We're In Russia...again!

Well, friends. We have officially arrived in Russia! It was definitely a tough parting at my parent’s house leaving the boys. I guess knowing how hard it was last time has made this time a little tougher for everyone. Our adventure actually began before we left. Our van only “kind of” works, and our intention was to rent a van to drive the kids up the coast to Ventura County to my parent’s house on Tuesday night. But when I found out how expensive it was going to be, we decided to take the chance. We didn’t get on the freeway until after 9pm, and had to do around 55mph in the slow lane the whole way because the van won’t shift out of third gear. But with a lot of prayer, we arrived safely a little after midnight, fully loaded with 6 people, 1 dog, 7 suitcases, 6 backpacks, and the dog food. It was a sight to behold.

The flight out of LAX was a little late in parting, but the flight was fairly uneventful. Out of all the movie choices we had on the plane, both Sara and I managed to pick movies that we couldn’t make it all the way through, shutting them off after about an hour. (We’ll know for the return trip.) We just got checked into our hotel room at the Holiday Inn Lesnaya. Last trip we stayed at the Marriot Teverskaya, which was extremely expensive and not worth the money. This time we picked the Holiday Inn, which is $100+ cheaper. It is very nice! Took a chance when we booked it back at home, and it is definitely worth it. We used our hot pot that we brought for the trip, heating up chicken and dumplings packed from home. Tasty! And it worked like a charm. We’ll be eating much better this time around.

We are getting ready to Skype the kids for the first time, and then it will be time to get some rest. We have our medical appointments tomorrow, so we need to start round two of prayers. I’m sure this hurdle will go ok. Immediately after our appointments, we hop a plane to Krasnoyarsk, arriving Saturday morning. It will probably be from Krasnoyarsk when we post again. Thanks for all your prayers!

JP

(p.s. Got to listen to one of my favorite Christmas songs, “Oh Holy Night” in the van driving from the Moscow Airport to our hotel. I guess no time is bad time for Christmas songs here in Russia…)

Miracles Still Happen!

I've heard some ask why miracles never happen anymore. Well, I'm here to tell you that they still do. I've seen it first hand. It started with a check for $1000 in the mail to start an adoption journey for a child we didn't even know existed. It continued with close friends giving up their vacation so that we could travel to Siberia again. Then another gave up their savings, and countless others sacrificed gifts and hard-earned money. And then, today, another miracle.

Through a set of circumstances orchestrated by God alone, we ended up this afternoon having lunch with a group of absolutely amazing people. We were invited by a couple who had just recently adopted a little boy from Russia to spend the afternoon with their family and friends. 6 different families and nearly 20 kids. Some of the warmest and most inviting people I have met. Just their company alone was enough to lift the stress of the culmination of the adoption and just life in general right now. They offered encouragement and support. They brought humor. They shared their special new boy with us. They made us feel welcome. It was a day we will never forget.

And if that wasn't enough, they all came together and agreed to give us the remaining money that we needed to complete the adoption. I can't believe I'm writing this, but our fundraising is finished! God has provided virtually the same amount of money for Aleksandr's adoption as he provided for Elijah's adoption, in less than half the time! Don't tell me miracles don't happen. Just as in the days of the early church God used the apostles to perform miracles, God continues today to use ordinary people to do miracles. I've experienced them first-hand. And to that I say, "Praise God!"

One more hurdle down...

Another Huge Yard Sale Success!

Well, it was another busy week in preparation and a crazy weekend of selling, but everyone survived, and we are pleased to announce that the Lord has provided another huge blessing. We raised $1362! God never ceases to amaze at his continued provision for Aleksandr. The 4 boys were huge helpers, and a big thank you to all our family and friends who lovingly donated to help Aleksandr. We also received another $2000 in donations, making one more HUGE step closer to having the adoption fully funded! Just a little over $3400 to go! Below you'll find a short bee's-eye view of our yard sale.

On another note, we are still one document short with only 2 1/2 weeks until we are scheduled to leave. The short version of the story is the State of California is refusing to alter the wording on one of their documents to satisfy the Krasnoyarsk Court. They are giving us 2 different documents with slight variations, but we are unsure if either of them are going to work. We will hopefully receive confirmation early this week as to the nature of these documents and whether or not they are going to work. If we can't get the documents in time, we will lose our court date and have to postpone. This will cause a number of our other documents to expire and have to be redone at substantial cost and delay. Oh yeah, and a little boy will have to spend more time in the orphanage without a family. We have exhausted our options and are nearly out of time. We have not purchased visas or plane tickets, nor finalized arrangements for our 4 boys while we are away for a month. Please keep us in your prayers over the next couple of days, and I will update as soon as I have more news. Thanks for your continued interest and support of Aleksandr during this time!

JP

COURT DATE APRIL 12TH!

WE HAVE A COURT DATE!

We are happy to announce that we have officially received our court date to finalize Aleksandr's adoption.

APRIL 12th!

This means that sometime in the first week of April we will be leaving for Russia, and most likely returning at the beginning of May. This gives us about 6 weeks or so to get fully prepped to go. We are still about $8000 short (every time we have taken a few steps forward, extra fees for extra documents keep pushing the number higher). But we are confident that God is going to supply everything we need. He has brought us this far.

We greeted this news with mixed feelings. While we are excited and relieved that we finally have a court date, it is much later than we were expecting. We know that God has an ultimate plan for the extra time, and we will always trust in that first. But we also know that every extra day that Aleksandr spends in the orphanage is setting him further back and making his transition to our family that much more difficult.

We are going to take advantage of the extra time and have one more yard sale. We raised nearly $1800 last yard sale, and we have had so many people contact us asking us if we were having another sale that we decided we would do one more. We pray that it is a success.

Please keep Aleksandr in your prayers during this time. That the Lord would protect his heart from more damage. That the Lord would provide the remaining funds needed to complete his adoption. That the Lord would prepare our 4 boys who will be staying home (especially Elijah) for the month without mom and dad.

Keep checking back as the number until our goal keeps going down!

JP

Frequent Railer Miles

I'm going to start this post the same way I start every post these days. Sorry it has been so long since the last post.

Ok. We got that out of the way. Here's the update. Securing all the documents has proven to be a much more daunting task than with Elijah's adoption. The boys health insurance company refused to give us a letter that we need for court stating that Aleksandr was going to be eligible for health coverage and stating what those benefits would entail. Bureaucracy to the max! Nobody wants to sign their name to anything. So we had to redo about 8 documents to find another route for giving the court what they need for proof of health insurance coverage. In the process, I had to secure two more deeds to the house (California's deeds are different than most of the country). We were able to get all this done in a week, and yesterday I hopped the train to L.A. to get the documents apostilled and sent off.

On my way back home on the train, feeling rather satisfied that all the documents were finished, I got a phone call from Sara informing me that the letter we had requested from the insurance company showed up in the mail. State Senator Mark Wyland's office came through and with their influence to back us up, insurance gave us what we needed. (What an answer to prayer!) Only one problem. We had redone all these other documents thinking that we were not going to get the insurance letter. So guess where I am headed tomorrow. I'm getting used this train travel. Back to L.A. for hopefully the last time (No. Seriously. This is going to be the last time. I'm not kidding...)

But maybe through all this God has a bigger plan. Here's what happened last train trip. I missed my train heading back home, so I had to wait an extra hour. While I was waiting I met a man, Jerome, who asked me for money for train fare to get back to Riverside. I told him I would help him with the ticket, and so we walked to the kiosk. When he reached the kiosk, he informed me that he had lied about the ticket, and that he was homeless and an addict, and didn’t really need a ticket. I told him I couldn’t give him money, but I could buy him some food. As we headed to get a sandwich, he told he that he had recently committed his life to Christ, but that he was still struggling with the addiction. I told him that it was only through God’s strength that he could overcome his addictions. He got his sandwich, we prayed, and I left to catch my train. On the walk to the train, I thought about Jerome. The struggles with drug addiction are so much greater than any of my struggles. If I could tell Jerome that God’s grace and strength were enough to get him through his addictions, how much more should I believe the same about my struggles?

So I get ready for another trip to L.A.. Maybe God has more people I need to pray with next to the Subway sandwich shop in Union Station. Or maybe He just wants me to get a little more exercise jogging the 1 1/2 miles each way from the train station to the Secretary of State's office. Either way, may I continue to praise him through all the ups and down, whether this is the last train ride or not...

JP

Through God’s grace shown in the donations of his people, we are now under $8000 away from being able to complete the adoption. This means that at this point we will have enough to travel, but we still need the rest to cover the $11,000 foreign fee. God has been so gracious to provide thus far, and I know he will see it through to completion. If we get these last documents to Russia by Monday, it's possible that we could be notified of a court date in the next couple of weeks. This will probably mean a mid-March court date, and travel towards the beginning of March. This is definitely not set in stone, but it will give you an idea of where we are with the process. Please continue to pray that God will provide a quick exit for Aleksandr from the orphanage and into his new home. Thanks!

Not About the Art, But About the Artist

This is for the few remaining blog-checkers that have stuck with us even though we have been notoriously bad this time around with our updates. Here's where we stand. We just finished notarizing medical reports for the boys, will notarize our personal medicals next week, are waiting on a letter from the health insurance company and a letter from our homestudy agency that should be finished on Monday. Then we should be finished with our documents and ready to get a court date. Hopefully near the end of February. We are about $11,000 short still, but we know God is going to provide the rest. He has made it clear in so many ways that Aleksandr is supposed to be home with us. That's not going to change now.

I have to be honest. I thought that there were barriers to the completion of Elijah's adoption, but the difficulty this time around is definitely living up to what I expected. Last time it was the money that occupied most of my fears. For some reason, that's not the case this time. Maybe it's because I've witnessed God do that particular miracle once before, and I just know he can do it again. But life is different this time. One word-Chaos. Most of our life is in some state of flux or uncertainty. Why we even thought we could add this to our "plate" is absurd. But then again, is it "my" plate to begin with? A few years ago I had a chat with God. He told me a story about a little boy named Mikhail who needed my help. And that in order to help him I was going to have to put aside me and allow my heart to be broken. Forget my "plans" and supposed priorities. This is the task the Maker had for me. I thought my task was finished when Elijah came home. But God had other plans. He wasn't finished with me yet. There was another boy. Much like the first, but different. His brown eyes a testimony to his uniqueness. A one-of-a-kind creation that the Potter molded like clay and stepped back to look upon with a smile, well pleased with his creation. And this little boy needs me. It is I who must speak up on his behalf. It is I who must fight for him. It is I who must ruffle some feathers to see that he is not forgotten. It is I who must endure the extra stress, extra work, extra responsibility. And if I cared only about what was best for me, I would probably say "forget it". "I've got too much on my plate as it is." But then again I'm reminded. It's not about ME. It never has been. I'm simply doing what the Creator has made me to do. "Love Him with all my heart and love my neighbor as I would love myself." Even if that's at the expense of my comfort. And as I now believe, especially at the expense of my comfort. Because like Aleksandr, I too am a wonderful creation hand-crafted by the great Potter himself. And it's never been about the art, but about the artist.

JP

Elijah celebrated his 5th Birthday!

Merry Christmas!

I love this time of the year because it reminds me of the two greatest adoption stories ever told. One of those is the story of Joseph. It’s amazing to me to think of the courage and faith that Joseph showed when he took the place of Jesus’ earthly father to care for him as his own. He knew that decision could cost him everything, even his life, and yet his faith never wavered. There is one of my favorite Christmas songs in which Joseph is talking to Jesus shortly after he is born and says “Why couldn’t God have chosen another man? How can I lead this family when I don’t understand? How can I take the place of your Dad when I can not explain even how you came to be, my sweet Jesus, my baby boy?” I can’t imagine how confusing this must have all been for him. Yet through all of the obstacles he faced he pressed on praying faithfully for God to provide. He spoke up for Mary and Jesus when they didn’t have a voice, and above all else, no matter the cost, he obeyed God when He called him to take on the enormous task of being Jesus’ dad.

It’s hard to top that story, but there is another that is truly the greatest adoption story ever told. It’s the story of when God sent Jesus to this earth to be born in a humble stable, to be crucified, and to be resurrected again so that when we believe in His holy name, God would adopt US into His Eternal family where we would be heirs to His throne. God knew that sin would enter this world and people would feel alone and without hope. He also knew that there would be orphans, diseases, and death in this world. But he gave us the greatest gift of all when he sent us hope through His son Jesus. What an amazing adoption story he has given us all.

This Christmas is a little bittersweet for us this year. On one hand we have been so blessed this past year with the start of a new adoption process for Elijah’s biological brother Alexander. We have been blown away by the support of all of our friends and family and God’s provision of all our adoption needs. We were also able to travel to Russia to visit Alexander in November, which was nothing short of amazing. We rejoice in the fact that our family is growing and that everyone has remained healthy. We praise the Lord everyday for the growth opportunities our whole family has experienced through these adoption processes. We are also so happy to say that Elijah has now been home with us now longer than he was at the orphanage and that he is doing very well in his “forever family”. On the other hand our hearts do break this Christmas because Alexander has taken Elijah’s place in the orphanage, and we miss him terribly and hope he can come home to his “forever family” soon. There is a song from the Third Day Christmas album called “Merry Christmas”. Below is the chorus of the song that rings so true in our hearts this Christmas.

It’s Christmas time again but you’re not home

Your family is here and yet you’re somewhere else alone

So tonight I pray that God will come and hold you in His arms

And tell you from my heart

I wish you Merry Christmas

Please continue to pray that God would continue to provide for our family as we are still about $17,000 dollars short of what we need to finish our adoption process. Thank you again for all of your support both financially and through your prayers. We are so blessed by you! I pray that God will bless your family in the upcoming year as He has done with our family, and may He receive all the glory and honor in whatever you do.

SP