Prayer Requests

We had some sweet friends from church come over last night to pray with us before we leave for Russia. We spent a while in prayer praying for the specifics of the trip, that the words that we speak while we are gone will be honoring to Him, etc. We are so so blessed to have such amazing people in our lives. We made a list of specific prayer requests so I thought I would pass them on…

• That our visas will arrive in time!
• That everything with our travel goes smoothly – flights on time, baggage not lost, no problems in customs, that our facilitator/translator/driver/etc. will all be on time and easy to find, etc. (I’m a control freak so having to let go of ALL control and depend on others for EVERYTHING is very nerve-wracking!)
• We will have an interview at the Department of Education on Wednesday morning where they will ask us questions about our home study, ask us why we are adopting from Russia, why we are not adopting from the US, etc. We were told by our worker that they do not like to hear “God led us to adopt from Russia” but that they like to hear things such as “We respect the Russian culture”, etc. I feel very uncomfortable not being myself and having to screen my own answers but a family that recently got back from Volgograd with their son said that they had NO problems, were completely honest about the Lord leading them to adopt, etc. and they have their son! I feel so much better knowing that I can be myself!! In our prayer time last night we prayed that God will be glorified in all of our answers and in this whole experience.
• Wednesday, Thursday and Friday we will visit with our son!!! We are just praying that this will be a sweet time that we will never forget. That he will feel our love and know that he is wanted, that he will begin the bonding process with us, that we will be able to talk with his caregivers and get many of our questions answered…we are bringing note cards and are hoping that we will be able to get his caregivers to write him little notes. I feel like this could be so special to him one day.
• That our return travels will go smoothly.
• That we will feel God’s peace that surpasses our understanding as we leave Volgograd Saturday morning…
• And that God will continue to care for our sweet little boy in ways that only He can. We pray that he is getting the proper nutrition, that he is being held, given the opportunity to move around, that he is being talked to, that his caregivers are making eye contact with him and loving on him…I know that God created this little boy and has been holding him in the palm of His hand. He won’t stop now…but this mommy’s heart is already aching with the thought of leaving him at the end of our time in Volgograd.

Those are our specific prayer requests for now. Thank you all in advance for your prayers!! We really feel like we are not alone on this journey…you all are traveling it right along with us!