Time to get another referral

The mission trip was 9 months ago. We left America one week ago, we seen Elizabeth 3 days ago. Such a short time in the grand scale, and we need to leave already. To adopt a second child, we need a referral. We either go now, or wait until I return. Waiting will add far too much time to the journey, so we must go now. Today, we took a taxi to the orphanage, and will take one to the train station. We get a few hours, and then we must go. We were able to share gifts for the other children such as Dima and Tonya. We sat on the bench and looked at photos, and let Elizabeth take pictures.

I walked off and looked about the orphanage to see things I wanted to from before. I looked at the exhaust pipe for the kitchen we had built. What a shame… wish I were there to make them do it right. Then I thought that maybe they do not smoke in the places we use to catch them. So, I went to the two “hide outs” (more like known locations) and took photos of what I found… Americas best exported goods; Winston, New Kent, Salem, the entire gang was there. No, this is something that is the same.

It came time to leave, and my heart was torn of course. I know I am coming back, but, as we know… the obstacles are still there and the trials are still before us. So much could destroy what is so precious in our hands. So we left to catch our train. Victor has been so busy he has not been able to buy tickets. They were out of 2cnd class, and had 1st and third class only. We opted to get first class. Victor would not let us buy a ticket for him. He said he could go 3rd class or negotiate with the conductor to let him sleep in their compartment. They get extra money; he gets a place to ride. Nice, but we had him get a ticket in the cabin next to ours. Here’s the breakdown: 3rd class-6 beds/cabin, 70% chance of AC, 2nd class-4 beds/cabin, 80% chance of AC, 1st class-2 beds/cabin, 100% chance of AC. We couldn’t risk Victor sweltering in a 3rd class conductors compartment. He works to hard for us.

We talked and vented a few things that have been beating us up lately. I borrowed the modem from Victor and worked until about 1:30, then went to sleep. I love the train!

We have not spoken much of “the boy”, there is a reason… one that will be clear as time goes on. We are adopting Elizabeth because I felt God had called me to be her father, for use to provide her a home, and for God to become real in her life instead of a story, a book, or a fairy tale. I wish I could say it is because O decided I wanted a daughter, sought her out, decided she was the one and so we are on this adventure to bring her home. But it is not the case…

The path to adopt Elizabeth has been difficult and at times so stressful, painful, and impossible that we expected failure. We have had so much opposition that the fact that we even got on a plane is a true miracle. God has done as He always has… He made the path easy to walk when it is difficult and He provided light in the darkness. We did the work, made the calls, Jessica translated, and Victor intervened, but it has been hard. Faith is the vehicle that we rode here. It has been confirmed by Victor several times, some I have not blogged about yet. He has stood there with papers in hand, or walked out of a meeting, or hung up the phone to schedule and appointment. He has at least 4 times so far said “I don’t know how this has happened, it is a miracle”. He knows we are on a God walk here and he is sensitive to it. He knows that I feel the call for Elizabeth, and he has stood by our choices even though he once said that we should plan to give it up, that it may not work. The boy, he is another story…

When we set this up, we had to chose if we were getting Elizabeth, or others as well for the paperwork. We decided that our family could fit the addition of a young boy, or if she had siblings, we may need to adopt them as well, so we put 2 children in our paperwork. No plans, just for 2 children. A month before we left, we started to move forward preparing for a new 14 year old girl. But felt compelled to prepare for a boy also, so we, in faith, set up additional space with Zachary for a brother to share his room.

I will write more about the way God is moving for the boy in another entry, this is an amazing thing to watch. We can see Gods hands all over it, and this process has caused the word miracle to fall from Victors lips more than a few times.