Round 1 Completed!

Hooray! We have completed Round 1 of the document scavenger hunt! And with only mild discomfort. Quite a few miles on the vehicles, though. Now we wait as the documents get translated. Assuming everything is accepted by Russia (which it should be), then we will be receiving the official "Referral" soon. Maybe the next couple of weeks or so. Then it will be time to pack our bags for first visit. Still have a tough time believing it.

In the meantime, we keep busy with continued fundraising. Right now I am doing a Saturday morning outdoor circuit training workout for donations. Yesterday I had three victims (I mean participants). It was a lot of fun, and helped to continue to chip away at the goal. Check out facebook for updates (if you are not our friends on facebook, then what are you waiting for?). Also, we are heavy into making arrangements for a benefit concert in November. Please keep your eyes and ears open to updates on that one. It promises to be a very enjoyable evening, and one you're not going to want to miss.

Speaking of chipping away, we continue to do so with Elijah as well. A rollercoaster ride is definitely the best way to describe it. 2+ years and sometimes we still wonder if we just got home. Same issues, bigger kid. But the peaks of his progress keep getting higher, and the valleys he often sinks into are not quite as deep and not quite as wide. But they are still there. Just a reminder that only God can change the heart. All we can continue to do is show him love unconditionally and positive direction consistently. The rest is in His hands. Isn't that just like God...

JP

We Do Care About the Environment....I Promise!

Greetings from the land of tree-wasters. We are busy in the paperwork portion of the process. While it is proving to be just as annoying as the first time, we come into it the second time fully expecting it and are therefore keeping our heads up. Minor delays have forced us to have to wait a little longer to finish the homestudy process and submit all the necessary paperwork in order to make our first trip. But we are confident in the timing of all of it.

Donations continue to come in. Praise God! We are nearing the halfway point! We are still about $5000 short of what we need to make the first trip, but we are confident that it will all come in at the point at which we need it. We are expecting to have to make the first trip sometime in late September or early October. I can't believe that we will be meeting Alexander soon! Stepping into that orphanage again after over 2 years is going to be so surreal. The Spirit of God was so present there the first time. I hope to find it the same 2 years later. After that, it should be only a few months (probably around Christmas time) until we make our second trip and bring him home. It's still crazy to think that he could be home before the end of the year.

We are in the process of coming up with more fundraising ideas (possibly a benefit concert for Alexander), so we will keep you updated. Please continue to pray for us that the Lord will provide for Alexander's needs, both those physically and emotionally for him in Russia and financially for his homecoming here in the states.

JP