Ugh.

Ugh. The adoption is getting messy. Ukraine is asking for some new paperwork and they want it all right away. Plus they want all our old paperwork updated...right away. Most of it will be OK, just a little stressful and pricey to get again (e.g. our THIRD blood tests in 18 months). However, there are one or two things that might not happen. Our Virgina background checks won't be done in time.

And there are one or two things for which they'd like an "official" letter from East Asian government. Like, they want proof our daughter would be given a visa. Anyone who has lived or traveled here knows you can't just walk into a government office and say "Here's a form I made up in which you promise to do something. Will you sign it and give it an official stamp?" Um...yeah.

So we're trying to figure out if there's any way around some of these things.
The really hard thing is that if we can't work something out (and get our background checks on time), the adoption will be at BEST delayed a year or so. More likely, it will fall through.

So after already being in this process a year longer than expected, we're really discouraged right now. It's hard to get motivated to walk into another East Asian office and face another inevitable blank stare. Why is it that getting a child can come down to a piece of paper?! We're trying to still believe in God's sovereignty and goodness in the midst of this. For those of you that have been praying for this...thank you. And if anyone has some secret contact in the Ukrainian court system who owes you a big favor...can I get a phone number?

Welcome Helen

As promised, here are a few Helen videos. The organization that set her up with us asks that we not show pictures or videos of her publicly without blurring or blocking the eyes.



Helen will be 1 year old next Monday, but she's developmentally more like a 5 month old. She had surgery to remove a large something (not sure if it was a tumor, sack of fluid, or what) from the back of her skull, and the bone still hasn't re-formed back there, so she's really sensitive on the back of her head. She also has a shunt (don't worry, I had to look that word up, too) in her head that drains the excess fluid down into her stomach. Because of her special physical needs, she's been in foster care since her surgeries. We're watching her while her American foster family is out of the country for a few weeks.

She sleeps most of the night, which is good. But she can get fussy during the day. 'Fussy', for the uninitiated, means she may cry and scream for 2 hours with no apparent reason. But like most babies, when she's happy and sweet, you forget the fussy times:

Thanksgiving Weekend Recap

Thanksgiving weekend is always a little different here. Last year both of us were sick, so we stayed at home and ate the most American meal we could find in our fridge- hot dogs and baked beans.

It's strange when holiday traffic is the same traffic you face every day (frightening in it's own way- we'll write about that another entry), when Black Friday is just another Friday, and you need to work your turkey cooking schedule around your classes.

This year, we joined some friends for a traditional turkey dinner that was truly something to be thankful for. Dinner was followed by games of "heads up seven up" and "apples to apples", since the traditional football games wouldn't be on until after midnight (and even then they wouldn't be aired here).

Friday was a busy work day, Saturday was mildly restful, then on Sunday we went back to the orphanage. Rob left his guitar at home this time, but singing a capella was just as fun. We had twice as many volunteers than we expected (which was great!). When we arrived, we had a chance to do a personal interview with the director of the orphanage- learning that one of the girls from last time, an 11-year-old who had never spoken a word, started singing a few weeks ago! When we showed up, she sang for us some of the songs we had taught them last month!

The last hour of our time was a lesson in humility and servanthood. We put ourselves at the orphanage's disposal to do whatever work they needed. So a few of us ended up outside digging rocks out of a path that they hoped to one day pave. There was some grumbling about whether or not this was the best way to complete the task and some questions as to whether or not we should just give them the money to hire someone to do a professional paving job, but in the end, we learned to quietly submit ourselves to those whom we were serving. Sometimes serving others only works when it's on their terms, not ours.

All in all, a great holiday weekend (despite Rob's swine cold), but I do wish it would have ended with a Steelers victory in Baltimore.

Orphanage Visit

Well, it's been a busy few weeks. Here's a little video of how we spent our Saturday this week.



April helped organize a trip to an orphanage for mentally and physically disabled children. She managed to talk Rob into coming along and bringing his guitar. In all, we had about 30 volunteers, East Asian as well as American, which was good because some of these children need two people with them just to help them move.



We spent much of our time with this little girl who was born without an anus. She was about a year and a half old now and is doing well after her surgery. We were ready to take her home that day! It was hard to say good-bye to those precious little ones. We hope to be able to visit them often this year, bringing more friends who are ready to learn about and love those in need.