A Sunday of Fellowship

We did not get to see Vika today, as you already know, so no new pictures of her, so this will just be a post of our day, random pictures of our life here, along with some other things that are on my mind.

Abe's Love for Cars :)

Pictures of our apartment! 

Look at that BIG fridge!  Very much like home and unlike commonly found in this country!

Spare Bedroom

We got up this morning to go to church.  The church is very close to where our apartment is and we actually met up with Ashley on our way to show us the way!  The Lord worked it out that we were able to actually experience a service in both languages, because they currently have a missions team from Minnesota there, so their pastor preached and someone translated.  We got to sing worship songs that we knew from home, while everyone else around us sang those same songs in Vika's language.  It was a very unique experience.  And the service lasted three hours.  This country's pace is very different than ours.  For the most part, it seems like it is fast paced during the working hours, but then it also seems like an easy going pace in the evenings.  People are notoriously late, and it is just the way of this country.  Abe would fit right in!  :) 

Walking to Church

In Front of the Church

They even had flags in the colors of Reece's Rainbow!  :)

After we finally made it back to the apartment, we made some phone calls and were able to arrange two adopting families and several of the missionaries we have met to come over to our house for dinner.  It was an American dinner made with ingredients from this country!  Again quite the experience!  :)  We had a great time together and got to share a lot of our experiences with each other.  We had a good time!  We are so thankful that we got to meet and work alongside these missionaries who have dedicated their lives to the ministry and serving the Lord with all of their hearts.  And now we are cleaning up and later we will call and talk to our girls. 

Pizza Bites

We have been so blessed by your prayers for us.  We cannot begin to put into words what they mean to us.  Entire churches have been storming the doors of heaven for us because of many of you sharing our story with others the Lord brought in your path.  This story is not about us, we are just instruments that God is using to accomplish something way greater than we can even see right now or may ever see before we get to heaven.  Our friend, who spent a lot of precious time notarizing our documents tediously for our dossier, even shared our story with a truck driver that the Lord brought into his life, and now his mother's church is even praying for us and little Vika.  I am sure that we just have a small glimpse of how many people are praying for us around the world, and we are so thankful.  In the past few days, there is a song that was shared with me three times, and now I have to share it with you because the words fit right into our story.  When I heard the song for the first time, it was a beautiful song, and the words had a lot of meaning for me, and the story behind the song is a true miracle.  But this was before we were going through what we are going through right now.  Then our pastor and my mom (THANK YOU!:)) both shared it with me again in the past couple of days, and the words really hit home.  Here are the lyrics: 

We pray for blessings
We pray for peace
Comfort for family, protection while we sleep
We pray for healing, for prosperity
We pray for Your mighty hand to ease our suffering
All the while, You hear each spoken need
Yet love us way too much to give us lesser things

Cause what if Your blessings come through raindrops
What if Your healing comes through tears
What if a thousand sleepless nights
Are what it takes to know You’re near
What if trials of this life are Your mercies in disguise

We pray for wisdom
Your voice to hear
And we cry in anger when we cannot feel You near
We doubt Your goodness, we doubt Your love
As if every promise from Your Word is not enough
All the while, You hear each desperate plead
And long that we'd have faith to believe

Cause what if Your blessings come through raindrops
What if Your healing comes through tears
What if a thousand sleepless nights
Are what it takes to know You’re near
And what if trials of this life are Your mercies in disguise

When friends betray us

When darkness seems to win

We know the pain reminds this heart

That this is not, this is not our home

Cause what if Your blessings come through raindrops

What if Your healing comes through tears

And what if a thousand sleepless nights

Are what it takes to know You’re near

What if my greatest disappointments

Or the aching of this life

Is the revealing of a greater thirst this world can’t satisfy

And what if trials of this life

The rain, the storms, the hardest nights

Are Your mercies in disguise.

You can listen to it here.  Thank you all for your prayers and your support!  We are blessed above measure, and we know that it is only because of your prayers that we can keep on walking forward in the midst of our storm!