We are still here and doing well. We are still basking in the joy of having our family complete. I am thrilled at the news I continue to hear, that Russian adoptions never really halted, as that would have taken an act of Parliament (I believe that is what they call it). They were still continuing, and we had a yahoo buddy who had court and brought their son home just since April 12th. It is good to know they are continuing to allow adoptions. Truly, Russia does seem to care about the welfare of their children, which is why they require a homestudy visit for the first three years they are placed in the home. There is a homestudy at 6 mos., 1yr, 2yr, and 3 yrs. Yes, it is more paperwork for us, but we don’t mind. We want them to know she is doing wonderfully! We will always hold dear Russia in our hearts. It is where we first met our precious daughter.

There are many times I think….I need to update, but I can’t always think of anything to say, other than she is doing great. She is a typical 3yr. old…enough said. ;o) She is full of energy, laughter, giggles….and mischief!! She fits in with our boys just perfectly.

It has dawned on me that I never actually wrote on our blog about what happened when we first received our referral, lending to some confusion. I thought I’d explain it now, even if a little late. We received our first referral in August…for a little girl who was three, and of Asian descent. We were accepting the referral, and heading to Russia to meet her. The weekend before we were to leave, we received a call from our family coordinator that there was a potential problem…her mother had sent a letter stating she was going to pursue custody again. We were told we could continue on, but during the long stretch of time of our process, we might lose her. I told our coordinator we would not persue it, that if this child’s mother wanted her, that was where she needed to be. The Lord gave me peace over this…He is so good to prepare our hearts and hold us during hard times. I asked if we needed to cancel flights and she said, not yet. They were going to check the system once more to see if there was another child matching our request. She called the next morning and asked if we still felt the same regarding not persuing the first. I said yes, and she said they had in the meantime come across another little girl (they told us 4 yrs. at the time). She sent the pics and then the medicals and explained we did not have to accept. We asked why we had not been shown this child before, and it was because she had just come available (God’s timing!). We were at first amazed at her likeness to my side of the family, and our youngest child especially. She was too cute in her dress…holding it out like a princess…I chuckled…she’s a princess….she IS my child!! We decided we would go and meet this child, and as the Lord would have it, she was a perfect fit.  Well…the rest is blogged and you can go back and “read the rest of the story”…

In His Watchcare,

Joy