Headed Home

This is the day the LORD has made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.

In my human weakness, it has been harder to say this on certain days in the last couple of months. But I have frequently wanted to say it and mean it. To rejoice, no matter what, is a choice we have to consider daily. Isn't it so much easier, to be honest, when the day goes smoothly in our opinion?

Today He gave us a beautiful sunny morning here in Kiev, though cold at -10 C. Maxim woke up in a great mood, he generally does, and was excited to go in the car with Sergei and Helen once again.

At 9:30, we were off to the medical center, where Helen went in a picked up the doctor's report from Maxim's check-up. They only release this once they see the true passport of the adopted child. This took only minutes and then we hurried across town to the American Consulate. That is actually where I have been running to several times, and I was mistakenly calling it the Embassy. Anyway, there was a huge line of people standing out in the snow waiting to go inside. The majority were people wanting to just visit the U.S. , some were immigrating, and a small number appeared to be American men who had married Ukrainian women and were obtaining visas. As I am an American citizen and adoptions are one of the things that the consulate makes a priority for expediting, I went right in with Maxim. Inside, I presented Maxim's passport (like handing over pure gold) and the medical report. About twenty minutes later, a consular officer went over the documents with me, had me sign certain papers and also verify that my signature on others was authentic, and within ten minutes my interview was over. Maxim and I went down the hall to the waiting area with toys and books, anticipating the completed visa soon. Sure enough, in less than half an hour, I had it in hand, along with papers to turn in when we land in Chicago.

After laboring and wondering and waiting for such a long time, I kept asking different people, like the consular officer and the clerk, "so that's it?" It was just so hard to believe there was one more requirement they were going to drop on us out of the blue. But they just smiled and congratulated me. We are truly finished.

Tomorrow at 4:20 in the morning, Helen and the driver will pick us up and take us to the airport. Helen will stay with us until we are cleared to get on the flight.

This is it folks. We are really heading home tomorrow. Praise God.