Explaining the Inexplicable

We have a court date!!! Yay!!! It's October 5th as long as they get the mountain of paperwork they are asking be redone. Half of it needs to be redone because it is too religious for their taste.

And we were told once again to be prepared to elaborate on why we want to adopt.

Here is where the title of this post comes in. Basically Russia does not understand why a couple of 27 year olds who have only been married for 2 years and who are perfectly capable of having children the "normal" way would want to fly half way around the world to adopt a little boy who is not related to them. They want an explanation and they want us to do it without mentioning God, or faith.

And we can't. There is no reason why we would do all of this. No reason outside an almighty, heavenly father who before the world was formed decided that we should be Sam's parents. We cannot explain why we don't want to wait, why we want to adopt, why we want to adopt from Russia specifically. No answer will satisfy them. And the fact that they keep asking is making me feel crazy and like maybe there is no reason. Which isn't true. In this instance Russia might as well be Satan whispering in our ear. God is the reason. Faith is the reason. Sam is the reason.

I have been thinking of other (non-religious) reasons we could give them. Belmont is planning a new hockey team in 2023 and we are recruiting early. We want to learn Russian and this seems like the easiest route. We're setting ourselves up for our own tv show on TLC. Gypsies are holding our cats hostage and demanding our first son and this seemed like a convenient way to get one.

All crazy reasons. All probably more acceptable to Russia.

I'm joking obviously. Only a little bit not. God wants us to have Sam. When we stand before the judge we just have to pray that he gives us the words to convince them or that they see us with him and words aren't necessary. God is the reason and he can work miracle where we can't.

Paint, quilts, and reasons why

The last week has been crazy.

Today I took the day off of work and did a whole bunch of stuff for the kids. I

cleaned out the closet in their room and then my mom and I went to JoAnn's to get quilting fabric for their quilts. This was an adventure as neither my mom nor I really quilt, but after seeing the price of toddler bedding I knew that that wasn't going to happen. So quilts are started. I bought two stuffed animals on amazon and Tim and I painted their room tonight. It's scary to prepare this way. Nothing is assured but God is faithful and it seems right and good.

We also waited all week for our home study to be approved. It was supposed to be approved today but instead we got an e-mail from our social worker saying that the director in St. Petersburg was worried because the courts there have been especially difficult lately and she wanted us to elaborate on why we wanted to adopt, why didn't we wait and have biological children first, why now, etc. This was a little hard to hear. There are lots of reasons why we want to adopt now and why we don't want to have biological children first but all of those reasons are pretty personal and none of them are probably going to satisfy a Russian judge. We wrote back a bunch of reasons but I don't know if it's going to be enough but as my mom said "God controls Russian judges too."

Pray for our homestudy and pray that God gives us the right words to explain our hearts.