Arriving on Saturday!

Dear Family and Friends,

Kim took advantage of the free Vonage line at the Carter's home and an 800 number and called our travel agent (whose office is in Ohio).  His office was open... I was still asleep!  He has arranged flights for them on Saturday and they will arrive to LAX at 8:34PM (Lufthansa through Munich to Charlotte, US Airways to LAX). In Charlotte, NC they will go through customs and become US citizens.  Kim was born in North Carolina, though she doesn't remember it.   

Customs can take 2 hours.   She has 2 1/2 hours to get through customs.  Pray that customs will get them through quickly.  If customs doesn't get them through then they (airline or customs?) are required to put them up in a hotel for free and send them on the next day's flight.  Thank you for all your prayers on behalf of our family and for those who have and will be providing us meals.  It has been a great help to me.

On Thursday morning, the kids and I had a time of prayer and in the word together.  We now call it Table Talk Time, though it was around the couches in the family room.  We looked at 2 Timothy 1:7 - "For God has not given you a spirit of timidity, but of power and of love and of a sound mind."  This verse was suitable to the uncertainty of the moment as we were completely expecting Kim, Kaitlyn and Brody to be there through the holidays.  We prayed together for them and endurance for all and that the Lord would bring them home as  soon as possible.  

Kim was working on a new place for them to stay.  I was working and studying, helping the kids in their studies, as well as, trying to find flights for Tiffany, contacting Congressmen and Senators, and following leads on places for Kim to stay as well.  Tiffany was preparing to leave on the 20th after finals to be with them in Kiev.  Kevin, Jason, Kelly and I were preparing ourselves for the separation during Christmas and we were discussing that.  Of course the Lord had another plan and we are so grateful to Him for showing us in this way that He is our Jehovah-jireh (Our Provider).  Our facilitator in Kiev thought it was an amazing miracle too.  She's never seen it happen.  No one could have orchestrated it in this way and to have the embassy and the DHS and CDC be willing to do it all by email just now  is truly a miracle in our minds (it was a 3 day turnaround!) . 

"I Got It! I Got It!!

These were the words coming through my phone that woke me up at 4am on Friday morning as Kim called me to share with me her news.  She had just received a call from the Adoption Unit at the Kiev Embassy saying that they had received the approval by email and were able to issue the visa!!!

She was arranging a taxi to get over to the embassy.  She was so excited she started listing off how I could contact the travel agent who is helping us so he can try for a flight this weekend.   I had to stop her to remind her that it's 4am and  that we are 10 hours behind and I would have to wait till the poor guy opens his office.  :-)  

I had actually just gotten to sleep at 3am, so that's why I was so groggy.  I had been working late and then decided to not wait, but to issue my own personal request and plead our case to the DHS in Moscow.  I didn't want to delay because the weekend was coming and so I wanted them to get it on their Friday. My email to DHS went out at 2:06 am.   Immediately after I sent this personal request I found that Kim had just written to me.  She wrote that the embassy told her our waiver had been assigned a DHS reviewer and he was reviewing it already!  Less than 2 hours later the embassy called her!  

It turns out that Broden is not necessarily the first child to be adopted with HIV.  Although, you could deduce that sort of scenario based on some of the comments from various Ukrainian and American officials.   But, he is the first to receive a waiver where all communication and action was handled by email!  That is a certainty based on communication from the embassy.  I hope they will do this in the future for others.

Thank you for all your prayers on our behalf.  I had intended an update on Friday with some other details of what was happening and how the Lord had opened up doors: 

~~ Kim had found a place for them to stay with a single missionary who offered for them to stay at her flat, 

~~ the fact that we were working on the details of sending Tiffany on a flight next Saturday, in order to stay with Kim during the holidays and to help her,  and 

~~ little tidbits of activity and interaction that they were going on for Kim, Kaitlyn and Broden.   

But now that doesn't matter and we are all overjoyed to say that as soon as we can arrange their flight through The Golden Rule Travel guy  (after he gets to his office today) they'll be on their way home!!!  

~~~~So, now... I'm going back to bed. I need the rest.  ;-)

Blood Test Received - Waiver Submitted!

Dear Family and Friends,  

I spoke with Kim on Tuesday and inspite of some delays and difficulties with the medical clinic, she did receive the needed test from the clinic.  She was told it wouldn't be ready before 1pm and so at 2pm she arrived and finally received the test from the doctor at 4pm.  So, she dashed over to the embassy, as fast as the traffic would allow the taxi to go, and they had a short interview, the visa was rejected and then the embassy prepared to send the waiver. 

It is now Wednesday morning over there and the waiver should be getting sent out. I would ask you to pray for the waiver to be accepted quickly.  Much quicker than the minimum 2 weeks they estimate.  Kim still has to arrange flights, but she can't do this until she has that waiver approved.  As I stated in the other posts, it is so important that we get them to the US so we can get Broden new medicine before his supply runs out on January 3rd.  The embassy has said they are trying to use both fax and email in communicating with the CDC in Washington and CIS in Moscow for the approvals and hopefully this will speed things up.  

Meanwhile I spent some time on Tuesday preparing forms and communication for our California senators Feinstein and Boxer and our district Congressman Darrell Issa.  Senator Feinstein seems to be potentially the best help as she has a specific form for helping with immigration problems and that form is very detailed as well.  Her office also allows the faxing of all the forms and communication necessary.  Please pray that they will respond and help us by directly having their immigration liaisons request for a speedy waiver on our behalf.  We are doing all we can as we know we are our own best advocates in this situation, since we feel the urgency more than anybody, but there's only so much possible and it's ultimately the Lord's sovereign care that matters.   Pray for Kim too as she is quite tired and drained.  This is a hard waiting period and she can't go outside much since she's fighting a nasty cold.  It's snowing in Kiev now.  Pray Kaitlyn and Broden and Kim will forge a special bond during this time.  Thanks for your prayers for us.

Adjusting to Family and Seeking Contentment in the Lord's Plan and Timing

Dear Family and Friends,

Thank you for your continued prayers for Kim, the kids and the whole family.  This is a trying time, but we know that the Lord is always at work in our lives, so our anxieties are lessened as we take time to seek Him.  This happened for Kim on Saturday, because Lisa Carter (missionary that Kim is staying with) gave Kim that time she needed by taking all the kids out to some self serve car wash near a lake where the kids could help.  Our kids were overjoyed to help and they all received 10 hrivna ($1.50) for doing it!  

Actually it has been very good for Kim and the kids to be there because certain behavioral issues have come up, but because of the Carter's values and rules as a family matching our own, it has helped Kaitlyn and Broden to see how a family should work.  They've had chores to do and there are strict rules about meals, such as eating salads first, eating everything on your plate and the mandatory everyone must try everything.  Kim is finding that Broden has a really big appetite. At one meal "Brody ate a ton! 2 large chicken rizeks (like breaded weinerschnitzel, but chicken), 3 good helpings of potato salad, 2 breads w bologna/salami + cheese. Not long after he had more potato salad!!"    Kaitlyn is beginning to try new things and even some things she previously said she didn't like.  The Carter's 10 year olds (not twins) were adopted in the Ukraine and so this makes for a good mix, since they know Ukrainian and yet are American missionary kids too. "Kaitlyn, Brody and Ethan were all slow in eating so she said the last one done has to do an extra day of dish duty. Boy, did that light a fire under them all. Ethan does not like meat so he tried to speed up but was way behind to start so he lost. It was pretty funny to watch the whole thing.  After the boys did the dishes (into the dw), we went to church and the kids went to kids church. They seemed to have a good time. Broden wants to come back next week. I guess I'm happy about that but I'd like to be home. It would seem that part of God's plan is the family thing and the chance to go to church in their mother tongue. It is worth it if God uses it to plant seeds or bring them to Christ. I feel it is a big sacrifice but I know it is nothing compared to what Christ sacrificed for me."  

Kim went on to share some of the things the Lord is showing her in the midst of this trying time.  I too would echo that the Lord is pruning me during this time.  He's also showing us some of the areas that will be difficult to deal with, but will be necessary to instruct and be firm about, (flippant apologies, impatience, rude comments to each other, swearing, tattling and whining, etc.). As a result of some poor behavior and attitudes, Kim brought Lisa in to translate her straight to the kids.  They seemed to listen to this.  Lisa runs a tight ship at home and it helps Kim a lot to be able to talk fully and straight to them, even though it's being translated.    It has eased her mind to have that option.  We have to get them doing well in English in a hurry.  As we wait on the blood test and the next steps afterwards, it is good to be able to see that this delay is actually helping with their transition and the Lord has orchestrated and revealed some of the things we need to be praying about and dealing with.  

On Monday I spoke with a lawyer from National Immigration Law Center and although she doesn't specialize in these cases, she said that lately the government is trying to process waivers related to HIV in a more speedy fashion than ever before.  So we remain hopeful.  The embassy reiterated to me that they have received word from their contacts at these two agencies that they (the CDC in Washington and USCIS in Moscow) will handle our waiver in the most expeditious way possible.   I am also in contact with various HIV/immigration lawyer centers that have given me help in knowing what to expect related to this waiver and what I can do on this end.  

Please pray that the blood test will be performed on Tuesday (it requires other patient's tests to warrant doing ours and there must be some magic number to make it happen).  This seems to be the biggest holdup right now as the embassy can't move on the waiver until this specialized blood test is performed to establish to the greatest detail that he has HIV.  One encouraging note was that the medical clinic in Kiev told Kim that if he's had it all his life and has done well thus far, then sometimes, but of course no guarantees, it has happened that HIV and its symptoms have just disappeared.  Wouldn't that be nice?  Each time he's been tested this year it has been positive.   Only the Lord who is shown in the Word to be the Great Physician, knows fully and could do that. We are total amateurs in all this, so we've not heard of that before.  We can trust Him.   Please continue to pray that we can get him home and into a doctor for the tests he needs so that new prescriptions can be filled.  He only has medicine until January 3rd and it's the holidays too, so who will see him during the holidays?  We'll take one step at a time I guess.  Thank you for your continued prayers for us.  One other item:  Kim and the kids can only stay with the Carters until 12/17, which is a two week mark that we all originally thought this would be.  Please pray for the Lord to open another situation for her if she must be there longer.