Nesting

Sorry to say there is not much to report on the adoption process. We continue to wait for the petition to the court document, which they need before the Russian Court assigns us a court date. It is difficult to go day after day without any word on our progress. I pray that even though I can't see any movement at this time,that things are still moving along behind the scenes. In the meantime, we continue to get our house ready for a 2 year old. It's been a long time since we had one of those roaming around the house. Through a fun and unexpected donation, we were able to purchase some much needed baby equipment. Misha now has a crib with mattress, and a new carseat. I was also able to get a nice glider rocker for the many nights I am sure to be up rocking my baby to sleep. I have spent most of the week sanding our $10.00 garage sale find (see previous post). I should be able to paint it this weekend and have it all set up next week! It's so exciting to see these things in the house. It's finally starting to sink in that he could actually be coming home soon. After over two years of mounds of paperwork, endless fundraising, waiting and waiting, we finally get to do some of the fun stuff. I love decorating his room and buying his clothes and toys. All the while daydreaming what it will be like when he is here. I imagine him wearing some of the special outfits we have for him and wonder what toy he will love to play with most. I feel like I'm in the 8th month for an expectant mother. 25 months for me, I'm pretty sure that's longer than an elephant pregnancy! I feel a giddy glow around me and am enjoying this preparation time very much. Nesting some people might call it.

SP

Little Blessings (We lost the race to Olive Garden)

We decided a while back that we needed to buy a crib for Mikhail when he gets here. The bed we have is too big for him to start off in. Our previous crib we had was used when we got it, and went through three boys after that. Needless to say, there wasn't much left of it by the end. I don't even think that we sold it at one of our garage sales. I think it ended up in the trash can (what was left of it). We weren't terribly excited about throwing down $150-200 (that's for the Target special) for a new one, and even the used ones we found in classifieds were $75-100.
My parents were down for the weekend, and we left to have lunch. As is usual when the boys and I get in one car and my father gets in the other car, we have a friendly race to wherever it is we are headed. Now, let me start off by saying that I don't recommend this to all you kids at home reading this. Trust me, we're in a mini-van. How crazy can it be, really? Anyway, since my father took one way, we decided to take an alternate route to the restaurant. Understand, we never would have been driving this route except that I am a sucker when my kids yell from the backseat "Beat Grandpa! Beat Grandpa!". And I knew there would be no way for me to pass him if we went the same way.
After taking a turn on two wheels (ok, use your imagination), we went wizzing by a garage sale. Through the blur of the passing scenery, Sara spoted a white rail. "They have a crib!", she says. We quickly determine that our need for a crib outweighs the bragging rights of beating Grandpa to Olive Garden (just barely), so we screech to a halt, whip a u-turn and head back the way we came (ok, I've pumped up the drama a bit).
Sara gets out while I stay in the car with the boys. I see her ask for the price, and she turns to me holding up all ten fingers. I am trying to see how many times she is flashing ten fingers. Does she mean $100? So I get out. She whispers to me "It's $10." I say with complete honesty that I am not the optimist of the family (though I'm getting better, praise God). So my immediate response was "What's wrong with it?". But upon examination, it looked like any old used crib. Paint chipped in a few spots, a few dents, and a small rip in the mattress. Nothing that a little sandpaper and a little paint can't repair. Before they have a chance to change their minds, we produced the cash and loaded it up, giddy with excitement. (Correction: Sara was giddy. I, of course, kept my cool with that "It happens everyday" look on my face)
I am truly humbled at God's provision for us. Thanks to this adoption process, I am more keenly aware than ever of God's subtle working in our lives. And I no longer take for granted those little blessings. There are no coincidences in this life if you believe that God uses all things as opportunities to bring Him glory.
We may have lost the race to Olive Garden, but I like to think that we are moving up in the pack as we "run with perseverence the race that lies before us". We'll get Grandpa next time.....

It Is Well....

It is with the sincerest of hearts that I write this blog, and I hope that everyone who has helped us along during this process, either financially or prayerfully, will read this, for it greatly concerns you. From day one, we placed this adoption in the Lord's hands and said, "Thy will be done." Yet, we did not embark on this journey foolheartedly, assuming that we would ride on the backs of others to the end. We knew that we would need some help, but we also had a plan of how we were going to contribute ourselves. I must say that things have not turned out the way we had expected. To add to this, for the last six months the struggling economy has extended to my work, and I have been unable to make enough money even to meet our monthly expenses, let alone put extra money toward the adoption.

Today was an especially stressful day as we sat down with our montly finances, and somewhere between cringing and vomiting we tried to come up with a plan. I must say, this wasn't the first of such sessions, and it promises not to be the last. Reading this, some might be saying "There must be a bright side coming......right?". Read on. This session ended much the same as every other session, on our knees in prayer that somehow we would make it long enough to bring Mikhail home, even if that means Top Ramen and Kraft (no, even generic) Mac & Cheese for the next year, however long it takes. With no real plan evident, short of a windfall from the fine state of California and its lottery (I guess I need to buy a ticket for that to happen), we continued on with our day. As I was driving in my car, thoughts began to enter my head (not the first time) that maybe these past six months have been a sign that we can't do this. "We need to stop." "There's no way that we are going to be able to bring him home." "You need to look at this reasonably." And then I got the mail an hour ago, at least hoping it would hold our new marriage license copies we've been waiting for. Thankfully, that was there. But also in it was a check from a wonderful family member for $320 to go towards the adoption, complete with a beautiful picture and an encouraging note saying "My prayers are certainly with you all! It's only by His strength, grace and direction that this has fallen into place. We praise Him!"

I can honestly say that this is not the first time that this has happened. There have been countless time during this process that we have said, "I don't think we can afford to continue on. It's not working out the way we had planned it." Yet each time, God has provided us with the same response, usually in the form of another donation saying "Look, I am in charge. You said 'My will be done', and that's exactly what I am doing. Don't quit, keep going. This is not yours, it is mine." And we are, once again, humbled in His presence.

Our intention from the beginning was never to draw this many people into our journey. Yet, obviously, it has been God's plan all along. And if the last six months have taught us anything, it's that it is still His plan. God loves the people He created, whether they realize it or not. And He wants all people to experience life to the fullest the way that He knows we can. And all through the Bible Jesus talks about our call to "experience the kingdom of heaven" through truly loving our neighbor and through selfless acts such as "taking care of widows and orphans". I am reminded of James 1:27, "This is pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father, to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world." God has obviously wanted to use our adoption journey as an opportunity for many to share in His work and experience His goodness firsthand, and some for the first time. And to the many that have chosen to be used by God to help bring this one small child to a home, to "visit (an) orphan....in their distress", I truly thank you from the bottom of my heart. I'm not sure how many more people He is going to involve or how exactly He is going to "work the numbers", but I can honestly say that even though so much of what has happened over the past six months has pushed us to the breaking point in more ways than one, He has never wavered in providing specifically for this adoption. Not once. And it is to Him and to you, our family and friends, that I say "thank you" and may the Lord bless you in measure far beyond how you have blessed us. Please keep praying for us and especially for Mikhail. If he only knew who was in his corner. I can't wait to tell him his story someday......

JP

"Whatever my lot, though hast taught me to say, it is well, it is well with my soul."

Mikhail Eating.....Ok, the next best thing

Please read this disclaimer before watching this short video. Every time we watch the DVD of Mikhail from our first day visit to the orphanage, we can't help but laugh as we watch me feeding him bread at snack time. It was the cutest thing ever (no, I'm serious.... it was cutest thing ever.......ok, everyone says that about their kid too). Of course, we would love to be able to share this video with you (it has lifted our spirits during this wait process many times), but alas due to copyright restrictions and governmental regulations and laws decreed and heralded and other unexplainable universal phenomenon we are unable to show it to you. But during movie night with our boys a few days ago, both Sara and I saw what you are about to view and turned to one another saying "It's Mikhail!". Now, before I get myself into serious trouble, understand I say nothing about any physical similarities between Mikhail and the subject of this short video. Quite the opposite. Mikhail is far cuter.....and younger. Disclaimer: The persons and events you are about to see are purely fictional (most definitely fictional), and any similarity between persons living (Mikhail) or deceased are purely coincidental. But watch the lips. It's a spot on match. We hope you enjoy.



Keep praying for our little boy in Russia. We miss him with every fiber of our being. While it seems that as the adoption becomes more complete, the rest of our life seems to become more fragmented and uncertain. Yet we hold fast (often it seems it's all we can do) to the promise that the God of this universe who loves the "fatherless" says "My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness." 2 Corinthians 12:9. Thanks for your prayers and support.

JP

A Very Happy Valentine's Day

Yesterday we had a very nice Valentine's Day. It worked out that Jeremy did not have to go into work until 9:30am (he usually leaves the house at 4:00 a.m.), so he and the boys woke up early to surprise me with breakfast and sweet Valentines. Jeremy, my best friend and love of my life gave me a beautiful frame with pictures of my boys. Of course, included was the newest addition to the Park team, Mikhail, my little valentine on the other side of the world. Ethan made me a card filled with hearts, love, and 6 cents from his piggy bank to go toward the adoption. Benjamin also made me a card filled with his favorite things like teddy bears, hugs, and two hershey's kisses which were given in addition to two real kisses! These were wonderful gifts and truly made me feel loved. But the gift from my oldest son Isaac made me think of the real gift of love. The love of our heavenly father. Isaac loves to write songs and make albums for his "band". His lyrics are what I would expect from an eight-year-old, simple and repetitve but to the point. He simply writes from his heart about how much he loves God, and the great things that He has done for us. He writes songs that are truly what is heart is thinking. He always asks me why I don't write any songs or make albums. I always tell him I never have the right words. Yesterday he made a Valentine's adoption album for me, complete with artwork and lyrics, that truly was what my heart is thinking. Here is a song from his album.

Remember Me
Remember me as your Lord.
I love you so much.
Mommy remember Jesus!
For Free!
God is good remember?
Remember Mommy, Mikhail is safe in Russia.
Remember, are we running out of time?
Or are we at the starting line?
Remember the street children?
God is in control even through the toughest times.
Remember me.
Remember me.
REMEMBER.

The words of his album are truly those of my heart. His Valentine was a gift of true love. Not neccassarily from Isaac (although it was very sweet), but from God, whose love goes deeper than we can ever comprehend. He has given us an amazing gift of love. He will use whatever He can to help me to remember that He is in control, that He will always provide for us, and that He loves us so much. For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16 Thank you Lord Jesus!

If you want to read more of Isaac's adoption album I have put it as a link on the side bar.

SP

A Quick Update

Praise the Lord! We got all of our documents back from Sacramento today. We thought we would have them back last Monday, but better late than never right? We are on the way to Kinkos to make our copies, then it's off on the Fedex truck to our adoption agency. We are waiting for just one more document - the Petition to the Court document. We pray that we will get this soon so that the court can begin to look through our documents, and give us that long awaited and very much anticipated court date. Praise God that this paperwork is almost done!

SP

Sixpence None The Richer Trust

Thought it would be a good time to post this, considering our last entry, to reference the song Benjamin sang to Sara. Simple, yet beautiful and so true...

What Just Happened.......?

We sent our documents up to a courier service in Sacramento to have them apostilled, shortening the time down from 2 weeks to 2 days. I called them the day we sent them (yesterday) to let them know that we were sending them up and to expect them overnighted and in hand the next morning. I asked what the fee was, and I was told $45. That sounded fine with me, so off we sent them, relieved that they were finally out of our hands. I got a call from the courier service this morning, saying that they had received the package, but there was a problem with the payment. We had included a check for $540 for the apostille fees ($20 per document x 27 documents) plus a check to the courier service for $45. The message said that the fee was $45 per document! (What?!) But since I had so many documents, he could knock it down to $30 each. Needless to say, this floored me. I proceeded to do something that looked like something between earnest prayer and a nervous breakdown. I just kept saying to myself "$45 each?! EACH?!" Just to clarify what the courier service does, they take the documents from their office to the third floor of the Secretary of State's office a few blocks away and hand them across the desk to the worker. Then they pick them back up the next day when they are completed and take them back to their office to mail them back to us in our prepaid FedEx envelope. I called Sara at home, at which point she proceeded to mirror my response in all its eloquence. So I called back as soon as I got off the phone with Sara. Here's the conversation that ensued to the best of my recolection this morning (everything in parenthesis shows my thoughts, while the quotes show the dialogue):

"Hi, this is Jeremy Park. I'm returning your call from earlier this morning. I got your message about the fees and I guess I misunderstood. I thought it was $45 for the whole service. Does that $45 include the $20 apostille fee for each document?"

"No, that is just for the service."

(You've got to be kidding me! That's over $1200 just for service fees, in addition to the $540 fee to the Secretary of State!) "Wow, I didn't realize that it was that expensive. If I had known that it was going to cost this much, I probably would have made the drive up from San Diego myself."

"Since you have so many documents, I could do them for $10 each."

(That's a big drop!) "That's still $270. I'm not sure if I want to do that."

"Do you want me to send them back to you?"

"Can you hang on to them until I talk to my wife and we can confirm what we want to do. We might just drive up and do them ourselves. I have to decide what we're going to do."

"Listen. I'm just going to drop them off for you."

"No. Let me talk to my wife first..."

"I don't want you to drive up all the way from San Diego. I'll just drop them off for no charge."

"That's not what I want. I understand that this is your business and you can't do this for free. I understand that what you charge is what you charge. I just need to figure this out."

"I'll just drop them off for free."

"That's not how I want to do it. You need to be paid for your service."

"I'm just going to drop them off."

"Let me talk to my wife and see what we can do."

"I don't see what the problem is. I'm just going to drop them off no charge."

"But.........(what's going on?)........I'm not sure..........."

"I'm going to drop them off. Just know that in the future that our charge is for each document."

"I'm ..........."

"OK?"

"OK. Thank you........"

(What just happened?)

From that point until now I have been swimming in a fog, trying to figure out how we went from $1215 in courier fees to $0 during a conversation that took the better part of 60 seconds. But I believe it can be summed up best in the words of my two oldest sons. This conversation is heresay as I was at work waiting from a call-back from the courier service.

(Sara sitting outside in tears)
I: "Don't worry mommy. God's going to take care of it."

B: (Begins to sing) "Trust in the Lord with all your heart. Lean not on your own understanding. In all of your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths. Don't worry about tomorrow. He's got it under control. Just trust in the Lord with all your heart, and He will carry you through."

What else can I say?

JP

Progress!!!

We are so excited that we have finally received all documents (except the petition to the court) that are needed for the court! Everything fell into place today and we sent our regional documents off to Sacramento this afternoon. The courier service will take them to the Secretary of State's office tomorrow to be apostilled and then pick them up on Friday. We should have them signed, sealed and delivered back to us by Monday. It is such a relief to have these done! Now all that we are waiting for is the petition to the court document. This is a difficult document to obtain, but I have heard that it should be coming soon. For now we are just praying that everything goes as planned in the next few days and that nothing gets lost! On a frustrating note, we have heard rumors that court dates could be slowing down in Krasnoyarsk. We were hoping for our court date in March or April. It looks like now that we will be lucky to be going in May. I know this process is all in God's timing and that he will bring Mikhail home at the right time. In the meantime, we are praying for patience and continued care and safety for Mikhail at the orphanage. It also gives us more time to raise the final amount of money needed to complete our adoption. Thank you again to all of our generous friends and families that have supported us through our process. We could not bring Mikhail home with out you.

SP

Not The Day We Were Hoping For

I woke up this morning excited because I said to myself "today is the day we will complete the regional documents!" Well, I should have known better. After all this is an adoption process. Nothing comes easy in adoption, especially from Russia. As I was going through my checklist, getting everything in order to be sent off to be apostilled, I noticed that I did not have the original homestudy document. There was some confusion when we first received the document requirements back in December. For some reason, I thought everything was cleared up and that we had everything in order. I was wrong. I called up my homestudy agency and worked it all out, which is the good news. Unfortunately, they will not be able to get it to us until Wednesday. Also, we thought we were going to pick up the 3 CPA letters today from the office. First, we recieved an e-mail that 2 of the CPA letters were no longer needed, which was fine because any document that we don't have to apostille saves us $20! Then, when we went to pick them up at the office, we discovered that they had not been completed yet. They said that they may have the one we need done tomorrow afternoon. So at the end of the day we ended up going backwards once again instead of forwards. Go figure! I hate to say this, but if everything goes as planned (ha ha!) we won't have everything in our hands ready to be apostilled until Thursday and then off to America World on Monday. Another week goes by...