Prayers Please!!

Well, it's been a little while since we updated our blog.  There really has not been much to report on.  We have been in the waiting stage as all our paper work is done, our dossier is in Ukraine and we wait anxiously for that phone call from our adoption coordinator telling us our travel dates.  My heart did a flip flop one day last week when I did receive a call from our adoption coordinator.  As I shakily answered the phone, hoping to hear her say we'd be traveling in two weeks, I was a little disappointed to find out she was calling to tell us we needed to redo one piece of our paperwork.  Ukraine changed the rules on the petition for adopting a specific child and it now needs to be submitted separately from the dossier.  So that meant taking another form to our very sweet notary (Jim's nurse!) and then another trip into downtown Raleigh to the Secretary of State to have the document apostilled.  (two actually, one to drop it off and one to pick it up).  Boy am I thankful we live in close proximity to the NC Secretary of State!  Then another trip to Kinkos to FedEx our form to Tonya our coordinator.  Tonya assures us that this little hiccup will not delay our approval at all.  I hope and pray she's right.  Truthfully, it was actually nice to have something tangible to do during this long stage of waiting and praying.
But what motivated me to blog today was some not so good news from an acquaintance of ours who is currently in Ukraine.  Hearing daily news reports has made my prayer life very active and vibrant.  The recent takeover of one government building after another in Donetsk has been frighteningly close to Igor's town.  This news story is a good summary of how unstable things are in Igor's region.  These unsettling reports along with the fact that we have not been able to connect with the teacher at Igor's school in the last four weeks causes us great concern.  Today we asked our friend in Ukraine to give us a realistic perspective of what is going on there and to give us his opinion of whether it would be safe to travel to that area in the next few weeks.  Here was his response:

" (Igor's Town) is right in between Donetsk and Luhansk.  It is a dangerous zone, because Donetsk is the bed of insurrection right now.  Situation is changing very quickly, but our organization will not let workers come anywhere near there at this time.  This region is currently saturated with a myth that USA is going to invade any day now and that there are US spies and mercenaries under every rock.  For that reason I would personally advise not to go there at least until after Ukrainian elections (May 25).  Russia is trying to get those elections cancelled by fermenting a violent uprising."

So, friends, we are asking you to "devote yourselves to prayer" (Rom. 12:12) with us.  Please pray for Igor's protection.  Please pray that when the time comes for us to travel, that God would protect us and that He would give us wisdom and peace to know that if He calls us to go, he will be with us and move all the mountains out of the way to bring this boy home.  Daily it seems like the mountains are getting bigger and more insurmountable.  But we have a Great God!  We want to see His power on display and his name glorified.  And so, while the daily reports would try to shake our faith, we will declare with the psalmist:

     My soul wait in silence for God ONLY, for my HOPE is from HIM.
     He ONLY is my rock and my salvation, my stronghold;
     I will not be shaken!  On God my salvation and my glory rest;
     the rock of my strength, my refuge is in God.
     TRUST in Him at all times, O people; pour out your heart before Him.
     GOD is our REFUGE for us.    ---Psalm 62:5-8