Desperate Times Require Desperate Measures!

We have not heard yet how our package is doing as it travels across the world but we are continuing in prayer that it will make it on time.

We continue to fundraise! You are probably tired of reading about it but it is what it is! We are still a bit short - we may have to have medicals in Moscow which will cost about $860 each and require us to spend an extra night in Moscow. Sooooo, we continue to fundraise pray that when it is time to leave we have all the money we need as well as a little bit of a buffer.

I have decided to sell a ring that I have had for about 26 years.

I had it made when I graduated from nursing school. Here are several photos of the ring.

The ring is 14KT yellow gold with royal jade cabochon and diamonds. Twelve prong set baguettes total weight of 0.76ct.

Eight round brilliant cut diamonds total weight .40ct.

I recently had the ring appraised by a well-known and reputable

jeweler in Fort Myers, FL. My ring was appraised at $2,910.00.
I would like to sell it for a reasonable amount and plan to put it on E-bay but thought I would post it here first. If anyone is interested in making an offer on my ring, please email me at murrayadoption@yahoo.com

We have several other fundraisers coming up as well as our online fundraiser store. You can visit it at http://www.heartforadoption.net/ We will be updating our webstore with new items frequently so please check back often.

Thanks for following our journey,
Elizabeth

The Package Arrived!

Just a quick update here - our package arrived on time! Yeah! Our family coordinator was able to get it to the DHL office and send it on its way to Russia. Now we are praying our documents make it to Russia next week in time to be translated and submitted by Friday, July 10. If, and that is a big IF, our documents are submitted by Friday, we could get a court date for August.

We are on our knees praising and praying:

• Praise that our documents arrived in Virginia and that they are on the way to Russia;
• that our documents arrive in Nizhny by Wednesday, July 8;
• that our facilitator is able to translate everything in time to submit our documents to the court by Friday, July 10;
• and that we receive a court date for early August.

We will continue to be faithful on our adoption journey.


O Lord, you are my God; I will exalt you and praise your name, for in perfect faithfulness you have done marvelous things, things planned long ago. Isaiah 25:1

Blessings,
Elizabeth

Another Blue Streak Day!

For those not familiar with the Blue Streak Roller Coaster, it is by far the best roller coaster I have ever been on! It is at Cedar Point in Sandusky, Ohio on Lake Erie. I grew up near there and spent many summers with my friends riding the Blue Streak. It's one of those old fashion types made with wood and it makes that great clickity clackity sound as it climbs toward the first drop. Once at the top, you hang for a brief moment with a breathtaking view of the lake and the anticipation of teetering over the top - fear, excitement, exhilaration - then you begin to slowly roll over the crest feeling yourself come up off the seat and you briefly think to yourself, "will my seatbelt hold" as you scream your head off! Then on you go, up and down, over and under, twisting and turning, screaming and laughing, until it finally slows down, and clickity clackity comes to an end. And when you climb out of the car, your legs are shaking, you're still laughing, and your throat feels raw. You think to yourself, "that wasn't so bad" and you decide to do it again!

We spent most of our day trying to get our documents apostilled at the State. Finally, after many phone calls and emails, they were able to apostille all of our documents. Our courier picked them up and dropped them in the FEDEX box. The package was picked up by FEDEX at 5:46pm and is on track to be in Virginia by 10:30am tomorrow morning. We are not quite breathing easily and won't until we know those documents are in our family coordinator's hands. I'll be tracking that package all night!

Yes, today was a Blue Streak Day! (except for the "do it again part").

Praying our package is delivered on time,
Elizabeth

And the saga continues...........

Honestly, we have a black cloud over our heads! Just when everything was falling into place, something else happens to slow the process down. I just don't get it! I have been praying to God that I need to be hit on the head - I guess He's hitting and I'm just not feeling it??????? Not really sure what the message is here.

Remember our Sunny Saturday? All documents got to where they were supposed to be by Monday morning. We have FEDEX to thank for that! We were very thankful and praising God for the good news.

Well, you'll never guess what happened at the State. Our courier took our documents to be apostilled and was informed that the office ran out of certificate paper! WHAT, ARE YOU KIDDING? No, no joke, they were out of paper.


How does something like this happen? Who forgot to order the paper? How can this be?


I found this so incredible, I just started laughing. When I told Don, he started laughing too. What else could we do? Cry, get angry - what would that accomplish. So, needless to say, our documents did not get to our family coordinator today. I haven't heard from the courier if the certificate paper arrived or not. I am going to check in with her right after I post this.

Just ridiculous!

Thanks for following our adventure - never a dull moment.
Elizabeth

A Crazy but Sunny Saturday

Yesterday was crazy but we managed to gather all the documents needed and our updated homestudy also arrived. So, the plan was to get all our documents notarized today and send them, along with our updated homestudy to the State for apostilling.

Time got away from me a bit after getting the documents notarized and I was really running late. Don had a class to go to and I needed to run back home before going to FEDEX because we forgot to update our photo album which will expire in July. I was having problems downloading the photos, the computer was just running too slow for my liking, and the printer kept jamming! I kept watching the clock and wanted to get to FEDEX as soon as I could. I noticed the mailman came and decided to run out and get the mail while the photos were printing.

There in my mailbox were the lost documents! AMAZING! That changed some of our plans. So I scurried to review the documents and compile what was needed to send to our family coordinator in Virginia and then the other documents that would need to be sent to the courier in Tallahassee to be apostilled. I also needed to make sure I had the information to include a postage paid envelope so the courier to overnight the newly apostilled documents to our family coordinator.

I was so full of excitement and feeling such joy over this surprise. I was just shaking. But I missed the last pick up in the Cape so I would have to go over the bridge to Fort Myers to Kinko's. I drove as fast as I could to beat the last pick up and arrived 5 minutes late - I prayed all the way there. I ran in and asked, "Did FEDEX pick up yet?" Praying as I waited for the answer -

The lady said, "No, but he should be here any minute, let me help you." She helped me get the documents for our family coordinator taken care of and I started working on the paperwork for the other two envelopes. While I was doing that, the FEDEX guy showed up. The lady told him I was still working on the forms for the other items but I had the envelope that had to be in Virginia by Monday. He took it and told me not to worry, it would be there and he left.

I continued completing the paperwork praying to God that there was some way I could still get the documents to Tallahassee by Monday. Then, I caught a shadow to my right, and there was the FEDEX guy! He asked me if I was almost finished and said he would wait. My knees buckled and I was praising God as I sealed that envelope and handed it to him. I said, "Thank you so much, you don't know how much this means to me - you will be blessed for helping me get these documents out today. I have a little girl in Russia I am adopting and it all depends on this package getting to Tallahassee by Monday morning." I had tears in my eyes and so did he. I really wanted to hug him!

The sun is shining on us now.

We are praising God and thanking

Him for everything. We need to work on our faith because God is faithful. We will have our Angel home when it is time.

Let us hold unswervingly to the

hope we profess, for he who

promised is faithful. 2 Timothy 2:13

In Christ,

Elizabeth