Our new hope....

Our papers are with the judge!!!!  Can you feel the hope of a court date in the air?  Can you? We were told by Marti today that the judge has all of our papers and we would know when our court date was within two weeks.  Hopefully we have a judge that makes decisions quickly and it won't take two weeks.  Get ready boys to join your new family!!  

So, folks, there you have it.  We will be going to Russia very soon.  How soon is up to the judge. We would appreciate comments from any of you who know how long the judge deliberated over your paperwork before giving you a date. 

Thanks again for your thoughts and prayers. Ours continue to be with those who wait.  God's blessings!  

Joel and Clarion 

A New Week Brings New Hope

Dear Family & Friends,

We don't have a court date yet, but a new week always brings new hope.  The Lord's mercies are new every morning.  We try to remember that every day.  It's always true no matter what we are feeling or experiencing.  In Christ, we live each day in the forgiveness that Jesus won for us on the cross and gives to us freely through faith in Him  We live in the blessed hope of eternal life.  That hope is our anchor, and without it we wouldn't have made it this far.  With that sure and certain hope, we are able to move beyond all of our disappointments, especially the days that pass by without any news on the adoption front.  We begin this week with hope in Christ and with confidence that God hears our prayers and will answer according to His good and gracious will.

Thank you for all of your prayers in our behalf!  The Lord hears and will answer in His time.  Please also keep a couple of other adoptive families in your prayers this week: Bill & Myra who are heading home soon from Moscow with their son as well as Eric & Becky who are in Vlad for their first trip to meet their THREE children.  In fact, Eric & Becky will be heading to the MOE in Vlad in just a few hours from now.  We're thrilled for them.  The Lord is good indeed.  Blessed be the name of the Lord!  We're confident you'll hear from us soon with news of a court date!

Love,

Clarion & Joel

Five Months!

Five months! That’s what the ticker hit today. It’s been five months since we said goodbye to our two little guys in Vladivostok at the end of our first trip.  We never thought it would take this long.  Of course, we’ve said that before.  We’re now 27 months into this adoption.  We once thought we’d be done by the end of 2007.  After much prayer, we accepted the reality that it would be early 2008 when we’d finally start our family.

When we received our referral for our two sons in Vlad in October 2007 we were so thrilled.  The end was in sight.  We’ll travel in December, go back in April for court and we’ll have the whole summer to spend with our boys.  Early December came and went without any travel dates.  Then the call came.  “You’ll be spending Christmas in Russia.”  Very cool.  But it didn’t happen.  Travel dates finally came in January and we left January 31 for Vlad, almost four months after receiving our referral.

We went on faith.  We had very little information about our boys. We didn’t know their names.  We didn’t know what they looked like.  We didn’t know what orphanage they were in. We didn’t know any of their medical information.  The one piece of information we had, their ages, wasn’t even completely correct.  So much uncertainty!  So many unknowns!  Yet the Lord was about to show us His hand of blessing.

On Monday, February 4, 2008 we met our sons.  They’re wonderful.  We couldn’t have asked for a better experience meeting them and spending time with them a little bit each day for a week.  The stress of the long wait was completely gone, out of mind.  All that mattered was the boys.  Before we left Vlad on our last day there, our younger son pointed at our pictures that we left him and said, “Mama, Papa.”  Wow!  Amazing! That was five months ago today!

Five months! The Lord’s time isn’t our time.  As the Bible reveals God’s plan of salvation, we certainly learn that.  “In the fullness of time, God sent His Son, born of a women, born under the Law, to redeem those who are under the Law, that we might receive the full rights of sons” (Galatians 4:4).  The Lord is good.  He works all things according to His good purpose.  Despite our ups and downs, despite our focus on ourselves, He keeps giving.  He gives us the Lord Jesus and His cross-won forgiveness each and every day.  Even during these five months of waiting He’s giving the gift of patience.  He fills in what is lacking.  Our boys are in His hands and the whole adoption is in His hands.  Thanks be to God!!!