This is what our in country personnel sent to the lady we work with here in the States yesterday about where we are with a court date.

"I submitted thier dossier to the court on last week when I was in Vladimir. Now I'm waiting to her from the court whether those documents are enough or not. Only if the judge will be satisfied with what he has, we'll be able to talk about the court date. But as you know he's will usually ask for some additional documents no matter what we send him."

So.  We know nothing more than we did 2 weeks ago.  Please continue to pray that the judge will grant a court date without additional documents.  If we have to send more docs, we would be set back at least 3 more weeks.  At this point, 3 weeks feels like a year.  Please also pray that we would hear back from the judge this week. 

Thank you.

10 more days at LEAST!

I got an email last night answering a TON of questions that I asked our facilitators...poor women!

Anyway, the email stated that she had just received our extra documents and would be taking them to the judge.  Once he has everything he will let her know if we need to send any additional documents.  She said it would be at least 10 days before she hears anything...and I assume that's business days.  So, 2 more weeks of praying and hoping and waiting.  PRAYER:: That he doesn't want any documents.  Or, if he does, that he's ok with us just bringing them to court!

The other, most fabulous, news in the email was about the process once we get to Russia.  We will get to see Sveta at least once before we go to court. Then we'll go to court.  After that we wait 10 days for the court proceedings to become official...then we can pick Sveta up while we wait for her passport.  I thought she had to wait at the orphanage...but I was wrong.  I'm SO glad I was!!  Anyway, this is big for us, because it means that while in Russia we can be together instead of an hour away from our precious daughter.  YAY!!!

That's all the news for now.  As soon as we hear anything, I'll let you know.  Right now I'm just praying we are back home before Christmas (because Russia shuts down around our Christmas through the first week of December!)

Our contact was...

On Thursday we heard that our contact was in Vladimir.

That's all we've heard.

On another amazing note though, I was looking online for other families who had adopted from Vladimir too.  I came across this blog...and recognized the orphanage where this family adopted...and later realized that I knew the little girl too.

Come to find out it was a little girl that had stolen the hearts of my adopted family: the Jurgensen's.  They had been praying to find out where she was...and God answered their prayers.  Incredible.  She's been adopted by a Christian family somewhere in the midwest.

God writes stories...sometimes we want to hear the next part of the story when it just isn't time yet.  I'm thankful we know this part of her story.

Famous Quotes are False

Ok, so maybe not all famous quotes are false, but I know one that is:

"No news is good news." 

Not really.  No news is painful.  No news could be good news, or bad news, or it really could just be no news at all.

I think right now we're just at the no news part.  We've not heard a thing.  I don't know if the judge hasn't answered yet, or if he has and we just haven't heard yet.  We have no news.

I am going to start a petition that this little saying be changed to "no news is better than bad news."  I think it's more accurate.

On another note, only semi-adoption related:  My unbelievable husband has been rebuilding a wall in our sunroom so we can replace our windows and actually use this room on the back of our house.  It looks AMAZING...and he's done it in very little time.  He's still got a ways to go...but we are getting there.  I think Sveta will enjoy playing in there while mom and dad just stare out the HUGE windows!

Also, I must say a HUGE thank you to the Bible Bowl Teams at our church and their parents and "coaches" (we'll call them).  My friend Rachel and I went to their first competition on Sunday and they blessed me beyond belief not only by their knowledge of scripture, but also because they had made signs for Sveta and held them up to take a picture with me watching.  Amazing.  Love you guys!!

Truth and a Dare (or more like a favor)

I read a blog today that brought tears to my eyes.  It's written by a woman I've never met: Jen Hatmaker.  Check it out www.jenhatmaker.com.

"Faith has nothing to do with being stoic or "chipper" or falsely propped up. We have entered the suffering of the orphan, the mission of Jesus. It is hard and painful. It hurts and makes us cry. Suffering is like that. Spouting off Christian clichés or pretending to be strong isn’t helpful and it isn’t true. It cripples true community and confuses and isolates a watching world. "


So here's the truth:  This is hard.  Really hard.


We sent our paperwork off (hopefully the last of it) on Tuesday.  It should be sent out to Russia today.  We have no word on a court date.  We have no idea when we'll have word on a court date.


I have this idea...to be an encouragement to both Barry & I, but also to be a testimony to Sveta when she is home of the people that love her dearly and prayed for her homecoming.  I also stole this idea from my new friend Jen (who has no idea I even exist).


Will you make a sign that says "We love you Sveta" or "Can't wait to meet you" or "praying for you" or something even more creative?  Take that sign, and take a picture of you, friends, and/or family holding the sign, and send the picture to me?  I can't tell you how much this simple thing will mean to Barry & I, and Sveta down the road.  Would you do that for us?  


Email it to jessimmorton@gmail.com


Thank you for walking this journey with us.  Thank you for asking questions, for praying, and for being interested in our lives!  Thank you for supporting us as the path gets steeper and more and more rocky as we go on.  But, I was reminded today also that we are fighting a battle...against the powers of darkness.  No wonder this is hard.   We know we asked for this.  I know I asked and wanted to fight this battle - no one made me.  I'm so glad I am...but I'm going to try and be honest...that the battle is tough.  


Thank you for fighting with us.
We love you.
Jessi

Not a "yes", not a "no"

Sometimes a definitive answer is best.

Sometimes a definitive answer is not what you get.  Instead you get this:

The judge has your documents and will tell us if he/she is going to give a court date next week.  We're pretty sure that you can't get a court date without the documents that you are missing...but your home study agency won't write the documents the way the Russian court wants them to be.  Could you talk to your home study agency about that?

Thanks.

Before everyone gets angry at the Home Study agency...let me explain in more detail.  Our home study agency works not only on home studies, but is also a placing agency for many countries including Russia.  We aren't using them as our placing agency because they don't work in the region where Sveta lives.  The complicated part is, if they sign our documents and don't feel legally good about it - it could jeopardize their ability to work in Russia at all. (Which would mean MANY families couldn't adopt).

So, here's how I'm praying:
1. That God would work out the legal details and the paperwork would be acceptable to all parties.
2. That the judge would be filled with compassion and grant us a court date even without the necessary paperwork.
3. That the judge would make that decision QUICK!
4. There aren't any more glitches before traveling.

I want to again thank each of you for praying, financially supporting, and caring for our family.  It is an incredible blessing knowing that I can post what's going on and you will rally around us!!

We are blessed!
Jessi

Plea for Prayer

There are two main things I want to ask of each of you today.  Be prepared, they're both labor intensive, and you'll really need to seek the Lord on them.

1. Pray for us. 

We got word late Friday night that our Dossier is in need of more paperwork.  After anger, and sadness, I've moved on to practical steps of what I can do about this.  We have an email and a call into our Home Study agency and we will hopefully get all 4 pieces of paper signed, notarized, apostilled, and sent soon.

But, here's what we need prayer for:  Pray for the judge in Vladimir that our in-country personnel is planning to visit this week sometime.  Pray that he/she will allow for a court date to be made without these papers.  Sometimes they are able to get a court date with a promise of the papers to come, and sometimes they are not.  It depends solely on the mood of the judge that day...so pray that every judge in Vladimir wakes up joyfully this week so that when our friend goes to visit him/her we get a court date.

You can pray before you go to bed each night around 10:00 pm...that will be 6:00am in Russia, just about the time that the judges are waking up.

2. Consider adoption as an option for your family...now or later. 

I spoke briefly with our placing agency this morning on the phone about our paperwork situation, and she also mentioned that their organization has just been made aware of two little girls that are in need of adoption.  They are medically healthy except they need either cleft-lip or cleft-palate surgeries...things they will NEVER receive as an orphan in Russia.  Most likely these two girls are in the orphanage systems simply because of their physical appearance.  They are both adoptable seperately...they're not related to my knowledge.

Pray about these girls, or others whom you've heard of.  If you are at all interested in adopting either or the girls, or if you know someone who might be, contact me.  I'd LOVE to give your our agencies information.

Thanks for praying and praying and praying.
As soon as we hear anything, I'll post.
Jessi