Susan

Please pray for our friend, Susan, and her family. (Click to go read their prayer request.)

Rejoice!

Praise the Lord with our friends, Jon and Carrie Dulin, in Russia! They got the three-year residency permit that they had applied for!

A camp visit

Will has been invited to visit a camp in a nearby village to talk to the youth tomorrow night. Please pray that will go well.

Praise!

I didn't even think to ask for prayer for this, but our friend Julie went to the American embassy in Moscow today to get Asya's Report of Birth Abroad for us. (We left Russia without it.) Apparently they didn't want to give it to her, even though we had emailed back and forth with them about it. By the time we heard that they were trying to get in touch with us and called, they had already decided to give it to her. Thank you, Lord!

Other friends from Moscow (the Sullivan family) are coming to renew their Russian visas and visit us, so they'll be bring it to us this weekend. Please pray for them as they travel, and pray that they will get their visas. We've been hearing stories of visas not being granted.

A man named V.

Will got to spend a while talking to an unsaved young man about the Lord today. This man's life seems to be falling apart right now. Please pray for him. Pray that he would see his need for salvation as the true answer to his problems, and pray for his family.

Work is finished

The projects that Will and the other men were working on are done. There will probably be more before long, but they're stopping for now. Thank you for praying!

Team

The team left last night. Everything went smoothly with the children's programs and what they were doing with youth. Please pray for fruit here. Pray that children they had contact with will come to camp, August 11-15.

Relief

Today is a cool, rainy day. Such a nice break from the hot weather!

English camps

There are a few people that I know on a team doing English camps near Kiev. Also, Anna (Will's sister) is working at a similar camp in Odessa. I heard from her today that her first classes went smoothly, and that she's tired but doing well. Please pray for these camps and everyone involved.

The team

They got here on Sunday, and they're going out into the city every day to talk to youth and children and invite them to evening programs. Please pray daily for the visiting group and for the church youth.

Hot weather

The construction continues, and they're making great progress. Please pray for Will (and the others) as they work in the heat. It's hard on Will. Last week was cooler and rainy; now it's just plain HOT again. Also, they're actually working with several unsaved guys from a nearby village, so continue to pray for good conversation (and language skills. They all speak Ukrainian, so Will does a lot of guessing. )

Praise!

We're found a pacifier before bedtime! And the nap that Asya had to take before that wasn't too bad. God is very merciful.

Pacifier

Maybe this is a funny request, but Asya's beloved pacifiers are all missing right now. Please pray that we'll either find them, or that it will be easy to wean her off of them.

Church work

Today Will started working full time on the church work projects. They decided that after several weeks of doing just a few hours each evening--after work for most of the men--it would be better to hire some men who can work all day. Will will be working with two others, one from the church and one not, for a little while to try and finish up the projects that they have materials for. Pray for good work and good conversations while working. I think this will actually be better for our family, because the children and I have a routine for our days that works with or without Papa. In the evenings, when we're tired, he'll be here to help.

Team coming

There's a Russian-American team coming here in about a week to do some children's programs here. I don't really know too many details, but please to be praying for them and everyone who will be involved.

Catching up

We have had internet at home for a little while now, and it's time for me to get caught up here. God has answered so many prayers and blessed us so richly, that there's no way I can mention everything. Here are a few specific answers, though:

• Internet! - Getting it installed was a long process, but it sure is nice to be back in touch now!
• Apartment - The one I mentioned before has worked out beautifully. We've moved in and settled in, and we're enjoying our new home.
• Registration - It has taken a while, but now we're officially registered.
• Anna - Will's sister has come and gone. We had a great visit with her! So far, she's had safe travels all over Ukraine. Please keep praying for her. She'll be in this country until the end of July.

Now for some new prayer requests:

• We had to be registered before we could have our boxes brought in from Russia. Now that we have registration out of the way, Will and the driver will get together to get the documents we need to do that. Please pray especially for getting everything through customs. The Ukrainian border is notoriously bad and expensive. There are unofficial set prices for every single step of the way. (Did you know that for $1200 you can go around customs completely?) It could be complicated without us--the owners--there at the border.
• This is the second week of daily construction work for the men at church. Please pray for safety, endurance and good progress. (Pray for me at home, as I put our children to bed alone every night. That's the hardest part for me.)
• The youth meet Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday. They're very active, but they want leadership and direction. They often ask Will to lead meetings. Please pray for him as he prepares and does that.
• Day camp will probably be in August.
  

I'll probably come up with more soon, but there are some specific praises and prayers for now. Thank you for joining us in prayer!

Sweet babies

Remember, way back when I asked prayer for Lena? She had a safe birth in March. I finally got to see pictures of the babies. (That's a huge praise, too! It's such a treat for me.) Aren't they cute?

Yana (or should I say Jaana? ) and Ulyana and family

Answers

We had a safe and easy trip. Thank you, Lord!

It looks like we've found an apartment. Please pray that everything will work out with that, if it's what the Lord has for us.

Will tried to go back to Russia and was not allowed into the country. Please pray for us to be able to get our belongings here another way.

Update on various visas

• The Mankins didn't get their visas in time to leave when they were planning to. Now they're planning to go May 19. Keep praying!
• The Beairds did get their visas, but also not in time for their planned departure. They have two updates, one here and one here.
• The Dulins are waiting. They should hear in June. The S family was miraculously able to turn in their documents. Now they have to wait for up to six months before they hear the results.
• I haven't heard anything more from the Palmers.
  

Moving

We're leaving tomorrow! Please pray for us as we travel.

Once we get to Ukraine, please be praying for us to find an apartment that will be good for our family and ministry.

Also, once we're there, Will needs to get to Russia and back, to bring our things from there before May 10. Please pray for him traveling and for the logistics of that trip.

Thank you!

Friends' visas

I'm still praising the Lord that He gave us our visas early this time. That reminds me to pray for all our friends who are waiting for visas, though. It seems like there are a lot of them in that position right now. Please pray with me for

• The Mankins: hopefully headed back to Papua New Guinea tomorrow, but waiting for paperwork
• The Beairds
• The Dulins and the S family: trying to get temporary residence permits in Russia
• The Palmers: visas for Australia didn't come in time, so they're waiting again

Almost hard to believe!!!

OUR VISAS CAME! Now we really can leave on May 1, and we don't have to live with the suspense of waiting for visas any more. PRAISE THE LORD!

(Please be praying for our friends the Beairds. They have tickets to go back to Russia April 30, but no visas yet, as far as I know.)

Got it

Asya's Social Security card came. It was a little too late for taxes, but it's very nice to have it in hand.

Buying tickets

We just sent off the check for our tickets. We should be leaving May 1! Please just pray that our visas get here in time for that. (I hate the suspense of having tickets before visas. We've said before that we'd never do that again, and now here we go. . . . We really do need to leave as soon as we have visas, so it's better not to wait.)

Here and gone!

Our invitations just came in, and Will's already sending them off to apply for visas! Praise the Lord for one step that happened just on time, and keep praying for speed.

Tickets

We have started looking at plane tickets to Ukraine!

The short version: Please pray for us to get tickets at a good time.

The long version: We should have our visas on April 28. It would be best if we could leave as soon as possible after that, so that Will has time to enter Russia and move our things to Ukraine, before his Russian visa runs out on May 10. The earliest that one travel agency could give us was May 5, which is cutting it close. Please pray for good tickets, good timing and good prices!

On their way

Our invitations were ready, and DHL picked them up, so they're on their way to us. We just found out that they'll be here on Monday! Then we can apply for our visas.

Next step with invitations

Will got a hold of Sasha in Ukraine without any trouble last night. Sasha said that actually, our invitations should be ready on Monday; he doesn't have them in his hand yet. He will email us on Monday to let us know, if they're there. Then, Will can schedule a DHL pickup for Tuesday. So, the prayer request is that they really will be ready on Monday!

Invitations

Our invitations are ready! Now we have to get them from Ukraine to here. Will's getting up at 1:00 in the morning to call and arrange that.

Hurrah!

Will's back. They're going to give Asya a number! It will take a little longer, because her birth certificate has to be checked and translated by Homeland Security. (Can't have any baby terrorists in America, you know.) But they are going to accept it. Thank you for praying!

Pray for mercy :-)

I couldn't get anywhere on the phone (although, I talked to some really smart computers!). So, Will's going to go to the Social Security office. It's really not that far away, which is funny, because we're so far out in the middle of nowhere. Please pray that they'll accept the documents we have. We should have two, and we do, but one is Russian. The American version of Asya's birth certificate is still sitting in Moscow. Pray that they'll take that and her passport as her two documents!

SS# update

We got an answer! I don't know if it's good news or not. Asya's application is officially lost. That means we can apply again, but I'm not sure we have everything we need to do that. Pray for me today as I try to get someone who knows something on the phone.

How's Jaan?

He seems to be doing better today. (After I wrote yesterday, he got worse, but never as bad as Raia.) Right now we're trying to hold him back from eating everything in sight. Pray for patience, as we try to be wise, and he whines for food!

(By the way, we're not starving him. He did have toast for breakfast. We just aren't giving him everything else that he was asking for.)

Visa update

This is what I posted on our blog:

Our friends Pavel and Tanya are in Ukraine, visiting relatives. Pavel has been working on getting us invitations. We sent all of our information to Sasha, a relative of his in the Baptist Union. Sasha just wrote, saying that he would pass it on to the missions department for them to apply for our invitations, and that it only takes 3-4 days for them to come through. So, if he turned them in right away, we could have invitations ready by early next week! Then, he will mail them to us, and we will apply for our visas. Please pray that all would go smoothly and quickly!

Happy news

Jaan must have the older sibling version of rotavirus. The other family who had this ended up with their toddler in the hospital; when his big sister got it, she just threw up once. Jaan's already doing much better, running around and eating crackers. Thank you, Lord!

Will's also up and moving around.

More sickness!?!?!

Jaan just started throwing up.

Raia had a little relapse yesterday, but I think it was just from eating solid food too soon. She's improving. (Her little, round belly is gone, though. I asked her where it went, and she said that she "coughed it.")

Will has been down with something. We're not even really sure what, but he has definitely not been feeling well.

Asya and I are still healthy!

She's well!

Thank you, Lord! We actually took Raia to church (in Charlotte, no less) yesterday. She was pitiful all day long. Her stomach was calm, but the fever was hanging on. The fever broke during the night, and she seems like her usual self today. She's still weak, but happy. We're supposed to keep her on a banana and toast diet for a little while longer, too.

Raia update

Her stomach finally settled late last night. We haven't tried any food yet this morning, but she's keeping down a little Gatorade. Just pray that it will stay down! I just heard that two other little boys are sick now, too. Please pray for Joseph and Daniel.

Raia. Sigh.

Last night she fell out of the living room window (which is high!). Today she's sick.

Edited to add: She probably has rotavirus, which can be pretty serious. Please pray that she'll be able to keep some liquids down!



(In the photo she's "showing off" her injuries from last night. Actually, she's covering some of them up.)

Asya's Social Security number

Please pray that we'll be able to get it for taxes! They seem to go very slowly overseas with Social Security numbers, and we applied for Asya's in Moscow. Pray that it would come through quickly and not be lost. Pray that I would be able to get in touch with someone who knows about it, and that they would be able to tell me what's going on. (I seem to remember something about you have to ask in person, not by phone or email. . . .)

Moving forward

We have a region of Ukraine chosen. Now we're working on visas. Please pray that they'll come through QUICKLY. Pavel, our friend and pastor from Kovrov, is visiting his relatives in Ukraine now, and he's working on getting invitations for us. Please pray that will go as quickly as possible!

Cross posting

This is something I had posted on our blog:
Prayers are being answered. Someone that we have really been wanting to get in touch with has gotten an internet connection. Pasha (in Kovrov) has been able to help a good bit, too; he and Will have been talking often via Skype, trying to figure out how to get visas for us.

Please keep praying! We still have a long way to go before we have definite plans settled.

Answers

Please pray for answers to the emails we've sent out. We've been writing and calling to try and decide where in Ukraine we'll be going, and now we're just waiting for answers. I would like to apply for our visas as soon as possible, but even that has to wait until we have some answers.

Pray for wisdom as we plan!

Will's cold and travel

Will and his parents are flying to Texas tomorrow. Will's cold hasn't been bad, but please do pray for him (and them) as they travel.

Also, I mentioned that our trip from Russia went well. I forgot to say that the drive from Florida to North Carolina also went smoothly. I wrote about that. . . .

Update

Sorry I've been so silent! There just hasn't been any time for me to write much.

Let's see. . . .
Our trip to Florida went well. It was long, but smooth. I had asked for prayer for Asya's ticket. We did get her on the plane with us; that cost a whole lot, but like Will said, it was worth it to be able to have her along.

And we're healthy! Praise the Lord for that, and please keep praying that we won't get sick. It's been so nice to be able to enjoy our time here without any sickness. (I started writing this yesterday. Today it looks like Will has a cold. )

I know people were praying about the car. Getting it on the road was an incredibly quick process. Thank you for praying! Please keep praying that we won't have any trouble with it. So far, it's running beautifully.

Our children have been doing well. Asya’s the easiest of all. As long as her milk supply is nearby—preferably holding her—she doesn’t care where in the world she is or what language is being spoken around her! Raia has struggled the most, but she seems to be doing okay now. She's even been babbling some; maybe she's getting ready to start speaking English? Jaan's doing wonderfully, but he seems to be more emotional than usual.

Travel

We have tickets. We’ll be leaving Russia on the 9th. Please pray for us as we travel!

Please also pray for one last detail: they don’t do e-tickets for infants, so we still have to get Asya’s ticket. There aren’t any travel agents in Kovrov who sell plane tickets; pray that Will will be able to get one in Vladimir.

Health

We’ve really been struggling with a long run of colds and coughs. Please pray that we can get well before we leave. Also, we tend to be sick a lot when traveling and staying with other people. Please pray that we can stay well this time!

Car!

Will's grandfather is going to let us use his car. Praise the Lord! (And thank you, Pop!) Please pray for all the details of getting Will's driver's license, buying insurance, getting the car running and such.

Lena

Some of you know Lena, mother of Jaan’s friend Andrusha, sister of Ira. We prayed every week for quite a while for God to heal her infertility and bless them with another baby. Now she’s expecting twins in the springtime! ( ) Please pray for her and them, especially considering the low quality of maternity care here. And pray for me, too. One of my big struggles is that I won’t get to see her little girls.

(Oh, and the doctors couldn’t do anything for Lena’s infertility. These twins are the result of God’s direct intervention!)

For our children

Please also remember to pray for our children. They’re sick. . . again. It’s nothing serious, but it is just another little thing to deal with. (Jaan says that his nose is drooling. )

They don’t really understand what is going on right now, but they do seem to feel that something is happening. (It’s been funny to see what sets them off. For Jaan it was when I packed up and sorted through the books. He stood next to me and cried the whole time, “No, Mama! Not the books! What will we read?” Raia had a harder time with the clothes: “What will we wear?”) And it’s so hard to stay patient with them! If I have to leave the room for Asya, I’ll come back to find that Jaan and Raia have instantly resorted my carefully sorted piles, unpacked our carefully packed items, and just let their curiosity run wild.

Kolya

Our friend Kolya has been going through a really hard time. He lost his job, and his wife is trying to divorce him. We have told him that we’re praying for him and that we would ask our friends to pray, and he really appreciates that. Also, pray for wisdom for us. We want to reach out to him, but especially when he’s very drunk he uses up a lot of our time. Pray for wisdom! We don’t want to turn him away, but we can’t afford to spend hours focused on him every day. Pray for his physical health and safely, too. (Recently one of our elderly neighbors upstairs came home drunk, and his wife locked him out. He yelled in the stairwell until late, and then went out. The next morning his coffin lid was by the door! He died in the night. I worry that something like that could happen to Kolya.)

[Since I wrote this, Kolya has started writing a book. He wants us to take it to America, translate it, and sell it for $10,000. Not too realistic, but it’s keeping him sober and busy. Praise the Lord for that!]

Seryozha

I’m struggling with the thought of leaving Seryozha, “our orphan.” Please pray for him to do well and for us to be able to leave him!

Sad news

We lost the appeal. Please pray for our broken hearts and for the practical details that we're going to have to be taking care of.

Appeal Hearing

We have just found out that our court hearing in Vladimir will be tomorrow, Friday the 18^th, at 3:00.  We appreciate your prayers!!

Appeal

We'll be appealing the court decision on January 9th. Please pray for Will and Sergei (the missionary-lawyer) as they prepare the appeal and turn it in.

Details

The court hearing will be at 12:00 on Tuesday. Along with the big prayer requests (mercy, victory!), please be praying for the little things. This time we're going to take Asya with us. Please pray that she won't be a distraction or problem. Pray for Jaan and Raia to have a good time with Tanya.

No more charges

Please pray that no one would come to file charges against me while we sit here, waiting for our court date. (In case you don't read our family blog, our court date is December 25.)

Trip details

Please be praying for us as we get closer to making definite plans for our trip the States. Please pray especially that the Lord would provide a car for us to use there.

Going home

We need to vacate this apartment, so we'll be going home to Kovrov on Tuesday. Please pray for safe travel.

Also, pray for wisdom in what to do next. We feel like we're in a better legal position, now that we've tried to get exit visas and been denied. It doesn't seem like they would press charges against me for being in Russia, when I can't leave! But we'll see. If we need to, we can stay with friends.

Praise!

We are seeing that the Lord is providing. Special gifts for our upcoming trip are already coming in. Keeping praying!

The main prayer requests right now

First, please keep praying that we would be able to return to Russia after the court hearing that we're waiting for. The judge could decide to deport me, which would mean that I would not be allowed enter Russia for five years or more. Or the decision could be different, and we'd get exit visas to leave in around two weeks after that. Either way, we'll be leaving, for a short time (as we hope and pray), or. . . .

Also pray that God would provide the finances we need! To quote a prayer request from a Gospelink letter that came in recently: "We be in need of financial situation."

(And, no, we still don't have a court date.)

Something minor

We've had colds and such almost the whole time we've been here. It would be really nice to have our children be healthy and to feel well ourselves!

The latest

I'm sorry. I forgot that there are some who only read here, and not on our blog. Here's what I had written there:

Will titled one of his updates "Light at the end of the tunnel." We keep thinking we see that light, and it keeps staying just a little beyond our reach. On Sunday I thought that we had two big problems: the mysterious email from Kiev and the fact that I'm sitting here breaking the law of Russia with my expired visa. And I thought that we could make progress on both of those problems in the next few days. Well. . . .

Problem #1: The mysterious email is still just that. A mystery. Will called the consulate in Kiev on Monday. They don't know what's going on either. They said they got a letter telling them not to give Will a visa, but it was too late, so all they could think of was sending that email. They don't know why they got the letter. We were worried, because the email said to bring the visa back to be annulled. That could mean five years out of the country! When Will asked about that, the lady said, "Why? You didn't do anything wrong." All they could suggest was having the National Baptist Union (who invited Will) write a letter asking for explanation. The people in Kiev were very sympathetic and didn't give a deadline or really push for anything. It's almost like they feel like they sent the email, so they've done their duty.

Problem #2: We had gotten to the point where we had decided just to get exit visas and leave for the States until our work visas are ready in February. After sending Will around to all the different offices in Vladimir Migration, they decided that they can't gave us exit visas until my case goes through the regional court. The appeal has already been filed, so it has to go through. And of course, no one know when the court date will be.

So, now what? We're still confused and frustrated and scared. We'll wait until for our court date, and then after that, we'll go to the States until February, whether we're deported or given exit visas.

In our dream world, we'd plan our trip around the dates that are convenient for everyone, have a car (and a driver's license), spend time at Siloam Missionary Homes and/or D & D, enjoy visits with all our relatives and friends, and know that we could come home to Russia afterwards. In the real world? We don't even have money for one-way plane tickets!

Please keep praying for us. Pray that God would once again protect us from being deported, and would bless our plans and desires concerning time in the States. We love you all and really appreciate your love and concern for us. Thank you so much for praying!

Will's travels

He let me know that he made it to Ivanovo and stopped there for the night. Now he's on his way to Vladimir, to talk to the regional head of Migration. Please pray that man will be kind, merciful and able to help! Pray for Will as he goes before this influential and intimidating man!

On the road

Please pray for Will as he's on the road today. He had a successful morning in Moscow, getting our passports translated. Now he's on a bus to Ivanovo, hoping to get there before late night, and then maybe on to Vladimir or home. This is a yucky day to travel: wet roads, slushy snow everywhere.

Update

Here is what I posted on our blog:

Will has been home. He left on Friday to go back for the regional meeting that was on Saturday. Soon after he left, I got an email from the Russian Consulate in Kiev, telling Will to bring back his new visa to be annulled. What!?!?! (Please pray!) Also, at home Will found a letter in our mailbox, saying that Kovrov Migration Control is appealing the court decision that was in my favor. What!?!?! (Please pray!) That's the bad news. The good news is that the Baptist Union was approved to invite foreigners with no problem, and they took the initiative on their own to try inviting us on work visas, which is a new and really good option. It sounds like we'll have those in February. (Please pray!)

So, where are we now? In the land of confusion! Will came back from Kovrov/Vladimir last night around midnight. Tomorrow he is going to call Kiev and see if he can clear up anything there. He'll also leave early in the morning to get all of our passports translated and notarized in Moscow and hopefully out to Ivanovo to be turned in right away for those new visas. Then, he'll get ready to be in line early to talk to the regional head of Migration in Vladimir on Tuesday--the only day he receives people--in hope that he can help. (Please pray!)

Now I've told you all I know. Hopefully you're not as confused about it as we are! Just a warning in advance: our answer to all questions is going to be, "We don't know yet."

Thanks for praying

We're safely here. The trip went smoothly the whole way. It was definitely long, though. I don't know if we've ever had all three children sound asleep by 7:00! They're worn out, and so are we.

Long day ahead

We could use some extra travel prayers. Tomorrow morning at 5:00 we'll leave with our three little children and one big suitcase on a commuter train to Vladimir. There we'll take a regular train to Moscow, go across Moscow, and get on another commuter train going out the other side of the city. It's a long trip. . . .

God answers

Here's the story.

:-)

Tanya is coming to watch the children tomorrow morning, so that Will can go with me. Thank the Lord for that, and pray for them to do well with her. (Especially Asya! Pray that Asya won't have any sudden hunger pangs. )

Well. . .

I was going to say that all is quiet on the front here. Will and the Baptist Union lawyer turned in the papers on Tuesday to register them to invite me. There were a few more documents necessary, so Will is going to get them in Ivanovo tomorrow, and then turn them in as soon as possible in Vladimir. Pray for all of that to go quickly.

But. . . .
The local law enforcement officers came back again today to fill out charges against me. This is the second time since Will got back from Kiev. Now I'll be going in to talk to them on Friday morning at 10:00 and see what their boss has decided to do about me. (They know I have a nursing baby, so he's not going to take more than an hour.) Please pray for me! Up until now, Will has done all the talking. He's much better at explaining clearly than I am. Pray for mercy again, too.

PRAISE THE LORD!

Will is registered!

The drama continues

We've come up against another obstacle in getting Will registered. Please pray, especially today! Details will follow, when we understand what's going on ourselves.

Today and Tuesday

Well, one prayer answered: the unpleasant man wasn't even there today. Will spent the whole day running back and forth or just sitting and waiting, and he still isn't registered, though. So, keep praying. He's supposed to go back again on Wednesday.

Tomorrow he'll be leaving very early to get a place in line at the Vladimir Regional Migration Control. Hopefully he'll be able to get questions answered and start on invitations for the children and me.

Tomorrow

Will's going to try to register his new visa tomorrow. Please pray that they'll be willing to do that here. The local migration inspector that we've dealt with before was not very pleasant, so pray that he'll be nice. We're also praying that he'll register Will for at least six months; three months is more standard with a religious visa.

What's next?

For those of you who are already asking what's next: that's what we'd like to know! Just kidding. But the main prayer request right now is probably just for us to be able to keep track of all the details.

And there are some specific things to pray about:
1. Pray that Will would be able to register his new visa here in Kovrov on Monday.
2. Pray that we would figure out how to get an invitation for me. We're going to try to do that through the regional Baptist Union and Migration Service in Vladimir. We just found out today that the Baptist Union will have to register to invite foreigners. We tried to do that with a friend's business last year, and it was impossibly complicated. Will and the Union lawyer will probably be going to Vladimir on Tuesday to see what they can do.

Praise the Lord with us for Will's new visa and how smoothly his trip went!

Full of praise

Will's visa process is going very quickly and smoothly. And I was thrilled to find out that the consulate in Kiev doesn't require AIDS tests for small children. That was something I was really dreading. Thank you, Lord!

Thank you for praying!

The summary is that we're not being deported and things are looking up, but we still have a long road ahead of us. Please keep praying! If you want to read all the details, go here.
.

Good night!

Will's on his way home and should be here soon. I probably won't post another update until tomorrow, though. He'll have to explain everything to me, which could take a while, and we're both tired. I do know from his phone messages that we're not being deported. But that's all I know. Good night! Thank you so much for your prayers.

A little more

I think Will has already talked to someone in Vladimir by phone, because he said they sound sympathetic. He says that if the director there will have mercy, our case won't go to court, so PRAY FOR MERCY!

Small update

All I've heard so far is a quick message from Will, saying that he's going to Vladimir now to plead our case with the regional authorities.

Urgent prayer request

A man came tonight to deliver a paper calling Will into the office of the local Migration Service tomorrow at 11:00. Migration Service is who we have had problems with this year. We really don't know what this is about, except that he mentioned the documents that we turned in to get Asya's birth certificate. As Will said, "Don't panic, because we don't know what to panic about, and we don't want you getting ahead of us." :-) But please do PRAY!

Thank you, Lord!

We now have a birth certificate for Anastasiya Vilburnovna Khansaker! (That would be our Little Asya.) Thank you for all your prayers! It was much quicker and easier this time than last time.

We also have tickets to go to Moscow on Tuesday to apply for her passport at the embassy there. Please pray for us, as that's a pretty big trip to make with three little ones.

Still working on it

Well, today we learned that all the notaries in town close early on Fridays. Will's still going to try to go in tomorrow morning, since the nice lady offered to let him come in then, when they don't usually do birth certificates. Maybe she'll let him have the birth certificate, with a promise to bring in the last papers next week. Then we could start on Asya's passport.

Oh, the letter from Tanya was fine, and probably not even necessary. Thanks for praying about that!

Getting closer

Will did get to all the places he wanted to today. But. . . he still needs to do a little more. Tomorrow he'll have to get copies of the visa sections of our passports notarized (but not translated. At least, he can do that locally.) Then he can take that in on Friday, and hopefully we'll be done! Thank you for praying. Everyone has been very nice through all of this, and things went remarkably well today.

Pray for speed!

Will is trying to do everything faster than I said yesterday. He left for Vladimir at 5:00 this morning. He's trying to get there and back quickly, get a witness letter from our friend Tanya (pray that will be acceptable!), and then turn everything in for the birth certificate today.

Slow progress

After all day in Vladimir, Will has to go back again tomorrow. He got the translations done. They just need to be notarized now. Please for everything to go quickly, for safe travel, and for strength for me. I'm exhausted!

Nothing is ever simple

Laws have changed a little. Now we need a witness letter and notarized translations of our passports and marriage license to get a birth certificate. Will can go to Vladimir to get the translations tomorrow. Please pray that we'll figure out what to do about the witness letter. Hopefully we can get everything pulled together by next Tuesday, get the birth certificate then, and go to Moscow the next day to apply for Asya's passport. (She has to do that in person. )

Adjustments

Quite a few people have mentioned that they're praying for Jaan and Raia to adjust well to life with their new sister. So far they're doing great with that! We haven't had any problems at all. However, you can pray for them, as several times this week friends from church have taken them out to play, and Raia seems to be having a hard time with that. Even Jaan cried about it once. They're not used to being away from us, and the extra excitement is also a lot for them to deal with.

Later

Of course, the birth certificate place is closed on the fourth Thursday of every month. Friday and Saturday they only do weddings; Sunday and Monday they're closed. So, Will can probably go back on Tuesday.

Birth certificate

Will's going to apply for Asya's birth certificate today. We expect everything to go smoothly with that, but after the work it took to get one for Raia, we'd appreciate some extra prayer. Thanks!

Sweet baby girl!

I'm very happy to post the last of my series of pregnancy prayer requests. This one is a big praise. We have a sweet, new baby girl!

Gospelink update

The correspondence this quarter has gone much more smoothly than usual. Thank you for praying! We're have just two envelopes left to come in. You can keep praying for those, and for the big package that Will just sent off to the Gospelink office.

Visa answer

We just found out the answer on my visa invitation, and that answer is no. My application for a visa invitation through the Russian Baptist Union has been turned down again. Will is going to Moscow tomorrow to talk to the visa consultant we have worked with before and figure out what our other options are. Please don't ask what's next, because we don't know ourselves. Please do pray! The final outcome is still up to God. We'll let you know as soon as we find out more.

Preaching

Will is starting a series of messages on Galatians today. Please pray that he'll be able to say what needs to be said and say it clearly. This is a very needed topic in our church!

"Poor feet!"

My feet have really swollen up badly and they HURT. It's not heat, blood pressure or anything I can figure out in my diet. Please pray that the swelling would go down.

(I was trying to figure out what is causing this, and Will said, "Um, could it be that you're eight months pregnant?" Raia keeps looking at my feet, shaking her head, and saying, "Poor feet!"

Drippy noses, part 2

Thank you for praying! Everyone is pretty much back to normal. The drippy noses are feeling better.

Thank you, Lord!

I think it's now safe to say that God kept me safe from both the colds and the earlier stomach bug that ran through this house. Praise Him! Please keep praying for me in day to day dealing with not feeling too good, though. And pray for a healthy baby and good birth!

Drippy noses

The children have colds. Will is getting over his pretty well. Please pray that I won't get sick! I don't know that I could handle it right now. So far the Lord has protected me from this and the stomach bug that they had. Praise Him for that!

Another snag

We should have had a yes or no answer on my letter of invitation for a visa yesterday. Instead, the only news was that it's being held for investigation. Please PRAY. I know you all have been, but please intensify those prayers, if that's possible. Thank you so much! We know the Lord is in control, and we're trusting Him.