Things are Looking up in Odessa....

God is indeed faithful. As you know, we had a wonderful response of volunteers, and more importantly, many prayers, from our last journal entry. They have indeed made a difference.

As you know, we had people lined up to handle all the paperwork, but no paperwork to handle! But, when we checked messages this morning, our social worker, away on vacation had checked her email, and immediately written an addendum!

So, now two things need to happen with this paperwork: Immigration needs to revise their official form (I-171H) which states how many children we are allowed to bring into the country, and cable it to the US Embassy in Kiev. We have faxed it, called and left messages, and are praying that it happens quickly! Our prayers are that tomorrow morning when we wake up (it is currently 11 PM Monday night in Odessa), the Embassy will have the cable, as immigration will have processed it today.

The second thing that needs to happen is to have it apostilled in Boise, and FedExed to us in Ukraine. All the details for this happening have been taken care of, and should happen. Thank you so much to Jennifer Hoogsteen who will do all the Moscow running around, and Ron and Susan Seaman who will hand-carry our papers to Boise Wednesday morning.

And so, things are looking up. We know that you are all dying of curiousity about this mysterious sibling group we have only generally been referring to. We will fill you all in on the details after we meet the children, and decide whether to proceed with the adoption. According to their paperwork, it appears they are healthy both emotionally and physically, but we want to meet them and interact with them before making a final decision.

For now, I will share with you that they are in an orphanage in the Odessa region (Odessa is a "Oblast" (state), as well as a city), in a small town of about 30,000 people. Sounds like Moscow! They have been in the orphanage for a relatively short amount of time. They are a strong family unit, as they refuse to be split apart.

Until a later time, that is all we will choose to share. As soon as we feel comfortable, we will share more. If for some reason we have to turn down this referral, it will be very difficult for us emotionally. And for that reason, we have chosen to just keep the specific details about the children private.

As we have in the past, we will conclude with specific prayer requests. I know we have said it before, but you have no idea how much your prayers mean to us. They are literally what are getting us through each day, as we sit around, unable to do anything more than pray and wait and wonder. Please know that God is answering your faithful prayers, as already this journal can attest to. We have no doubts that we will continue to see amazing answered prayers throughout the remainder of our journey here in Ukraine, and when we arrive home with our expanded family.

Our prayer requests are:
* That BCIS immigration office in Yakima quicky processes our paperwork and cables our new I-171H to Kiev today. We have specifically contacted Robert Lyon who was very helpful in getting paperwork quickly processed in the past. Please pray for him specifically.
* That the National Adoption Center allows us to visit the children with just the new I-171H, rather than forcing us to wait for the apostilled addendum.
* Time, patience, clarity and blessings for Jennifer as she completes all the Moscow-paperwork steps on Tuesday.
* Traveling mercies and blessings for Ron and Susan Seaman as they drive to Boise Wednesday AM, and hand-process the paperwork at the Secretary of State's office.
* Speedy travel for our apostilled docments as they are mailed via FedEx to Ukraine!
* Prayers for our translator Kostya, as he interacts with the Embassy and the National Adoption Center on our behalf. He has been a wonderful cheerleader and supportive prayer partner with us throughout each step thus far! Prayers of blessing to for his wife Olga and son Nikita who we had the opportunity to get to know while in Kiev.
* Finally, prayers of blessing on our friends Vladimir and Lena Anderson, who have so wonderfully opened their homes to us. They have allowed us to use their computers, email access, telephone and home as we have tried to deal with all of these challenges.

God Bless!

Love, Kristen and John