Blessings in Disguise

I just have to share some exciting things that are happening regarding our final adoption adventures.  Things that at first seemed like a big bummer, but have turned out to be blessings in disguise!

#1

We have some truly amazing friends/neighbors who have lots of Delta Sky Miles because he travels to Europe a lot for work.  They felt inspired to donate some of their miles so that one of our tickets to Eastern Europe would be paid for. Wow, we are so grateful for this!  It will save us a thousand bucks!

Well, long story short...after hours of going over all kinds of options, the ONLY itinerary that would work, (flying Delta and having one paid ticket and one using Sky Miles) was for us to leave at midnight the night before and fly into Atlanta at 6 am and have 10-hour layover there before heading for EE.  

We didn't like that idea at all! But the Lord had important plans in mind with this.

It just so happens that Anya's best little buddy in her groupa, Ian is being adopted by a family who lives, where else, but ATLANTA!  

Gretchen and I have become friends via e-mail over the past 7 months or so.  Because of our change in itinerary we will get to spend the day with Gretchen.  She and her son, Ari are going to take us out of the stuffy airport and we'll get to see Atlanta for the first time!  

I wonder if  Anya and Ian's angels worked hard behind to make this happen. I really do. 

#2

If the judge doesn't waive the 10 day waiting period after court before Anya is ours (which is most likely,) we found out we'll have to wait not 10 days, but more like 20 days before we can go back to EE to finish the process of bringing her home because of a holiday that will cause the police station to close for three days, in addition to the weekend falling right after the 10 days. So, our coordinator told us to plan to come for our 3rd trip until March 13.  Ugh.

Well, it just so happens that, because of this, The Nine's will be there the same time as us, only 3 days after us in the process.  (Katrina Nine and I have become great friends, emailing each other almost every day for the past 8 months. We have always been in the exact same spot in the process, waiting through the same frustrating delays, traveling a week apart for our first trip, working with the same agency.)   We realized that, if our coordinator could get Anya's orphanage to keep her a few more days, we would both end up on the same schedule, which would make it so that our husbands could stay home with our other kids, and Katrina and I could travel together, share a hotel room, travel to Moscow together with our kids...everything!  Our coordinator contacted the orphanage, and they are willing to do hold Anya a few more days for us to make this possible. 

This is huge.  It's going to save us thousands of dollars because our hub's won't have to take 2 more weeks off of work, won't need plane tickets or train tickets to Moscow.  Plus we can share transportation and hotel expenses.

There's no way either one of us would have gone alone.  But we think we can do this together.  I'm so excited to get to spend time with Katrina in person (not just via e-mail) and go through the end of this adoption journey with her.  We've been through so much together, and this will be the crowning event.  Plus,  Anya will have a buddy to play with that last week when we're in Moscow.  We even have a place to stay for free in Moscow!  We're staying with some American acquaintances who work for the US Embassy.  So this in itself will save the Nine's hundreds. 

We'll leave for our third and final trip on March 14. The trip will take two weeks. We should be home by April 1.

I'm just so amazed at how much the Lord continues to bless us with His sweet, tender mercies. He loves Anya and her friends in Eastern Europe so much.  I can feel how much he wants to thank us for answering His call to bring them into our families.  I feel like He's cheering us on, continually providing for our happiness and well-being.  We are so grateful.