Well, I took the Easter weekend off as we were spending time with Shane's family who came into town as is our Easter tradition.  It was a delightful weekend...I am so proud of our nieces and nephews who have grown and matured into amazing young people.  God has been so good to our family -- even through some EXTREMELY tough days.  He is good -- ALL the time!!

We got home last night to some exciting news!!!  We had our letter in the mail from USCIS giving us our fingerprint appointment!!!  We will go tomorrow to get that done and hopefully get our final clearance ASAP so that we can get the final few papers apostilled and sent to EE for them to complete the paperwork/application process for us!!!  This is just an AMAZING answer to prayer -- our "team" is completely awed each time we talk about how quickly this process has moved.  We are watching the Lord just plow through anything that would be a "road block" and clear the path for us.  It will be very interesting to see how quickly we end up getting over there.  Typically, this process we're completing can last anywhere from 4 - 9 months...we've been at it 5 weeks now.  The fact that we are this close cannot be chalked up to anything other than a serious MIRACLE.  We have said from the beginning that we are on the "miracle timeline" and that is exactly what has happened.  We are SO POSITIVE that "Yuri" belongs in our family as the Lord just seems to be confirming it over and over as His hand seems to be all over this. 

We had a talk over the weekend with a family member who expressed some concerns about all of this and how much it's going to require of us as individuals, as a couple and as a family.  We TOTALLY agreed with them and it led us into a conversation in which we delved into how funny/interesting it is of God's call on our lives when things like this come up.  Neither Shane nor I were looking to adopt a teenage boy.  This is probably among the most inconvenient times in our entire lives for us to do this. (well, when Adley was having heart surgery might have been somewhat less convenient...)  We don't really know how it's all going to play out -- sure, we have our ideas, but we are well aware that those can be blown to smithereens in a second!!  But we KNOW that this is from the Lord as we each have such peace about it and have watched the pieces fall into place so miraculously.  We talked about how if the Lord called us to do something and then immediately showed us exactly how it was going to happen along the way, as well as how it will all turn out, where is the faith in that??  If we can be obedient and truly TRUST that the Lord is working it all out even when it may look like it's a little crazy to others, that's where real faith takes shape. 

Believe me, sometimes this all looks crazy to us, as well, but there are lots of stories in the Bible about things that looked crazy to everyone other than the one God called.  Don't get me wrong, we've received overwhelming support from our family and friends, but we also recognize that all this carries with it a lot of concern for us and our current children.  We understand the concern and appreciate it and the many prayers being offered on our behalf, as well as for "Yuri."  We cannot help but be excited to see what God has in store for him, as all these miracles point to something really special.  For all of us. . . .