After our trip we began the second half with a lot of paper work, for the agency and for grants. The week before our trip we had fingerprints taken for an FBI background check. It's a 13 week process. After our trip we went to a doctor to get our physicals done, and that paper work turned out to be a nightmare. They did a sloppy job getting the paperwork filled out twice, so Steve redid everything nice and neat and the doctor messed up on two of the 8 signatures! Thankfully the agency said that would be okay. That was more stressful than it needed to be. We also took Alexander out to Longview to see his doctor for a physical and check up. Three weeks later we still had not received the paper work from him. It got lost in the mail so the doctor graciously did it all over again for us!

After that, our fingerprints came back. Steve's passed. Melissa's did not. After three stressful weeks of redoing fingerprints (a total of ten cards), three rejection letters, and paying overnight shipping six times, Melissa's fingerprints finally passed! What a relief! The agent at the FBI was very helpful, prompt, and apologetic. God's favor was on us in that situation!

We were finally approved for a matching grant at this time as well. We had applied for at least a dozen and this was the first one to come through. The grant agency would match up to $5000, which is enough to pay the agency all that we owe. We have gotten over $1300 so far!

Just when we thought it was all coming together and we were going to get a court date finally, two things happened that could stop the whole adoption.

First, M's grandmother has contested the adoption; she refuses to allow us to adopt her. As far as we know the grandmother, who is 75 years old, does not have the means to care for M, nor does she want to, but she does not want anyone to adopt her either. A judge told her she has 30 days to become M's legal guardian or the adoption will proceed. That was heartbreaking to know we would have to wait at least another month before knowing what would happen. Within 24 hours of getting that bad news, we got more bad news.

A Tennessee woman returned her adopted Russian 7 year old boy back to Russia, saying she did not want him because he was threatening the family. This angered the Russian people and it seemed, and was even reported, that Russia would be shutting down all adoptions. Thankfully the U.S. stepped in to negotiate with Russia about what should be done, and it seems things may have calmed down a bit. We still do not know what will happen, and if we will be able to bring M home.

Last Sunday we were eating lunch with friends when Steve got a call from NBC in New York! They wanted to interview us! They found us on Facebook through our Russian Adoption Journey fan page. They had already interviewed a family who had successfully adopted two Russian children and now they wanted to interview a family in the process. Monday we got the call that they had a news crew available to come interview us. The interview would be on the 10 o'clock news! We were both so nervous but it went fine. The reporter was very friendly so we felt pretty comfortable right away. Later that evening the reporter called us and said that we would also be on the Today show the next morning! Really? Wow! Both segments were pretty short, but we are hoping it will have an impact somehow, some way. We do not know why God brought this about, but we pray that He gets the glory for it!

Melissa has been praying that the Lord would just blow her mind in this adoption and that people's lives would be changed through it. And God did it! We often wonder what God is doing and why there is such a spiritual battle around this adoption and this little girl. Many people have told us they believe God has something for us much bigger than this adoption. After the events we have faced this week, we are beginning to believe them!

We are very excited to see what God is going to do next, so stay tuned!