When I last blogged, we were waiting to hear whether our son, Ron, his wife, Shannon and their two daughters, Tierney and Amissa, arrived safely in Ukraine on their quest to adopt a sister for Tierney and Amissa. At least that was the girls' take on the trip.
We have traveled with them on their adventure through Ron's blog, galyastale.blogspot.com. It turned out that they spent their first few days in Kiev, without access to any internet connection. It appears that most internet in Ukraine is dial-up, and when the phones are down (which occurs frequently), there is no internet. This was only discovered after two sets of frantic parents began talking together and then began contacting everyone we could think of to find out if they had heard from our son and daughter (after all - they had our granddaughters with them)!
Once we knew they were all safe, it became a journey of happiness and sadness all at the same time. We're thrilled that Galya is their daughter, but saddened that it doesn't become official until this coming Tuesday. Until that time, Galya must remain at the orphanage.
We have prayed for God to speed things up for them. With Christmas coming up, we all agreed that it would be awful for Shannon and Galyna to remain behind while Galya's visa application and paperwork progressed through the Embassy system. They contacted the Embassy and the wonderful people there are allowing paperwork to be faxed so they can begin quickly to make it possible for our family to return home. Ron and Shannon were notified just a couple of days ago,that they will (barring last-minute glitches) be returning home together this week!
Thank you, US Embassy (and especially, thank you God!). We will be together as a family soon.
This adventure has shown me that there are many answers to prayer we have every day, many of which we do not recognize. Most are chalked up to "coincidence" or "luck". Just waking up in the morning to serve God another day is the most miraculous. I have often gone to bed at night with the thought that any one of us might not wake the next morning. My own mother went home to heaven at night while she slept. It could happen to any of us.
Each night this compels me to tell my husband that I love him, even when we have disagreed over something earlier in the evening. When either of us goes somewhere, we express our love. Even when we are very tired, we still whisper that we love each other. My mother's last words to me, and mine to her, were "I love you." It is a great comfort to know that the final words we may say to someone were those of love.
This bunny trail has really taken a turn. However, I think it fits well. What better recognition of miracles than the miracle of a new family being formed and love being expressed? Isn't that what this very season is about? God loved us so much that he sent his son to a new family here on earth for the precise reason of expressing his love?
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