Hardest Day Yet...

Dear Family and Friends,

We continue to be very grateful for your prayers and encouraging messages.  It seems there is a large supply of obstacles that just keep extending this process.  My constant prayer has been that the Lord will sustain Kim and give her wisdom (Proverbs 9:10; James 1:5) and the ability to stand firm (Ephesians 6:10-12) and take all thoughts, fears and anxieties to the Lord. (Philippians 4:4-9; 2 Corinthians 10:3-5).

After the wonderful news of receiving the passports and getting the addendums submitted on Tuesday, we again have learned of other barriers to overcome in this final phase of the process.  Kim and the kids took an overnight train to Kiev.  In one sense she said it was easier to sleep because this train went slower and so the train wasn't rocking so much.  However, it took 14 hours and was the most amazing "oven" you can imagine.  Each time the train stopped the temperature shot up.  There was no mechanism to really control the heat.  There was no way to open a window or vent.  She said it was easily 100 degrees and the only "relief" was when the train was moving.  They left at 7pm and arrived in Kiev after 9am....  "A driver met us, Nik. Nice guy, speaks english. He took us to get photos done of the kids and then to the medical clinic. That's when the bomb hit. Broden's the first one to be adopted with this virus, so no one really knows what to do. Turns out they did not give me all the medical documents in Belgorod. I need things by the specialist who oversaw his case. He has never been vaccinated for rubella and did not get one yet maybe because of the virus. Kaitlyn needed another one. I had them both get a blood test. He again tested + and her - .   I could not get into the embassy so I have to go at 8:30am tomorrow. The embassy is saying (by phone) they hope it will all be ready in 2 weeks. UGH!  The hard thing is that the kids don't know what he has so they don't understand the seriousness and the delay. Also, they see Justin about to leave. I hit my max today and am exhausted and discouraged. I hope tomorrow is somehow better."

I spoke with Kim after receiving this email.  They had eventually arrived at the Carter's home and the kids were already sleeping.  She's tired and fighting sickness, so we didn't talk long. I asked whether others are working on these other medical documents.  She assured me that they are trying to contact the doctor in Belgorod for her to get what is needed.  Also, the children don't know the details of HIV, because it is culturally and universally common in UA for a doctor to not tell a patient about a serious disease, but to tell their family members, which they didn't have at the time.  We do know they've been told he has a virus and that's why he has medicine, but nothing has been explained to them beyond that.  Please pray for wisdom as we face these delays and as Kim is dealing with them that she'll know what to share at this point with the kids.

On an encouraging note, I was able to contact the National Visa Center.  Turns out they are almost like a way station or conduit for moving these approvals along, at least for adoptions.   I was told that our approval had been moved on by email to the adoption unit at the Kiev embassy.  I then wrote to the embassy and they replied that  they had received it.  I am waiting now to hear from Kim what the embassy told her and whether this email approval has satisfied their concerns about the home study and I-600A documents.  

Well, I wish I had more news, but that will be coming today.  I would ask you to continue to pray for Kim and that these barriers will be overcome swiftly.  Praise the Lord with us that she has a comfortable and affordable place to stay in Kiev.  Pray the Lord will give her strength, health and perseverance.  Pray for endurance according to James 1, where it speaks of having your faith tested, which will produce endurance.  Please pray too that we will not crave so strongly "good news" at the expense of doing the Lord's will and seeing what He wants us to see.