The Call (take two)

Well, we have officially completed one phase of waiting and started another. After 11 days of waiting to get news about our new referral, it came - Friday June 27th late in the afternoon! The day to day waiting is just a killer!. You know they are working on your referral and that any call  you get could be it. You wake up in the morning thinking, is it today? And then by 3-4 pm you write off the day as another day gone by without the referral. Thankfully this week was very busy for our family. Tuesday, the kids and I went to the local waterpark, and Wednesday - Friday, my Mom, sister-in-law and I had a garage sale. It was nice to keep busy but I had my phone attached to me at all times and every time it would ring, my mind would race in fast forward imagining what the conversation would be like if it were our agency. So by Friday afternoon, I thought that it was another day without the referral but I was wrong.

I have to say that we are very excited but much more calm this time. We received a referral for a girl and boy that are not related. Normally this would not happen but because we had lost the referral and the region had no more siblings in our age group available for adoption, the region in Russia and CHI were willing to give us a referral of unrelated children. We also were able to get their names and some medical information. We are concerned about some of their medical diagnosis and plan on seeing an International Adoption Doctor early this week but we really don't think we will be able to get their full health picture until we visit the orphanage doctors. 

Please pray that their medical are not severe and that they are something that we can handle as a family. This is another reason that I am not jumping off the walls as with the first referral, we have been hurt before and our concern over their medicals  is causing us to proceed cautiously.

Now, I have saved the most exciting and scary news for last---- their birthdays are in the same month, same year and they are TWO YEARS OLD!!!  Virtual Twin Two Year Olds!! Of course they look nothing alike. Part of me is excited because communication will be a little easier, the younger they are the more time we have to reverse an problems caused by being institutionalized, they will always have a close friend to play with and they are just so cute at two! However, having two the same age going through the same struggles at the same time and then dealing with "Two year old" issues again?!

Again we are holding back a little on our emotions but would love to have your prayers as we move forward on this journey. The other crazy thing is that we are thinking we will be leaving on July 18th. OK, that is a little less then three weeks away, however, the kids and I are going with my family on vacation from July 6th through July 14th. So I have 6 days(tomorrow doesn't count because I will be in the car all day taking my DD to camp) to pack for vacation, get plane tickets, visas etc before we leave. I will then have 3 days after we return to get ready to travel to Russia and send the kids off to Grandma's. Thankfully, we have been through this before and we know what we are doing now(at least in the packing category).

So again, I reach out to you all to lift us up in your prayers. I feel like I am being so selfish in asking again and again for your prayers but I want to let you know that they make all the difference in the world. I thank God everyday for my fellow brothers and sisters in Christ who care so much to pray for us. 

I do want to add one more request. There is a family in the Columbus area that are also an adoption family that need your prayers as well. Their 14 year old son, Harrison, was hit by a car last week and he is in very serious condition. Pray for healing for his battered body and for strength for his family as they are at his side.

God bless you all!