Child-like Faith

I apologize for the lack of my blogging recently!  We hit our 2 month mark (September 2nd) from seeing Toby and committing to be his family...and in that 2 months MUCH was accomplished!  Our Home Study is finished and has been sent off for U.S. Customs and Immigration approval.  That process could around 2 months...but sometimes it happens quicker, so we cherish your prayers that our paperwork would get there quickly, get assigned a case officer and be approved in record time!!!  Our God can move mountains...and that means mountains of paperwork, too!

Now we wait.  We've sent off everything we can possibly send off, including several grant applications.  I think that perhaps the waiting is harder than actually completing the stacks and stacks of paperwork!  Now we have to rely on other people to get things accomplished on our behalf.  But our waiting isn't nearly as hard as our sweet boy's days and weeks and months and years of waiting for a family.

One of the most precious aspects of this journey so far has been to see our children grow in their own walks with the Lord.  We pray so fervently for Toby and for other orphans, and we've seen God move in such amazing ways already, it has all drawn our hearts closer to our Heavenly Father.  On July 29th, our sweet Georgie prayed to ask Jesus to be his Savior.  That following Sunday, our Jack chose to be baptized while we were visiting family in Arizona.

 Toby is already such an integral part of our family.  The boys talk about him constantly.  He is prayed for at every meal and each night before bed.  We've done a few things around the house to prepare for his arrival and his inclusion into our family.

Our craft aprons in the homeschool area - one already made for sweet Toby!

Our kids' baby pictures...we already added the youngest photo we have of Toby! 

Jack made this drawing to hang above his bed.  George also has a photo of Toby hanging above his head and they CANNOT WAIT to have a set of bunk beds in their room to get ready for their big brother to arrive! 

We are also really working on learning Russian as a family.  I am so thrilled to have such a beautiful reason to brush up on my own Russian skills...and it has been such a joy to work with the boys.  Jack is working his way through the Rosetta Stone Russian Level 1 program and we are building vocabulary words for all the boys.  The other day in the grocery store, George was in the cart and I heard him practicing the Russian words for "car", "motorcycle" and "train"!

Last week Jack and George decided they wanted to paint.  They wanted to paint BIG!  I found large pieces of cardboard and even two canvases and they went to town.  They both talked the entire time about how maybe they could sell the paintings to raise money for Toby!  (So...ahem...let me know if you would like to purchase Jackson Pollack-esque paintings made by two little brothers!)

 Jack is still learning how to write, but he has started a prayer journal.  His first two entries (dictated by him and written down by me for now) were both about Toby.  He prayed for us to be able to raise the money to bring Toby home.  He prayed for other orphans to have families.  He prayed for the situation in Kiev to settle down so that American families could continue to adopt.  I am amazed by his heart.  These little ones sit with me and look at photos of other Reece's Rainbow kids - some with facial deformities or other startling aspects of their appearance, and they NEVER ONCE comment on the outward appearance.  Every time they say, "Aww...he needs a family, too?"  Sometimes they say, "After we adopt Toby, maybe we can adopt him, too?"  Their hearts, like ours, have been broken wide open by the "least of these."  I cannot think of anything more beautiful.

One thing is for certain:  Toby is LOVED aplenty by the Meyer family!  He doesn't even know that he has such a fan club waiting to welcome him into their hearts and home!  The boys never once talk about having to share their toys or their home or their parents with someone else in a negative way.  It is always with joy!  We are so blessed!

His three little brothers can't wait to build forts out of sheets and pillows with him....

 ...they can't wait to do craft and science projects with him....

...they can't wait to explore nature and go camping with him....

...and they can't wait to read Bible stories and sing songs and pray and share Jesus with him!

We are cherishing these moments of child-like faith in our children, which spur on our own faith.  And we are counting the days until our Toby is home.  Thank you for praying for us!