Graduation and a Trip to Eastern Europe

Tonight we gathered with forty sets of parents to do a run through of graduation.  Forty great teens are walking across the stage this week to accept the diploma from their parents. 

Once upon a time Tom was this little guy with an AMAZING smile.  It lit up a room.

It still does, except now he's an amazing man.

He just may be a little bit of a class clown.  He's a big goof and we are so proud (sniff).

In just a few days my husband and I will be on stage handing our son a diploma.  He made it...just wow. 

Time seems so short though.  Only days until our oldest child graduates high school.  Only seven days until my brother moves back into our house and we fly to Eastern Europe.

Our court date was confirmed, May 24th, 2013.  We ask that you cover these days, this journey, Ben, and the rest of our family (especially the children) in prayers.  Please pray for protection, peace, no hiccups, and blessing.  There is an amazing woman in Eastern Europe helping us during this journey as well (our facilitator).  Please keep her, the judge, head of the institution, and all involved in your prayers as well.

Here is what everything looks like.
My brother moves in and we fly out on the morning of May 21st. 
We arrive in Eastern Europe May 22nd.
We stay in the capital overnight and leave by car for the village in the morning (May 23rd).  Driving is the only way we can see Benjamin that day.  The train leaves to late to do so.
May 24th is court.  Yes, I am nervous, though not worried.
With a positive result from court, we have a ten day mandatory wait (required in this country).  After the wait, the paper chase starts and at some point shortly after, we take custody of our sweet Ben. 

My husband will leave to come home on June 5th.  My brother will replace him.  There is no telling how long my brother and I will be there.  This part of the journey can take as little as one week or as many as three.  We are praying for one.

That's it friends.  The thought of leaving our children is not easy.  The thought of  not knowing when I'm coming back, even harder.  BUT....we will leave the 99 (ok, eight...smile) to find the one. We long to have Benjamin in our arms again. 

I always said this was something I wouldn't do (two trips, not knowing when I will return).  It's so cool the journeys we end up on when we follow God.  He is SO good and SO patient.

Thank you for carrying us in prayer.  It's what God uses to keep me going some days...that and the thought of our family AT LAST being together.

~~~~~~~~~~

(Side note: I'm hoping this makes sense in the morning and I don't find a million bloopers...soooo tired!)

Almost There...Prayers

Tomorrow we should be getting confirmation of our court date. 

We have had some...hard stuff...as we start gearing up to return to Eastern Europe. 

There is a last ditch effort to hit us...stop us...before we return. 

Adoption is a spiritual battle.  The adoptive parents in my life, all of them, would readily admit this.  When you can let yourself be "separate" and look at everything from the outside, it's wild to see just how obvious it all is.  There is warfare over these children...the orphans, to keep them that way.   Something (adoption) that so echoes of God...of His plan...of redemption....

Please pray that God's Hand covers this process, protecting all aspects (nothing can penetrate)...  protecting each individual involved, each individual paper, each process.  That our court date is confirmed and there is not a hiccup from that point on.

Please pray protection over our children and family, emotionally, spiritually, and physically.

Please pray God prepares Ben's heart, calms his spirit, and helps him to bond in a way that can't be explained by the world.

Please pray God's will be done.

Thank you....

Random

Random is where my brain exists....

*Went to the first grocery store to order an inexpensive graduation cake.  Sams card expired, shoot.  Drove to another local store and looked at the decorations...flower homicide...bleeding everywhere.  Walked out...
Next grocery store, beautiful...all these choices.  They even advertised it as personalizing your cake.  What do you want Tom? Oh...ok.   We would like yellow cake.  You don't have it....ok, marble (it's on the picture of choices).  Oh...you only have white and chocolate.  None of the other six choices?  Ok, can we get top layer chocolate and the bottom layer white?  No, you don't do that.  Ok, white cake then.  He would like lemon, one of the five choices for filling.  No, you don't have lemon.  Ok, no filling.  Can I see the decorations?  Broken, all you have is these smaller cheaper looking ones.  Oh, ummmm....

I still haven't ordered a cake. 

*So relieved we found a used second car seat today...through a friend of a friend whose mom just happened to be trying to sell one.  We couldn't find ANY used.  It found us.  Thank you Jodi and Bethany!  The seat is like a brick...awesome.  If the kids didn't sit in it we think we could use it as a weapon.  Kids acting crazy, no problem!

*Came out of my mouth today, "Shoot, we don't have any Puppy Paws."  Paint....it's paint....

*In my eclectic music taste, I totally loved Tom playing me, "Love Me" by Collin Raye today.  Love his CD "Extremes".   Singing with my son while driving down the road...priceless.  (Yup, his guitar is out much of the time)

*Speaking of car (head on dashboard) I blew the woofer again.  I guess the rare times I'm alone in the car was not rare enough...sigh.  I'm sorry Mr. Mac...we'll have to part for awhile.  (Thinking foundation of the house trumps woofer in the van when the funds someday present)

*Bought Tom's graduation present today and felt guilty.  It's weird.  We set aside money from paycheck, commit (after four years in adoption processes and him willingly sacrificing) to only spend it for Tom's graduation present...and feel guilty.  Arrgggg!

*Finally started taking antibiotics, ya...never fully recovered.  Starting to feel better....

*Praying I feel rested before we leave for Eastern Europe again.  What is the likelihood?

*This daughter...

Cracks me up...I found this picture on my phone today.

The random misfiring thoughts are now turning to sleep and shutting down.   Goodnight sweet friends...

May the randomness be with you....(forget the force, this is much more fun)....

Humbled

Today I had planned on posting a video.  A video where you could hear Ben's laugh...where you could see him walk.  Yet we made a hard decision.  Since court is still a couple of weeks away, we made the decision to publish the video at the point of passing court. (Please pray everything goes amazingly smooth.)

This government has been nothing but kind to us.  We have felt very blessed.  Though we don't know of laws saying we can't do this, we still don't publish Benjamin's cultural name on our blog (or even his nickname). We want to be very respectful.  They deserve it.  It is a privilege to adopt Benjamin.

This country is just beautiful and we are forever thankful to them.

You may wonder at the word, "Humbled". 

God's provisions just humble us.   Last night we picked up a twin size bed that was EXACTLY what we needed for Benjamin.  We awoke this morning and found we already needed to say "thank you", as one of the two car seats we need have been provided by a really sweet person. 

It's getting hard to respond immediately to the generosity, NOT because of a lack of thankfulness.  It took me awhile to place my finger on it. 

I feel humbled...blown away...a feeling of reverence for what God continues to do.

Thank you friends for allowing God to work through you and bless our family. 

Thank you Heavenly Father, we do not deserve this and are forever grateful for your gifts to us.

"About Benjamin He said:

'Let the beloved of the Lord rest secure in Him,
 for He shields him all day long,
and the one the Lord loves rests between His shoulders.' ”

Deuteronomy 33:12

Prayer Requests

*Please pray that God sustains Benjamin.  Please pray that He continues to prepare his heart while we are apart and Ben dreams of us...knowing us...in ways that wouldn't make sense to the world.  Please pray he attaches and learns to love (and learns what family is) quicker than we can fathom.  Please also pray that God calms him.  This will be scary for him and we pray that God calms his spirit.

*PLEASE pray that satan's hands are tied.  He does not want us (or anyone) to enter that village. 

*Please pray that the village gates are “figuratively” thrown down and God’s love floods the streets.

*Please pray our children at home are safe...physically/emotionally/and spiritually.  Attacks on the kids happened last time we were gone on the trip to bring Jael home.  PLEASE cover them.  Also, please pray for safety specifically for our oldest (Tom) as he will be on a senior trip for a week part of our second trip to Eastern Europe. 

*Please also pray as our children at home try to stay organized in our absence, that things go smoothly for them and time passes quickly.
 

*Please pray for my husband and I, for our SAFETY and that we remain WELL.  We are going somewhere VERY rural with no one that speaks English most of the time.  

*Please pray for my mom, brother, and friends as they care for our children (safety, smoothness, etc.)

*NEW~ Please pray that the next trip is as short as possible, while successfully completing Benjamin's adoption.  Please pray that the trips have a speed that can only be explained as a blessing of God. 

*Please pray that our trip home with Ben is peaceful and uneventful.  Please pray that calm (beyond understanding) reigns for our sweet Benjamin and that we see what we need to do to help him.

*That ALL paperwork needed is sped (by God's Will) in country (with NO hiccups).

*Please pray that court goes EXTREMELY easy and quick.  It doesn't always.

*Please pray for comfort as we continue to mourn Jonathan.
 

*Please pray for us to have a connection with the head of the institution. God has given us a love for the head of the institution and the caregivers.  Also, please pray for our connection to those in the village.

*NEW~ Please pray that the head of this institution shows us where Benjamin has resided these last two years...and around the institution and laying rooms.  Our intent IS just to see, and we pray she understands that.

 *Please pray the trip  itself is smooth.  There are NO issues.  That every blip, every hiccup...is ironed out before us.

*Please pray that our lines of communication with our children are successful (Skype, Magic Jack, international texting).  We will be in a very rural region.

*PLEASE PRAY GOD'S WILL IS DONE*

The "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Vent ~ Is it Wrong?

Ok, so I'm wondering if it's wrong to pray for two car seats?  I'm racking my brain on a way to afford two new car seats.  Ok, they don't have to be new...we'd HAPPY DANCE if we found a used ones.  They are just so specific (Diono Radian R100 Convertible Car Seat) and crazy expensive.  Other things are falling into place, but the car seats...not so much. 

You have to understand, we LOVE yard sales, any sales, Craigslist and the like....

My kids think it's hilarious when I did a search and found a 50% off coupon for Tom's graduation announcements.  It was actually cheaper than making them.

That's me....

So paying full price is hard...even more so when we just can't afford it right now.  I can't find them anywhere used, only new.  These car seats are the only ones narrow enough to fit side by side in the back of our van to preserve all the seating we need..  Did I mention they are CRAZY expensive?!  I don't think we've ever spent $259  a piece on ANY car seat!  That's the Wal-Mart price too!!! Craziness!

Is wrong to pray for a teaching co-op that will work with us and that we can afford?  We are so limited in what we will be able to do (service hours, being there all day, finances) that we are having a difficult time finding somewhere for our daughter (who is graduating next year).  She needs to take Calculus and Physics....and just hearing those class names makes my jaw drop and say, "You want what for how many cookies?"

Ok, so I'm wondering if it's wrong to pray for registration for college to be easy or the teens transcripts to come together quickly?  Or that....

So you can see where I'm going?  The above are becoming a little overwhelming.  My list, almost daily gets a little bigger.  We leave (possibly) two weeks from today for Eastern Europe....no, not for Eastern Europe...for Benjamin (happy sigh).  Our oldest graduates in 9 days.

Today I can feel my blood pressure rising.  I'm grumpy and snappy and being completely ridiculous.

So, I pray....and pray...and pray....'cause God is the only one that can straighten my crazy brain out today (smile and chuckling).