The Space Between.

When we first started writing this blog I really thought that it would be mainly for family and friends who already had an understanding of what had come before the trip. Since then I have realized just how many other people happen across this blog and have decided to start this with a little background of our first trip and then proceed to the space between trips. I will try to be concise. When we first started this journey we were trying to adopt a young girl named Lina. She is a lovely young girl who has made some very bad decisions. One of which was to run away during our visit last November. That adoption fell through and we were left wondering why we had come all this way, done all this paperwork, raised all this money, only to have a beautiful young girl choose for her life exactly what we were trying to save her from. It was a difficult time for us but we knew that God had a plan and that we were there for a reason. When we came home we took a little break from the process and just waited. When we felt like we were ready to continue we contacted Bethany and asked if we could see some profiles. I think that Michele received several profiles but I only remember seeing one. A young nine year old girl named Kornelija. We said Okay. Lithuania said no. But they had said no to us with Lina too. In Lithuania you must be 18 years older than the child you are trying to adopt. Michele was short of being 18 years older than Lina by 3 months. We felt that this is what God wanted from us and decided to appeal. We asked for additional letters of reference from several people, and included around 30 from our youth group kids. God proved that He is bigger and that He is in control and they approved us. When they said no to us adopting Kornelija we asked why and were told that America is too far from her older sister. They wanted to adopt her out to a family in Europe so that she could be closer to Audrone. Splitting the sisters doesn't sound right to us although we know that sometimes circumstances force hard choices. At this point we asked if we could adopt Audrone as well. Bethany didn't think so but they checked into it. What they found is that because we had the pre-Hague Convention paperwork already filed with the USCIS (which we filed roughly 2 weeks before the change over because we were rushing for Lina) and that the rest of our paperwork was complete they thought it would be possible. Also, Audrone was almost 16 which is a year older than Lina and now neither one of us are even close to being 18 years older. But because we had already been to Lithuania and met several people in the government's Adoption Services they approved us and gave us preferential status to try and help keep the girls together. We had a short window to modify our paperwork and get it submitted. We had to have this done in the time between when the girls became available for international adoption and before Audrone turned 16. So, we were in the exact right place, at the exact right time, with the exact relationships to allow this to work. God had been coordinating this from the beginning. He knew that Lina was too far down the wrong path to make a good decision but He allowed us to show her His love for 10 days and who knows maybe she'll end up going back to the church we brought her to someday. We still don't understand why everything happened the way it did but it is apparent to us that God was putting all the pieces of the puzzle right where he wanted them to be. We knew that God has the big picture and that he brought us to Lithuania that first time for a reason and now we understand what He was doing. So if you are just tuning in, that is as brief a description of the events that have led us to this point as I can write. Well, our fist day with the girls is coming to a close. I know that I haven't discussed any of that yet. Maybe it will just have to be my version of a cliff hanger until I get some free time tomorrow.
God bless you all.
KC