The paperwork is headed to Russia!

It has been a while since my last post--there has not been much adoption news to tell, but here's what's happened over the last few months.

At the beginning of June, we were working feverishly to get all of our paperwork completed, notarized, and ready to go to our agency and on to Russia for translation. Then, on June 19th we got a message from our agency saying not to rush....the Russian Ministry of Education decided to take a vacation for the summer and would not be accepting any new applications for adoption until September.

So we went ahead and got the paperwork finished and ready to mail, and it has been sitting on my desk for several weeks. I had not mailed it to the agency - because we have not had the $4,000 payment that is supposed to go along with it. We have been praying for the Lord to provide the needed funds.

Then in July, the air conditioner in my car broke down. I had to spend $800 dollars for parts to fix my car. I spent about 5 weeks and 60 or more hours working on the car, and alas, my repairs have all failed and the air conditioner is not working and now the car is not even running right. I am frustrated and more than a little discouraged, but I believe that God has a plan and a purpose, somehow, even in the midst of this.

We had a garage sale last Saturday to raise money, and yet, we were still way short of the funds needed to send in the paperwork.

God works in mysterious ways. I sent an e-mail to our agency to ask a question about a letter I had received from immigration. She answered my question, and then volunteered that I should go ahead and send her the paperwork so she could get it off to Russia, and that I could send her my check later....in a few weeks.

So, the paperwork went in the mail on Saturday. It should be in Alaska by the middle of next week, and then in the mail to Moscow toward the end of next week. And, the Lord will provide the money in His perfect timing.