So Much Progress: A Link Up in "Pages in Our Heritage of Faith"

Pictures for their immigration papers

It's been more than seven years now since Sergey and Oleg became our sons. Sometimes it takes looking back to realize just how far you've come. 


A few weeks ago, Kregg and I met at the main Post Office one afternoon so we could start the process of obtaining passports for the four youngest of our seven children. The rest of the family all have them, but these four needed to get them for an upcoming trip we are planning. 


The process has changed a little since the last time any of us applied. The forms are to be filled out at home and an appointment scheduled. As I was working on the four copies, there were a few of the blanks I was unsure of when it came to the boys. You see, in Russia they both shared two names: the surname and the patronymic name. There wasn't a blank for a patronymic name. And since we moved their given names to their middle names, did we need to put their former first names as "other names they had used"? It was unclear, so I called. The passport person didn't know, either. So she called someone else. 


For our biological children, we simply needed certified birth certificates and for both parents to be present. For Josh and Ben, we brought their Russian birth certificates, with translations, their immigration papers, and their certificates of citizenship, just in case. 


Good thing.


The passport lady wasn't sure what we should send, either. In the end, we settled on their birth certificates and citizenship papers. Handing them over to be mailed in was a little nerve wracking because there's no way we know of to replace the birth certificates. We had been told when we were leaving Russia not to let ANYONE have those papers. In fact, they told us not to even let the State Department hold them because they might not give them back to us. And that was our proof that these two little guys were ours. When we landed in New York on the way back from Moscow, we kept the originals in a completely separate carry on and gave the Immigration people only copies. So to stick these precious papers in envelopes and send them off in the mail made us a little nervous. 


Even though those papers are not really what make us family now, to the government, they do.


This afternoon, four big envelopes arrived containing all the original documents so now they can go back in the fire safe with the rest of those important papers that make official things official. 


The process got me to thinking. That and a precious comment left by a reader I don't know on a post about the adoption. She said this:

Anne, a friend sent me your post and it brought tears to my eyes.  My family and I adopted our 2 boys 6 1/2 years ago and they've been with us for over 8. Your words echo so much our journey also.  God has been faithful and they also have embraced God's love for them and in the process we learned more about ourselves and grew more than we could have if they had not been a part of our family.  Our bio girls have voiced gratitude to God for the place we are in life because of the impact of our boys in our lives.  It has been hard, but I am always encouraged by a message I once heard to "not doubt in the darkness, what God has made clear in the light" and the words of a song " but the voice of truth says do not be afraid-and the voice of truth says this is for my glory-out of all the voices calling out to me, I choose to listen and believe the voice of truth." Our Father is always faithful. Praise Him.

Looking at those pictures of Sergey and Oleg Naumov on the papers from Russia brought back a flood of memories and emotions. 


Those two little faces. 


They had no idea what lay ahead. 


Neither did we. 


They were so tiny, at 6 and 7. So tiny. And they were so unsure of everything. They didn't know us. Their experience in life was so extremely limited. Their vocabulary, even in their native tongue, was scant, at best. 


They didn't understand the vastness of what lay before them: to join a family of seven, to live in a country of freedoms, to have clothing, to have food, to join Boy Scouts, to travel all over the United States on our epic road trips, to encounter their Savior. 


I forget sometimes how many light years worth of distance has been covered. When I have to remind them for the umpteenth time of "how we do things," I can become frustrated and impatient. I have no right to do that, though. Everything in His Time. He makes all things New. He redeems and restores. His ways are not my ways, His thoughts not my thoughts. I don't see the big picture. 


But, because of His Faithfulness, I see a bigger piece of the Big Picture. And we have to trust Him for the rest.

It's Friday again. You know what that means if you have frequented the Antbed for more than a week. This is where I say, "Tell me your story. Tell me of His Faithfulness. Declare it. Write it down. Add a Page to Your Heritage of Faith." Grab the button in the sidebar and add it to your linked up post, please, so that others may understand what we are doing here. Your post can be anything about how the Lord has shown Himself Faithful to you, to your family. We want to intentionally, habitually take notes so that "the next generation will put their trust in the Lord." Begin a volume of Pages that tell of what He has done for you, through you, in you. We are a people of forgetfulness. We need reminders. And these reminders, as they accumulate, provide us with ammunition to combat the lies of the evil one as he whispers in our ears that He doesn't move on our behalf, that He doesn't care about us. Collect your stories. Create a strong heritage of those stories for your family, for future generations.