Prayers and Praises

Fate, coinkidinks? I think not. The Divine Creator of everything has a perfect plan He is working out here. Let me give you an example of yesterday-

I mentioned that last week my employer informed me of a new pharmacist hired that would take my place in the small community pharmacy I currently work in. I would become an "extra" pharmacist in the rotation, covering at other stores until I got the call. Well, we got the call last night, and everything was already taken care of at work. No stress!! No panic!! No fear of not having the people needed to cover my store while I was gone. No hesitant phone call to my boss to tell him I'd be gone in a week and a half. How awesome is that?

OK- I must admit- I would love to marshall the forces out there praying for us as we prepare to leave. We found out tonight that our deed is only for the property. We need proof of where our house came from. I thought of taking a picture of Tim's hands and doing a certified copy of an original- I could put it with a poem and some pics of us and our house- something like this:

This is the house that Tim built.

This is the wife that lives in the house that Tim built.

(imagine picture of me on the porch)

This is the son, adopted by the wife, that lives in the house that Tim built. (Sorry, you can't imagine a pic of Eli yet- unless he has a mask on........ hehee- soon we'll be able to post a picture....... )

This is the dog that poops on the rug, that will play with the son, adopted by the wife that lives in the house that Tim built. (I keep imagining Eli, Baka and Tim on the floor all wrestling around...)

OK, so I am really joking about the poem- but you have to admit, it does have a certain catchiness to it, doesn't it? I know, I know, the part about the dog really stinks.......... hehee

In all seriousness, I am praying that the documents we have showing the purchase agreement where Tim bought the logs and maybe a few of the permits he had issued will be enough to prove that there really is a house that we own on the property our deed is for.

We also have to provide a document from our homestudy agency telling about the books we've read and how the agency has prepared us to become parents to an internationally adopted child. I sent our wonderful case worker a list of about 10-15 books we've already read. She's to type up a document about our great training, send it to us and we'll have all these items run through the routine- notarize, certify and apostille. All you folks in states that don't require a county certification before you can get your items apostilled just don't know what you are missing. We have met so many more wonderful people by adding in this extra step. Hey, Coleen- if you see this- you can be expecting us sometime next week :)

One more prayer request. My doggie, the one I adopted 13 years ago from the shelter, who is now 15, is not doing the best. She would qualify for a Medication Therapy Management session if she were human. I have an appointment with the vet to "ease her suffering," "let her go to sleep in my arms instead of dying all alone in a kennel while we are gone,""send her on to the happy hunting grounds,""put her out of her misery,""euthanize her," etc. I'm having a very, very difficult time explaining this to my heart. My heart says, your best friend for all these years is struggling to stay alive and you are deciding to kill her, end her life, murder her in a premeditated fashion (after all, I made an appointment). So, my prayer is that my heart will begin to understand what my mind has known is true for a long time. Guess when the only time is that we can get her in? Feb 25. Yep, the night before we leave for Russia. At least I'll have a few days to cry myself out and get my eyes back to normal before we see our precious little boy.

OK, praises- To God be the Glory!!!! We are seeing so many things fall into place. It is incredible to step back a bit and experience this. Everything lining up perfectly for our trip. Our Visa's have been sent for, the tickets have been arranged, soon we should hear about the hotels, the cash is in hand, the paperwork (with the exception of the above docs) in hand and organized. All we have left is to throw some stuff in some bags, get the bills and house taken care of and take off. And we just got the call last night!

Oh, and I discovered the best thing last night- Eli's "gotcha" day will fall on my Mom's birthday!! (Also St Patrick's Day and my soon to be Brother-in-law's B-day!!) Happy Day to us all!!

God bless you all- thank you for your prayers- and please- don't forget to thank God for all the awesomely incredible things He is doing in your life. It is so easy to get bogged down with the mundane and mediocre that we forget to thank Him for the priceless joys and blessings in our lives everyday. May each day be a new discovery for you!! Share your joy- share your blessings!