I have 10 children now... but can't bring them home yet!!!!

Wow..... what a roller coaster of emotions. Yesterday (Tuesday) was a long and awesome day. We got off the train at 6am and came to our apartment to drop off our luggage. We were then whisked away to begin the process of getting birth certificates for Elisa, Vanessa and Elijah. We were in the car for 5 straight hours going from place to place.... signing one document after another. The girls slept through most of the trip. At about 2pm we signed the final document and I was presented with 3 birth certificates showing Leah and I as the legal parents of our new babies! I was overwhelmed with joy! It was like being in the delivery room and being presented with your new baby..... except my babies weren't here yet.

So as we drove back our facilitator called and explained that we would be going to pick the babies up and take them to get passport pictures. I had been praying all day that we would get to see them and not only would we see them, but we were taking them with us on a ride. It was a small sample of what the trip home might be like. Brittany was holding Vanessa who was smiling and cooing the entire time..... of course. Faith was holding Elijah at first as Elisa was being a little fussy. After a few minutes in the car, Elisa warmed up and I passed her to Faith so I could hold my big boy Elijah. Elisa was just looking around, really observing the buildings and cars we drove by. I wondered if this was her first trip in a car since leaving the maternity home. If so, I'm glad it was with her new family. Elijah decided to lay down across all of our laps and stare at our faces for about an hour. It was so fun and the kids did awesome!

So as we're waiting for passport pics, I got a call from our facilitator telling me that they would not be processing any passports at this time as there was some sort of political issue (a strike-type situation). She was not clear on the implications of this, but was certain that it would cause delays for us.... just not sure how long of a delay. We went ahead and took their passport pictures and applied for their passport so they would process when things resumed. It was so fun taking pictures with them and trying to get them to smile or at least look in the right direction. It almost made me forget about the bad news I had just received.

We dropped my new children off back at the orphanage and came to the apartment for dinner and rest. I had such mixed emotions last night as I thought about my three new kiddos and how long it has taken to get to this point. I also thought about the passport delays and couldn't help but think of the worst. What it the delay is not just days or weeks, but months? That's when I started praying. I know this is all in God's hands and that He is in control. I don't know what His plan is, but it will be perfect. Please pray for some quick resolution to this issue. I

really want to pull the kids out of the orphanage and bring them to the apartment,

but our facilitator is advising against that until we know more about the passport situation. Maybe I'll do a little research tonight to see how I can bring kids home without a Ukraine passport. Oh well, I can't be discouraged when I've just adopted these three beautiful children.