It's Wednesday!

Our prayer for today is that we will successfully get Wesley's new tax ID code and our 'extra' prayer request is to be able to also apply for his passport!  Yesterday we got both birth certificates (YAY!) and our facilitators got both court decrees before we arrived in Ukraine, so those things are now out of the way :).  There was "an issue with Wesley's birth registration," so it took all day to get his birth certificate and we weren't able to apply for his tax ID code yet.

If we get the tax ID code today, I'd say we have about an 80% chance of making it home on time!  If we're also able to apply for the passport, I'd up it to about 90%!

We decided not to do Aleksa's passport (which we'll get in just a few hours, not days like Wesley's because they are in different regions/states) until we have applied for Wesley's passport because we will probably take custody of Aleksa during that same trip, and I'd rather not have to drag her around unnecessarily once we have her.  We have no idea how she will react to being with us and decided to go the route that will make it the easiest possible transition for her... even though I would love to get her ASAP!  Admittedly, this is also the easiest situation for us, since if she doesn't transition well we have less time in country to have to work on that... which is definitely a benefit to all of us.  Seriously, though, we don't want to put her through extra "being dragged around" than we have to in case she really doesn't do well with it.  As it is, she will still have to go to the Embassy twice and the medical appointment and of course endure three flights to get home!  So that is plenty to put a little girl through.

We will hopefully get Wesley out on Monday- same reasoning... letting him wait where he is comfortable really is in his best interest.  He tends to be scared of everything new (or has in the past) and it's hard to say "yep, I want him now, he'll suffer through it!" It will be a matter of days and he'll be with us!  We decided to get Aleksa first for a few days before getting Wesley so that we can transition with her a bit before getting him.  Maybe, just Maybe, she will 'get used to' us in those few days.  I can see where she also might get VERY jealous as soon as he arrives though!  And once we get home and she realizes she has to SHARE us... well, it will be an adjustment!

I don't think I mentioned this, which just now came to mind.  Another neat God-spotting on our way to UA.  In Orlando as we checked in and the attendant asked how many bags we had to check, we said one each, then I added that I am adopting and also have two strollers to check, that the kids would need them to come home.  According to our airline (I had called previously hoping for good news!), we should pay $50 each for them as "extra checked luggage."  I strapped them together hoping they'd fly as just one extra item and we'd only have to pay the fee once.  Well, the attendant got really excited and started asking questions about the kids and if I'd met them, etc... then asked if we wanted her to bag the strollers to protect them from snow at their destinations (VERY nice!) and bagged them together, labeled it, and off they went.  She never even mentioned any fees.  This is the 2nd time that I've technically had "extra" luggage and expected to have to pay for it and the attendant hasn't charged me.  Though I dislike that the airline would charge- by policy- for an adoptive parent to bring over a stroller... I am thankful that they didn't charge us for it, and in November they didn't charge for my 2nd bag which contained all the RR donations as well! :)

God is good, all the time!

We are headed out to Andriivsky street this morning for Chris to souvenir shop and will be checking in regularly to see if our facilitator needs us to go apply for the passport.  Hoping they do!!  We may also visit the Ashan if we have nowhere else we need to be, and we plan to meet up with some adoptive families for supper this evening.  There are at least 3 of us in Kiev, so here's hoping we are able to get together :).

Though most of you will be sleeping until about 3pm here... (due to the time differences), please pray for the tax code and Wesley's passport application!
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