our health (ours and our kids). And pray for me as I pack a family of seven to go a million different directions.

Back to that packing thing...