One Year Ago

One year ago, we had our little foster baby, Helen. We were having our first real "trial run" as parents and were saying, "Hey, this isn't so hard!" OK, so we were a little naive.

One year ago, we were spending new year's eve with some friends, and Rob got really sick- the first day of a week long bout of dysentery.

One year ago, we were in a different apartment, trying to keep our landlady from storing more stuff in our cabinets and trying not to let on that there would soon be a child in our home (on several occasions she tried hard to convince us to wait to have kids, for the sake of keeping her apartment clean).

One year ago, it hadn't even entered our imagination that April would be pregnant before our adoption was final.

One year ago, we were expecting to bring our daughter home from Ukraine sometime in the summer of 2010...and that she would be about 18 months old.

One year ago, Rob hadn't started noticing gray hairs.

One year ago, we never gave a thought to Interpol or the actions of the Ukrainian Parliament.

One year ago, we were in a very different place! Much has changed, but God has not.

One year from now...well, it makes me dizzy to think of all that will change in the next year!

Still waiting on a court date...

The latest is that East Asia Interpol emailed some sort of letter to Ukraine Interpol (we hope it has the correct information in it). However, we don't know what the letter says, because only a worker from the State Department of Adoption is allowed to go and pick up the printed out email. The SDA has refused to pick up the letter for the past 2 days. They're too busy. We need this document to get a court date. At this point, we're told that we might not get a court date until January 11th, because no one will pick up this document. This delays our adoption another week and means Rob might not return to the USA with our daughter until the beginning of February.

I'm (April) scheduled to fly out on the 12th of January and return to the USA. (so if our court date is the 11th in Svalyava, then I'll do an overnight train ride on the night of the 11th and go straight to the airport in Kiev) I need to return to the USA for a doctors appointment (pregnancy) and it doesn't seem wise to wait until late January or early February, considering the doctor's concerns at my last visit.

We're feeling frustrated and sad. It doesn't help that we're in Kiev (an overnight train ride away from our daughter), so we don't even get to see her while we wait.

2 Things

1 - We're still waiting on East Asia Interpol, but we called the office and they're willing to send an "internal email." We'll see if that works...

2 - A small chance to tease Rob. That's right. April is writing this update. On our 3rd day with our daughter, the orphanage workers asked if we wanted them to trim her hair. I immediately said, "no, thank you!" I want to have her hair grow out. Then, Rob turned to me and said, "Maybe we should have them trim around the ears a little?" I'm not sure where he got this idea and I asked him, "Do you realize you're asking me if I want our daughter to have a mullet?"

It Gets Worse

So I'm about to call East Asia Interpol myself and see if that helps. Talk about an impasse...

East Asia refuses to do a report on us because we're not criminals. But Ukraine cannot move forward with our adoption until they have that report. Ukraine is willing to accept a document explaining why they won't do a report, but East Asia Interpol won't even produce a document like that.

AAAAARGGGGHHHHH!!!!!

Our Adoption: The Neverending Story

Our saga continues as our heroes are aided in their quest by an unlikely ally: The East Asian Ambassador to Ukraine.

When we last left our weary family, they were awaiting approval from East Asia's Interpol office. The latest reports indicate that Ukraine's Interpol office has faithfully faxed requests to East Asia, requests which have been repeatedly ignored.

The intrepid facilitator, Helen, is exhausting all her resources to find a way to get this form. So she called the highest ranking East Asian official in Ukraine. Interestingly, this was not their first meeting. The Ambassador very kindly helped the adoption along a few months ago by providing a form which the East Asian government was unwilling to provide our soon-to-be-parents. He has proven a very helpful and kind gentleman, and we wonder if he's just excited that anyone in Ukraine is interested in East Asia.

So stay tuned, and see if the Ambassador's phone call makes a difference!

(All I can say is...Cosi is going to have quite the story to tell someday.)

Shopping and More Cosi

This is part of the 15 minute walk to the grocery store in Kiev.
Notice Baby #2 snuggled up nice and warm in Mommy's belly. We haven't been around many full length mirrors, so April was pretty sure no one could tell she was pregnant under a few layers of clothing. After seeing some pictures, she realized that she was wrong.



















The pigeons know how to keep warm! Whatever is under those manhole covers is really heating things up.



















Along the way we saw this frozen well. People on the street are still using it to get water, so I guess it's not totally frozen.



















The streets of Svalyava


















And here's our little girl!
















And this is how the camera usually sees her. We quickly learned that "Dai!" means "Gimme!!!" It's funny how many of our videos of her end with us backing away and trying to keep the video camera out of reach.
















We get better pictures and video outside- because she's pleasantly distracted.

We know what you want...

I've never seen a child get so excited about putting on boots. This was one of the more reserved times. She gets downright giddy when she realizes she's going outside.


And here's Cosi carrying a stick and trying to see her breath on a cold Ukrainian morning. The cold never seems to bother her- one tough little girl!

Maybe January 6th?

Update on East Asia Interpol Clearance = we don't have it yet! We're still waiting on East Asia.

At this point, we're told that we will not be able to have our court date on December 30th. If East Asia Interpol comes through this week, then we can have our court date on January 6th. (as long as Ukraine doesn't vote to put a moratorium on adoptions before then)

What does that mean for us? An extra week of waiting (we're looking at a late January return to the USA at this point) - and - decisions to be made about me (April) flying back (alone) early to have a doctor's appointment for baby #2 (the doctor wanted me to have an ultrasound at my last appointment b/c i might have excess fluid, but i put it off b/c I was flying out the next day for Ukraine).... we're not sure what to do... Maybe I'll fly back to the US for the doctors appointment and then return to Ukraine. Then, I could spend the last week of January in Ukraine waiting and doing paperwork with Rob & Cosi, as well as be able to fly back with them to the US. She's going to be more than a handful on the plane...plus I don't want to miss out on those first days once we have our daughter...

Decisions, decisions...

Superstitions

While we were inside our hosts home in Svalyava, Rob started whistling a Christmas song. All of a sudden (from the other room), our adoption facilitator came running and frantically told us "do not whistle! You can not whistle inside a home!"

It turns out there is a Ukrainian Superstition about whistling inside a home. It could mean that you are wishing for the home to burn down - or - it could mean that the people who own the home won't make money (or something to do with money).

More Videos

This first video is Cosi running past Daddy to get to Mommy :) In the beginning, she is being held back by the worker because they were trying to finish putting her shoes and clothes on- it seems like torture! The poor little girl just wanted to run to Mommy! We think it's so funny how she gives Rob a little sideways glance as she runs past him.


And here's where we're trying to teach her to say "Zip!" and to come to us for help when she needs it. She's very independent.


This last video is of the other children in Cosi's group- bear in mind that all of these children are over three years old. After seeing these kids, we can understand why she hasn't developed much of her speaking abilities and why she tends to grab whatever she wants (because what will any of these kids do to stop her?) We were happy to hear that Dasha (the little blond girl rolling on the floor) was just adopted by a family from Luxembourg- they had their court hearing yesterday. Dasha is unable to swallow, walk, talk, or hold up her head, and she has a lot of other health problems. At the end, there's a shot of Cosi playing with one of her caretakers. This particular woman was very warm and friendly and obviously cared for our little girl. And yes, Cosi is on the potty.

Prayer Request- Interpol

While we were posting videos, we got a call from our facilitator, who was submitting our documents so that we could get our FINAL court date- the one that makes Cosi our daughter. Unfortunately, there is one crucial document missing- the Interpol clearance from East Asia. They've been waiting 2 months and it has not arrived.

We can't get the court hearing without this document, and though it's just a matter of time, right now, time is not our friend. With April getting further along in her pregnancy, we need to get those trans-Atlantic (and trans-Pacific) flights done soon. And if we can't get the court date before New Year's Eve, then we get hit by the holidays here (Christmas is a week after New Year's Day in Ukraine).

So last time we asked for prayer, you all prayed so hard that the Ukrainian Parliament broke out into a fight. Let's see what we can do with East Asia's Interpol office!

Videos of Cosi

OK, so these are pretty poor quality- the camera didn't do so well in the low light of the orphanage. These first two videos are Cosi running to April when we showed up on days 2 and 3, after she started to understand a little who we were. Or maybe she would run to anyone who stood at the door with arms wide open. But then again, on day 4, we tried to have her run to Rob, and she dodged him to get to April! We'll post that one later...

We're not sure what she's saying when she runs to April- we think "YaYa!" is just what she says when she gets REALLY happy. Kind of like "Yay!"





And this video is playing outside. She likes wearing gloves but doesn't like it when her hands or gloves get dirty. She also liked imitating her Daddy when he would blow his breath in the cold air or make Donald Duck noises.

Pictures of Cosi

Introducing -- Cosette Marie Sue Edenfield!
Videos soon to follow...



























The outside of the orphanage in Svalyava, Ukraine




















She loved wearing Rob's gloves.


































Potty Time! Every few hours they make the kids sit on the potty for about 20 minutes.
















































She loved wearing our coats (this is actually her grandma's coat b/c I'm borrowing it). After a couple days, we realized she was hinting that she wanted to go outside.















Lunch Time! She does pretty well using a spoon by herself (even when I distract her with the camera).

Very Hopeful News

Once we get back to Kiev and get our camera cords, we'll post a picture of our little girl! We're in Svalyava (Ukraine) right now, and just spent our second morning with her. A few hours after meeting her on Monday, we gave the official "Yes." There is still a lot of paperwork to do, and there is still a good bit of bureaucratic red tape to untangle, but hopefully it's just a matter of time. Best-case scenario, she'll be ours to keep on January 10th! After that, we'd still have a few days of paperwork at the US Embassy before we can return to the US.

So what is she like? A little over 3 years old, a gypsy, and very active! She has lived in the orphanage for most of the past 2 years.

She's delayed developmentally- she's just beginning to speak and she behaves more like an 18-month-old- but some of those things are typical for a child in an orphanage. The doctors and officials her say there's a good chance she will catch up to her peers once she is in a family. But there are no guarantees, so we had to decide whether we were ready to take her even if she doesn't develop much further. The speech delay may even help- she can begin with learning English!

We'll write more updates and post them once we get back to Kiev this weekend. Internet access is pretty hard to come by in Svalyava. In fact, Google maps doesn't even have the streets mapped out!

Prayer Requests:

-that God would continue to confirm in our hearts that this is the little girl he has prepared for us. It is encouraging when she recognizes us and seems happy to see us.
-housing during our time in Svalyaya. it's a small town and we don't have options for housing. we have one option, which effectively means they can charge us whatever they want. they told us there are no hotels in town. we have wonderful housing options in Kiev, but it's not near our daughter (so we wouldn't be able to visit her everyday). we're trying to decide what to do.
-finding fruits and vegetables for April (and baby #2) has been hard here. Rob's happy eating mashed potatoes and bread for every meal, but we'd like to be a little healthier. At the same time, we want to be sensitive to the limitations of this rural mountain community.

A Possible Answer to Prayer?

On a previous blog, we mentioned the proposal in the Ukrainian parliament to put a moratorium on adoptions. (this would possibly pause or end our adoption process)

Well, the vote had been postponed until December 24th. But - now it might be postponed even further. We're not sure yet, but considering the situation in the Parliament, I'd say there's a good chance.

The reason = a bloody brawl in the Ukrainian Parliament!

Here's what BBC News had to say:

"The clash came after a group of Mrs Tymoshenko's supporters had blocked the podium to protest at a corruption inquiry against her, which opened this week.About 40 Party of Regions MPs, loyal to President Viktor Yanukovych, and 30 opposition MPs were involved in the punch-up, the Ukrayinska Pravda news website reported.Correspondents say brawls are not unusual in the parliament, but this one was particularly violent."

Here's some video of the brawl (we didn't take this video...):

These are a few of our favorite things...

Here are some of the things we're enjoying during our time in Ukraine!

Borsch!

It can be served a variety of ways, but this one has cabbage, beets, onions, carrots and we eat it with a dollop of sour cream on top. (it's served warm)

Baby Oranges or Clementines!

I'm not sure why one of them is decorated with the painting of a person's face, but I like it.

An Amazing Selection of Tea!

We drink about 5 cups of hot tea a day (in an effort to stay warm), so this variety was a happy surprise.

Chocolate Chip Cookies!

Maybe it's because we're in the Christmas season and eating cookies comes naturally to me (April), but I think these cookies are awesome! Rob tells me they aren't that great, but I'm pretty sure I'd even eat these cookies in the USA.

Rob's 1st IPOD!!

So, maybe this isn't a Ukraine thing....BUT, it is providing us with Christmas music and it's definitely one of our favorite things right now. And - it's Rob's first IPOD! You can watch a tv show on this thing - crazy! We have entered a new age.

A few pictures in Kiev

St. Micheal's Church in Kiev

Here's Rob outside the church- you can't tell from the picture, but he can't feel his ears or fingers. He's not smiling, he's wincing.

This is April outside the well-hidden entrance to the State Department of Adoption. Seriously, are they trying to hide from people?

Prayer Requests (and some things for which we're thankful)

By way of prayer requests, here is an update:

April has been having some problems sleeping lately, and last night she had three separate nightmares that really upset her- please pray that God would calm and protect her.

On Sunday, we'll be traveling overnight to meet a little girl that we may end up adopting. Pray for us as we handle the usual risks of travel, and pray for April's health (and for baby #2).

Also, we've been hitting a lot of red tape- officials with ulterior motives, indifferent bureaucrats, etc. Pray for patience and wisdom as we (and our wonderful facilitator, Helen) work with these people.

Pray also for wisdom as we meet with this little girl. She is a little older than we had expected, and we're not sure how to make this decision. We need to be able to know that we will be able to meet her special needs while living overseas. We hope that we will know right away that this is the girl God has prepared for us.

If we do go forward, timing will become an issue. We're running into the New Year holiday as well as the Christmas Holiday (which is Jan 7th-9th), so getting all the paperwork we need and setting up the court date will take longer than usual :-/ We'll probably be here for another 3-4 weeks.

And here are a few things we are thankful for:
-Wonderful brothers and sisters in Kiev who have welcomed us, hosted us, and served us, though we were strangers only one week ago.
-Five cups of hot tea a day to keep us warm!
-No health problems so far.
-Rob has been able to find enough to eat, despite his allergies (Pierogies- yay!). Although at one buffet-style restaurant, we asked which foods had eggs, and an excited server replied, "Everything!"
-Our helpful facilitator, who has been working hard on our behalf.
-Some of the most incredible snowflakes we have ever seen. Huge! And they hold their shape for a few minutes after they land on you, so you can observe their amazing detail. Rob thinks it's like God saying a quiet hello.
-Being able to spend 24 hours a day together (April made me write that...)
-The hope that this adoption just might work out after all...

What are we doing today? (and everyday)

The big activity of the day is traveling into the city to officially receive our “referral” (which allows us to visit a child in Svalyava, Ukraine).

Here's what that entails as we leave the apartment:

-Go to the bathroom! (not so many clean/good bathrooms over here and I have to go a lot these pregnant days)

-Bundle up! It's cold outside! Yesterday it was -10 degrees Celsius. I don't know exactly what that means, but anytime I see a negative before the temperature = yikes!

-Take the very small, very slow elevator down to the first floor. Exit the building and feel a rush of cold air!

-Walk the ½ mile over an icy field to get to the Tram. Hold onto Rob's arm, in case I start to fall. However, this works both ways b/c I caught Rob and stopped him from falling yesterday!

-During the walk, beware of the wild dogs! Apparently they recently bit a woman who had varicose veins and she almost died. About now, Rob and I morbidly joke about how if the dogs attack, then he has to run b/c he doesn't have his rabies vaccination. I am vaccinated, so I'll protect us.

-At the tram ticket office, hold up 4 fingers (2 tickets in, 2 tickets out) and hand over 6 Grivna. We look like we blend in, so they don't always know we're foreigners. But – I'm pretty sure my tendency to smile is the first thing that gives me away.

-Take the tram for about 20 minutes. Rob reads the cyrillic to verify our stop, except this is more difficult when some of the letters are missing on the sign. If that is the case, then April turns to anyone/everyone nearby and starts saying the name of the stop and pointing. Get off and walk 20 minutes in the cold to the nearest subway stop. How did we find the stop the first day? Easy – we followed the crowd, but we also had a map if we needed it.

-Take the long, long escalator down to the subway. Then, take the subway 4 stops into town. We miscounted the first day and had to go back one stop....ooops... We warm up a bit during this time.

-Get off the subway and take the long, long escalator up. Then, we walk back out into the cold. Walk 20-30 minutes uphill to get to the State Department of Adoption. We usually arrive early, so yesterday we had to wait outside for 30 minutes, not great.

-Once the gate is unlocked, we walk around the building and enter the side gate. We enter the oddly placed and unimpressive door on the side of the building. Then, we walk up the poorly lit stairwell and wait to have our names called.

-On the way back, repeat in reverse order!

The Second Appointment

During our second appointment, we weren't shown any new files of children. Our translator/agent pressed the issue with the office, and they eventually called nearly every region in the country, only to report that there are no children under the age of 6 without severe disabilities. We're not sure if this is true, but that's what they told us. We are allowed to schedule a 3rd appointment, but it seemed pointless to do if they aren't going to show us any more children.

We weren't sure what to do. We didn't feel any clear leading from God. Mostly, I (April) just felt really guilty that we weren't open to adopting a severely disabled child. I know they deserve love and a family as much as any other child, but I don't think we're in a position at this time to choose to take that on. After caring for a special needs foster child (see our posts on Helen from a year ago), we have a better idea what it means to care for a special-needs child in a foreign country.

So, we chose to look into the file of one girl who we saw a picture of during our first visit. We have been told 3 vastly different accounts of her situation. We're going to visit her in a few days and make a decision then. That visit involves two 13 hour train rides to/from the other side of the Carpathian mountains. Normally, I would be excited about such an adventure. But - it's freezing outside, I'm tired, I'm sad and I'm very pregnant. I'm not sure how my pregnant body is going to do sleeping (or not sleeping) on that overnight train.

More details later- we're pretty wiped out right now. All we want to do is drink something warm, eat something sweet, and gather our thoughts!

Sigh...More News

Well, as if there hasn't been enough drama concerning our adoption, just yesterday we were made aware of this bit of news. Basically, it says that the Ukraine Parliament is voting next week on a bill that would stop all adoptions coming from the US (and a few other countries). How quickly it would take effect and exactly who it would affect is not clear yet. If we've already chosen a child and gone before a judge once it is passed, then we MIGHT be OK. At this point, nobody seems to know anything for sure.

So if we are matched with a child on Thursday, we would get the papers on Friday and be able to visit her on Monday. If we proceed with adopting that child, then we would get a court date for a few days later, which would be right about the same time the bill goes up for debate. Yikes.

But you can bet that for the first time in my life, I will be closely following the actions of the Ukrainian parliament...

In other news, we are staying warm and experiencing a bit of the culture. So far, our fingers have been too cold to pull out the cameras, but we plan to hit the scenic areas tomorrow morning. And there are pierogies everywhere. Yum!

baby #2, proof that it's a boy!

This is my (April's) favorite picture of baby #2. It's a view from the bottom up. His legs are bent, so I think they look like "teddy bear" legs. And - you can see proof that he's a boy, right between those teddy bear legs. This is from about 3 weeks ago.

Kiev (or Kyiv)

Here's a short video to give you an idea of what it's like in Kiev (in December)! This is the view from the apartment building where we're staying. It's a bit cold & dreary looking, with a dusting of snow.

After the Big Day

They told us this would probably happen, but we hoped that we would be an exception. During prospective parents' first visit with adoption services in Ukraine, they are usually shown case files of the children with the most severe disabilities. The idea is that they want to see if anyone has a heart to take on the hardest cases. Living overseas, and with baby #2 already on the way, we don't believe it would be wise of us to take on such a challenge. So we had to say no to all of the files shown to us today :(

One small piece of good news is that our next appointment is Thursday afternoon (rather than sometime next week), and hopefully they will show us a different batch of files. It's getting harder to trust that God has our daughter ready for us here.

We appreciate your prayers for Thursday!

Big Day

Monday morning, 10 a.m. Kiev time (3 a.m. EST) is the big moment. We've heard stories of first appointments that go well and some that go very poorly. In some ways, it all depends on "luck"- which children who meet our criteria are available at that moment. It's hard to see how God is in control sometimes. The journey here has been long and challenging, and when so much rides on the decisions and moods of a mid-level bureaucrat, doubt is a familiar companion. I know that the heart of a king is like water in the Lord's hand (Prov 21:1), but the Bible says nothing about red tape :-/
Seriously, though, I don't think I ever doubt God's power and sovereignty in this situation (or any situation, for that matter). Where I stumble is in trusting that his purposes are the best for us and will ultimately be for our greatest joy. In talking with a couple who has been repeatedly frustrated in their efforts to adopt here, I'm amazed by their trust that God is working out a good and perfect plan in the midst of their circumstances. I guess I pray that we could have that same faith.

Arrival

Yes, faithful followers, we have arrived in Kiev. It is 1:30 a.m. here, and I am wide awake after 3 hours of sleep. It probably helps that I finally got our internet connection working- that always wakes me up. So a few random things:

-We're staying with some wonderfully generous people that we just met- friends of friends who are opening their home to us.

-We may not have regular internet access while here, if today is any example of that.

-We're looking forward to getting out and seeing the city tomorrow.

-One of our flights here was canceled, but we managed (at 430am in the airport) to get rescheduled so that we were only an hour late- pretty impressive!

-Monday, 10am Kiev time (3am, E.S.T.) is the big moment. We will go into the State Adoption Agency and look at files of available children. We really need prayer for this time. Our main prayer is that God will comfort our hearts during a potentially very stressful meeting and that he will prepare us for whatever awaits us. We're praying and hoping that they will show us a little girl that is perfectly suited to our situation, though everyone who has been through this says that it is highly unlikely to have that happen during the first appointment. If none of the children are suited to us, we have to wait another week before we can try again!

-Either way, here begins at least a month of unpredictability. Lord help us!

Mid-travel Update

Well, we're almost there. That's all I have to say- we're on a layover in Europe, and we'll be in Kiev tomorrow (Saturday) afternoon. Then on Monday morning we look through the files of available children and pray that one of them is our new daughter!

Flashback

I finally finished another video. This one dates back to fall of 2007- a memorable trip to the Wild Animal Park, where you can get real up close and personal with the animals! We're not sure yet if we'd ever take our kids here...

The whole video runs about 15 minutes. And be warned: this was only a couple months after we bought our video camera, and we hadn't yet learned to hold the camera still...

A Week Away from Traveling

We had a long phone conversation with our agency- the "pre-travel briefing" to discuss all the details of what the next few weeks in Ukraine will entail. What makes us the most nervous right now is the possibility that no suitable children will be available on the day we have our appointment, and that we will have to wait an extra week...
Other than that, it's exciting to be so close to going!

A long, long road with a good, good end...A very personal update from April

April wrote (but never published) this post a few days before we got the good news that we would be able to travel to Ukraine in mid-December to adopt our daughter. Here it is- a glimpse into where we were at a few weeks ago:

Well, we were hoping this update would be joyfully announcing a travel date to pick up our daughter in Ukraine. However, our hopes don't equal reality. Ukraine has delayed our process yet again. The biggest problem has been that we're the first people in history to live in China and adopt from Ukraine. Ukraine officials are baffled at why two Americans would ever choose to leave “the heaven on earth of America” to move to China and they aren't inclined to grant our request.

Right now, we are getting new forms filled out and mailing them to Ukraine. Our hope is that they will soon grant us a travel date. Our prayer is that they will grant us a travel date and that the travel date might be as early as December (which would be a true miracle) or even that it would be in January (also a miracle).

How are we doing with all this? Well, I stayed home and cried all day on Tuesday. I cried so much that Rob had to leave work, cancel plans, come home and comfort me. I'm even crying right now, as I write this. Rob is deeply sad, as well. But, he tries to stay strong for me. I think he waits to cry when I'm not crying, but that chance rarely comes.

Right now, we are waiting to hear if our daughter (that we have been praying for and thinking about for two years) is dead to us. It's as if there is a child in my womb and the doctors have told me to wait 3-4 weeks to find out if the child is alive. I walk around, carrying the child in my heart, but I'm not sure whether to prepare myself for disappointment or to hope for the best. I know I should “trust God,” but I'm not always sure what that looks like or how to do that. Sometimes when I try to trust God, it looks more like complacency or detachment.

A friend recently instructed me that all things that happen in life are “God's best for us.” He said that my trials are all God's best for me, even if I don't see that. I disagree. I think that life before the fall was God's best for us. I think that God is still sovereign and that he allows bad things to happen. I even think that he is able to use those bad things and bring good out of them. But, I do not believe that they are God's best for us. I do not believe that prolonged illnesses, death, sudden accidents, war, starvation, AIDS, child trafficking, forced prostitution, slavery, miscarriages, broken families....are God's best for us. I think we are blessed to see glimpses of the best in this life, but I hope that the best is still to come. I think we will experience God's best for us only after the complete fulfillment of all things. Until then, I think we are left to trust in God's sovereignty and ultimate plan.

I recently heard a line in a song by Waterdeep, a line that is sticking with me: “It's a long, long road, with a good, good end.” Maybe it's because I'm melancholy, but I find a lot of comfort in acknowledging the long road and hoping for the good end. I know we all have our own long roads. We really appreciate it when people share prayer requests with us, so please feel free to respond to this. When others share struggles with us, it often helps me to take the focus off of my own situation and remember that there are so many ills to be made right in this world (of course, it usually takes me about 1-2 days of self-pity to get to this point).

So a lot has changed since April wrote these words. We’re not at the end of the long, long road yet, but a lot of encouraging things have moved us closer to the good, good end. Please continue to pray that the process will go smoothly as we travel there in 10 days. And thank God for moving paperwork quickly and for securing a travel date that doesn’t conflict with baby #2.