A Very Big Week!

This was a big week for the boys.  Clarion’s mom and dad arrived this week for a visit to meet their newest grandchildren.  The boys had a great time getting to know them. The boys have done so well meeting relatives.  They have attached to their mama and papa very well and seem to know the difference between us and other family members.  Temper tantrums are less and less every day.  Usually they’ll only take place if one of the boys is very tired.  Overall the boys are progressing nicely.  Slav had a 24-hour stomach bug in the middle of the week and his temperature got up to about 104 degrees.  The next day he had a light fever, but he was much better.  The day after that he was back to his old self and asking for sausage, one of his favorite things to eat.

The boys were baptized at church this morning.  This was the other big event of the week.  Today is Reformation Sunday, a day when Lutherans rejoice in God’s free grace in Christ Jesus.  It was great to see God working that grace in Slav & Sergei’s lives through the water and Word of Holy Baptism!  Clarion’s brother drove over from Tennessee and Joel’s mom flew up from Texas.  It was nice to have so many family members here as the boys were received into the family of God.  The boys were very well behaved.  We talked with them quite a bit about Baptism the last few days so they sort of new what was going to take place.  Below are pictures from the last week or so, including the baptism.

God’s blessings to you all!

Love,

 Joel, Clarion, Slav & Sergei  

Coming up to 1 month...

Wow, it has been awhile since we have done a blog post. Well, needless to say we have been very busy keeping up with two active little boys. Wonderful boys...but tiresome nonetheless.

What growth we have seen this month! Our little ones are so loving. There are lots of hugs and kisses (especially for Mama...too bad Papa had to go back to work) They both crave love and attention and we are trying to be patient with their demanding ways. Slava is counting to ten, knows his colors, and various shapes. Sergei is trying to master his colors, does pretty well with shapes, and loves practicing counting. They both just adore their cousins that live up the hill. Every day they want to see them. Slava told me he loves August and every day he says " August school?" Which means "Is August in school?' Now, Slava says "Mom, hachoo school" meaning I want to go to school. Sergei is definitely calming down and responding to discipline. It's difficult to discipline him because he wants to touch and see everything and doesn't really understand why he gets in trouble so much. So, we try to set boundaries without destroying bonds.

We are finally getting into a routine and things are beginning to calm down. Clarion's parents will be flying in on the 20th to meet the boys. They are staying a whole week and the boys are being baptized on the 26th of October. It's amazing that soon we will be heading into November. Time does fly.

So, things are going well from our end. Busy, but certainly good. Our prayers are with all those who are in the adoption process. It is amazing to see God bring families together. We certainly praise Him for ours. Here are some more pictures from this month for your enjoyment.

Blessings,
The Fritsches

First Week at Home

Hi Everybody! We've been home a little over a week now and a lot has been going on. Here is everything from my (Joel's) perspective. Grandma and Grandpa Fritsche (aka Babushka & Dedushka) were here to greet us when we got home and spend a week with us. The boys really enjoyed their time with them. As you can see from the attached pictures, the boys got haircuts right away. They did so well at the barber shop. We'll definitely continue to get their haircuts there. The barber is great with them.

Last Sunday was Slav's birthday. I think we successfully communicated to him in Russian that it was his birthday. He was very excited to learn that he turned 5 that day. Now he counts to five in English all the time. Even Sergei can count to five! We had a nice birthday celebration with ice cream cake and birthday cards and balloons.

We spent a few hours at the St. Louis Zoo on Monday of last week. The boys had fun trying to feed the giraffes and trying to feed popcorn to Mama & Papa. We'll definitely be going back to the zoo, especially since it's less than ten minutes from our house and FREE. We also made an outing to the Mills Mall where the boys got to ride the carousel. They thoroughly enjoyed that as well as a look at the animals and fish at Cabela's.

The boys are behaving fairly well. Sergei gets into trouble when he touches something that he knows he should not. Slav tends to throw very loud screaming fits when he doesn't get his way. We usually have at least two of these per day. When he screams and cries his punishment is having to sit by himself on his bed. He does not like this at all. If he continues screaming (which he tends to do) he gets a spanking on the behind. I have not enjoyed giving the spankings, but I feel they are necessary. Slav knows that he should not be screaming at the top of his lungs continually, but he chooses to continue doing it. Thankfully the fits tend to last no longer than five or ten minutes. Unfortunately right now he is throwing a fit because he refuses to share anything with Sergei. We have explained that many of the toys belong to both boys, but Slav has a very difficult time with this concept. We will continue to work on this. I am really working hard to have Slav listen to me and look at me when I call him, especially when he is in trouble. I have lots to learn as a Papa.

As far as eating goes, Sergei is our little champion eater. He eats almost everything that we give him. He has eaten sausage, various soups, various yogurts, oatmeal, bread, cheese, pizza and numerous other things. Slav on the other hand is a very picky eater. He loves sausage (breakfast sausage and types of dinner sausage). He does not like to try new things. Saturday morning I made waffles and Slav didn't want anything to do with them at first. I snuck a little bit of syrup onto his lip, then he realized that he would like the waffles. Slav absolutely hates eggs. He wouldn't touch them in Russia and he won't here either. Sergei loves them. We think Slav will warm up to typical American foods as time goes by. He ate some chicken fingers at the Vlad Inn at first, but then only wanted fries. He refused to eat McNuggets at McDonalds in Moscow. I made him try a bite, then I could tell that he didn't think it was all bad, but he didn't want to let on that he didn't hate them. He is already warming up to breaded chicken strips, so we hope he'll do the sam with other foods.

All in all, things are going very well. The boys have enjoyed playing with their cousins here in our neighborhood. I think that this will be really good for them, especially since Clarion is spending this first year home schooling them. We were worried that the boys would be afraid of our dogs, but after a week, we are convinced that it is the other way around. The boys tend to treat the dogs well, but the dogs definitely fear them.

Our prayers go out to everyone in the Houston area, especially many of our loved ones who are still without power, including Mom and Dad who returned home Friday. Thanks for continuing to pray for us and our family. We appreciate all of you love and support! We'll write again soon.

Love,

Joel, Clarion, Slav & Sergei

More Pictures from Russia

As promised, here are some more pictures from our stay in Russia. Things are going very well. I'll post another update in the next few days along with some pictures since we've been home. Blessings!

Joel, Clarion, Slav & Sergei

Back Home Safe and Sound

Greetings everyone! Sorry for the lack of posts the last few days. In Moscow at the Holiday Inn the internet is expensive, so we didn't purchase any internet cards. At McDonalds you can get thirty minutes of free WIFI, but by the time Drew Payne and I were done sending e-mails, we ran out of minutes so I couldn't do a post. Anyway, below is what I intended to post from Moscow...

Greetings from Moscow everyone! We made it safely! We were sad to say goodbye to friends in Vlad yesterday, but were eager to move on to the next leg of our journey--Moscow. However, we were not looking forward to the long 9-hour flight from Vlad to Moscow. We left the Vlad Inn at 11AM on Tuesday morning to head to the airport. On the way we picked up Lana so that she could se us off at the airport. Timing worked out very nicely. Lana helped us get checked in, then she bid us farewell. We made our way through security to the gate and only had to wait a couple of minutes before they started boarding our flight.

The boys were very excited to get on the airplane. Clarion and the boys had the three middle seats and I sat across the aisle from them. It worked out ok. Poor Clarion had the blunt of taking care of both boys. I helped as much as I could. We gave Sergei a small dose of Benadryl when we got on the plane. Slav is pretty smart and wouldn't go for our trickery. He wouldn't take the Benadryl. The Benadryl made Sergei very tired, but unfortunately he had a very hard time getting comfortable which made it very hard for him to actually sleep. He did manage to sleep a little bit, but definitely not enough. We both took turns walking him up and down the aisles of the plane. We learned that he gets very scared when you flush the toilet in the lavatory on the plane. Sergei was a little cranky the first few hours since he was uncomfortable and couldn't sleep, but actually did quite well for the rest of the flight. Overall, I'd say Sergei did very well on his first plane ride.

Slav was great on the plane. There were only a few moments of frustration. Aeroflot Airlines gives a little kids pack to the children on the flight. In Slav's kid's pack was a puzzle of an airplane. He insisted on working on it right after takeoff, before he could put his tray table down. Well, it made for interesting puzzle work. He was tired and cranky as he worked on the puzzle, but he and Clarion finally finished it. After handing the puzzle over to me, I accidentally spilled all of the pieces. So now we are several puzzle pieces short. Anyway, Slav made a couple of friends during the flight, a guy probably in his twenties and an old man. Slav talked to them for at least an hour, maybe more. It was cute. They kept smiling at Clarion and me as they talked to him. You could tell they thought Slav was a great kid. We had two meals on the flight. Both boys ate very well. All in all, none of us got much sleep on the flight. We were all thrilled when the plane touched down in Moscow. We were taken by surprise to find it quite chilly and rainy in Moscow. Clarion and I were both in shorts, the boys in pants and short sleeved shirts. Thankfully we had their jackets along.

Once we got to baggage claim, there was an excruciatingly long wait for luggage. The conveyer did not even start running until about 45 minutes (seriously!) after we got there. It's the longest I've ever waited for bags at an airport. What really stunk was that both boys had to use the bathroom, but the toilets were on the other side of security. After waiting for about 10 or 15 minutes we finally decided that Clarion and the boys should exit and hit the toilets and look for Mia, our CHI interpreter. I waited for the bags for another half hour. Finally the bags came. Grabbing your bags from the carousel at Russian airports is always an interesting experience. Everyone crowds in and just kind of shoves people out of the way when their bags come. As soon as I had the bags I made may way out and was met by Mia. She took me to the car where Clarion and the boys were waiting. We had about a 1 1/2 hour drive to the hotel with Moscow traffic. Slav dosed in the car for a bit. Unfortunately when we arrived at the hotel the boys were wired. The other bummer of a thing is that embassy paperwork needed to be filled out right away (which I expected) so that it could be submitted early the next day. So, Clarion and the boys hung out in one of our rooms and Mia and I worked on paperwork in our other room next door. Mia informed me that CHI would submit our paperwork for us on Wednesday and we would have a free day in Moscow. However, CHI is very busy with numerous families in town this week, so we would be unable to get a driver from CHI. After Mia left with the paperwork, Slav and I crashed in one room and Clarion and Sergei in the other. Thankfully they brought a little pack 'n play for Sergei to sleep in.

Today (Wednesday) we decided to brave the Moscow Metro subway system and venture out to Red Square. I spent an hour or so this morning planning our route. Thankfully a Metro station is right across the street from our hotel. We were a little nervous, but we made it. The Metro is cheap and fairly easy to figure out, despite the fact that nothing is in English and the attendants really don't speak English. We counted the number of stops until we came to the stop where we needed to get off. When we exited the train and made our way back up to the surface, there was the Cathedral of Christ the Redeemer, staring us in the face. It was really great! We took a few minutes and got our bearings and started toward it. It was definitely a challenge to walk with two little boys in the cold, wet weather, trying to balance a travel guide, digital camera and video camera. I've got to hand it to my family. Clarion did great, often having to carry poor little Sergei, just so we could move a bit faster (and sometimes just to keep hold of him since he sometimes just darts off after a bird or after something else). The boys also did well with three hours of walking in the cold and off-and-on misting rain. Anyway, we did the quickest tour of the area anyone has ever taken. From Christ the Redeemer we walked along the Moscow River toward the Kremlin. We walked along the perimeter of the Kremlin through Alexander Gardens. There were a lot of beautiful flowers. We saw the tomb of the unknown soldier and the Russian guards standing by. We walked from there to Red Square where we finally got our shot in front of St. Basil's Cathedral. It was cold and wt and Slav kept saying, "ustal," which means "tired." So we took a few pictures, even one outside of Lenin's tomb (which was unfortunately closed). We quickly made our way down the rest of our route, past the statue of Karl Marx and then thankfully we spotted another Metro station which would take us back to Sokolniki where out hotel is. It was about a ten minute ride on the metro. We're quite proud of ourselves for venturing out and braving the public transportation in Moscow. I wish we would've had more time. If the weather had been better we might have stayed out longer.







As I said, we're now home safe and sound. We'll give another report soon when we have some time. The boys are still quite wired but Mama and Papa are tired. Thankfully my (Joel) parents are here to lend a hand for a few days. Thanks again to all of your for your prayers throughout our journey. Blessed be the name of the Lord!

Love,

Joel, Clarion, Slav & Sergei

P.S. - More pictures from our trip coming soon!!!

Finally a Family of Four

Greetings again from Vlad. Today was gotcha day and we're all four together at last. It was a long, crazy day with lots of running around and sitting in Vlad traffic. What a day to remember! Pictured from left to right is Mama, Sergei, Slav & Papa. This is a day we've looked forward to for a long time. Thank you to all of you for your many prayers and words of encouragement. We'll try to blog about our adventures as much as possible in the days ahead. We have three more days in Vlad after today, then three days in Moscow and then we'll be on our way home.

Love,

Clarion, Joel, Slav & Sergei

Still Waiting out the Ten Days

We’re still doing well here in Vlad. Boy these ten days can be long, especially when it rains. We’ve had days of rain interspersed between some very beautiful days. We really enjoy going to the beach with other adoptive families and their children. The children play at the playground, throw rocks into the water while the adults visit. Then we usually have a nice meal of shashleek (kabobs) at the café. Great stuff! Things have been kind of crazy at the hotel the past few days because Putin has been in Vladivostok and he is staying near the Vlad Inn. Many of his aids are staying here at the hotel, so we’ve had lots of activity here, even roads up to the hotel closed to car traffic for security reasons. We’ve taken our older son with us twice to visit his little brother at the baby home. We’ll do another visit tomorrow, then pick little brother up on Friday. We leave Vlad on Tuesday, September 9th. We’ll try to post again before that, hopefully with pictures. Blessings!

Joel, Clarion & the boys

Waiting out the Ten Days

Hey Everyone! The internet connection in our room has been crummy, so I'm down by the front desk with a much better signal, but I will keep this short to conserve internet time. We're doing great! We can't wait for the ten days to be up. They should be up on September 4th and we'll have both boys with us at the hotel. Yesterday we were able to have both of them together for a visit at our youngest boy's baby home. We had a blast and got a good taste of what we'll be experiencing when we have both boys with us. Our youngest is full of energy and keeps us running around almost constantly, while the older is a bit more reserved, but still a lot of fun. Yesterday was the first time the boys have seen each other in over a year. They had a joyous reunion and will be together for the long haul very soon. Well, we just wanted to say hello and give a brief report. We'll post again when we can. With the bad signal in our room, we may not post often, but know that we're fine and having a wonderful time here in Vlad. God's blessings to you all!

Joel, Clarion & the boys

We are Officially Parents!

Hello Everyone!  We had court today and have been approved to adopt our two wonderful boys.  It was truly an awesome day.  We will post more as we wait out the ten days, then pictures when the ten days are up.  For now, thank you to so many of you for your prayers!  To God be the glory!

Joel & Clarion

Back with Our Boys

Hey Everybody!  What a day we had today.  First of all, Clarion and I were exhausted last night (Thursday) so we went to bed early.  Naturally, we then woke up at 3AM because we were thinking about the visits with the boys that were ahead of us later in the day.  We left the Vlad Inn at 1:30PM with Lana and our driver.  First we went to see our older son.  After a couple of minutes waiting, they took us up to one of the rooms we where we met with him on the last trip.  There he was with the biggest smile on his face, so happy to see his mama and papa again.  He told Lana that he remembered us and was happy to see us.  Lana also told us that she asked him if he wanted to go home with us and he said yes.  She told him about the long plane rides and everything and he told her he wasn't scared and is ready to go.  He is still a very quiet little boy, but we had a great visit with him.  He loved the book that Clarion made from the first trip.  He really enjoyed paging through it.  The social worker joined us for much of the visit and it was really nice visiting with her.  She is very supportive of the adoption.

Next we drove to our younger son's baby home.  They told us that they would bring him down and that we would spend our time with him outside on the playground.  That's a good thing because he is still a barrel of energy.  He came down the stairs and jumped into his mama's arms with the biggest smile on his face.  Then it was papa's turn for a big hug.  We went outside to play.  This little guy took us around the entire playground.  We chased him back and forth.  He played on the swing and then the slide.  He had a blast with the little toy that Clarion brought along.  The best part is that one of the ladies at the baby home told us that he remembers us and that he continually tells everyone at the baby home that he has a mama and a papa.  That just made our day.  He has definitely grown a bit, but is still a little guy.  We had to say goodbye after about 45 minutes.  The next time we see him should be sometime after court and we will most likely have his brother with us.

Anyway, we had wonderful visits with the boys today. Thanks for your continued prayers.  We'll post again soon!

Blessings!

Joel & Clarion

Back in Vlad

Hello! Just a quick post to let everyone know we are back in Vlad.  We arrived around 11:30AM on Thursday.  It was great to see Irina when we got off the plane and bussed over to the terminal.  There is another family who just arrived as well.  They have court on Monday also.  We are going to see our boys this afternoon.  We are very excited.  We'll post more later.  Thanks again for your prayers!

Joel & Clarion

Moscow!

     Hello everybody.  We have made it to Moscow without incident.  We left Monday morning at 8:45 and flew to Atlanta.  We had a layover and at 3:30 we left for Moscow.  We arrived in Moscow after a 10 hour plane ride where Mia picked us up and we drove another hour and a half to make it to the Holiday Inn Sokolniki.  

     Once our passports were registered we decided food was in order.  So, we took a look around and thought that, for now, since we're tired, McDonalds was our best bet.  So, we had fun trying to decide how to order what we wanted.  The food was great and we couldn't beat the price, especially since we just shelled out 890 roubles for the scratch card to access the internet.

     We're saving the sightseeing until we come back with the boys in three weeks.  That way we can have the signature "Red Square" photo with all four of us in it!

     We leave for Vladivostok tomorrow at 7:10 pm and arrive there on Thursday at 10:30 am.  Once we get settled there we will blog some more.  Here are some pictures.  Enjoy!  Thanks for your continued prayers! 

Love,

Joel and Clarion 

Packed and Ready to Go!

This past week was crazy, but a great week.  We had family from out of town with us for a few days to celebrate our good news.  By Monday afternoon we had our visas ordered and our flight itinerary in the works. The flights were booked by Tuesday.  Our visas arrived Friday.  We've double, even triple-checked all of our documents and we're 99.9% certain that everything is in order.  We finished packing today and might be a couple pounds over the limit, but we'll see. We'll be heading to the airport bright and early tomorrow and we'll be on our way.  Thanks for all of your prayers!  May God bless all of you who are waiting!  We're especially praying for Cindy as we head out.  We're praying that she gets her court date this week and can join us during part of our stay in Vlad.  Our next post should be from Moscow!  After a brief stay there we'll be on our way to Vlad and to see our boys!  We can't wait!

In Christ,

Joel & Clarion

Court Date!!!

We just learned that we are scheduled for court on August 25th.  The Lord is good!  Thank you to all of you for the many prayers you have offered up in our behalf!  We'll post more later.  We have so much to do!

Love,

Joel & Clarion

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LITTLE ONE!!

Our youngest boy turns 3 today. Wow!  We had so hoped to be with him on this birthday but we must comfort ourselves with the thoughts of many birthdays to come.  We know God is watching over him and his brother as we get ready to go to Russia and bring them home.  As usual, we are hopeful the call will come this week.  Please pray that our family will be united soon.  

God's blessings,

Joel and Clarion

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!!!

 

Fun Night!

No court date yet everyone.  However, we have heard that we are just waiting on a document from Moscow that needs to be signed by the mayor of the boys' town.  Once that is done Irina can go to a judge and set a court date.  Let's hope this week or next!!! 

Meanwhile, we had a fantastic time tonight getting together with Eric and Becky (the link to their blog is over on the side) who are waiting to go to Vlad and meet their children.  We hope to all go at the same time.   Thanks for a fun time guys! 

Blessings to all who are waiting to travel on first or second trips or who are still waiting for a referral.  Just know that God's timing is perfect even though it seems endless to us.  You are all in our prayers! 

Joel and Clarion

The waiting continues

Hello, everyone!  Unfortunately, we're still waiting for news of a court date.  A couple of other families from our agency received a court date of July 10.  We rejoice along with them, but can't help but be a bit envious.  At least one those families travelled to Vlad on their first trip after us, but timing is unpredictable in international adoptions.  Things don't always go in order.  We have been very disappointed in the St. Louis staff from our agency because they are never able to explain the delays.  That seems absolutely crazy to us in this world where instant communication is at our fingertips.  Speaking of instant communication, another family in Vlad picking up their newly adopted child has been kind enough to inquire of the Vlad staff about our case and send us e-mail updates.  As far as we know, Russia's government social workers in Vlad are working to finish up our boys' paperwork and we should have good news of a court date very soon, hopefully within a week or two.  Our agency coordinator has told us to hold off on updating documents that are soon to expire, which seems encouraging.  We both agree that this LONG wait has been the most difficult thing we've ever had to deal with.  We have our ups and downs, usually one of us is positive one day and the other of us is a bit down.  So we take turns encouraging one another.  We had hoped to have the whole summer at home with our sons, but the Lord's timing is better than ours.  Thank you for your continued prayers for us and our boys.  We are thankful that, even though we are apart, they are well taken care of by the wonderful caregivers that they have in Russia.  Please also pray for the other families who are waiting for referrals, travel dates and court dates, as well as those who have recently completed court and will soon bring their children home.  Hopefully we'll have more news soon!