Just days before we were scheduled to travel to Russia for our court appearance on March 19, we learned that there was a glitch in the required documents for Isaac to be adopted.  So, we were left to cancel our flight and hotel reservations.  The adoption team in Russia was so diligent to look into the situation, going to the appropriate government offices day after day to try and get the needed document.

The roughest days for me were Friday, March 16 when we were to fly to Russia and Monday, March 19, our previously scheduled court date in Russia. As hard as those days were, the Lord brought us to the point where we were completely at peace and resting in His perfect timing.

Thankfully, on Wednesday, March 28, we learned that everything was in order and we would be traveling to Russia on Monday, April 2 for our court date on April 5.  (May I say how blessed we are that GMO has allowed us to be flexible with our travel dates!)

We were prepared for almost anything going into our second trip to Russia! This was a much shorter trip: April 2-6, but an incredibly important trip. We flew to Moscow just days after Isaac’s first birthday (March 31). The purpose of this trip was to appear before a Russian judge to be approved for the adoption.

We landed on Tuesday, April 3 and were pleasantly surprised by the temps in the 20s and 30s (much warmer than the temps on our first trip). However, our driver shared that winter had stuck around an extra 2 weeks. It was snowing as we walked out of the airport to the parking garage. Vlad joked that this was the only place in the world where it was still snowing!

Fighting the jet lag, we arrived at our hotel, ate lunch, unpacked and then walked to Red Square and the Kremlin where we toured the Armoury. This was my second time to tour the Armoury and it brought back a lot of memories from my summer in Russia with Campus Crusade in 2005. I’d love to show you all of our pictures, but no photography was allowed. I was again blown away by the beauty, wealth, abundance and history. I joked with Matt that the Russians invented “bedazzling” as so many items were literally covered with every imaginable precious stone! Would you ever cover your Bible with a huge ornate gold plate with 900+ 2 carat diamonds and 300+ pink gemstones? Or what would you do with a crown covered with over 2000 diamonds? No wonder pictures aren’t allowed!

We had a lot of fun and found it was a lot easier to stay awake the rest of the day. It was pretty windy outside, with snow flurries making it feel a bit colder, so after taking pictures in the Kremlin and Red Square, we headed back to the hotel. (I still couldn’t believe it was snowing in April! It was in the 80s when we left Orlando!) After dinner at a Belorussian restaurant, we headed to get water and then to email friends and hit the bed.

I have to mention this story as it still makes me smile. We passed an older woman asking for money on the side of the road several times as we walked to and from the Kremlin and then to the restaurant for dinner. I wanted to do something to help her and wrapped up our leftover bread from dinner in 2 paper napkins. Sadly, she wasn’t there anymore when we headed back. But . . . there was a hungry looking German shepherd nearby. Please don’t think I’d pet or even approach a stray dog. But, when the dog was a descent distance away, I did unwrap the bread and place it on the ground in a corner. The dog came and sniffed the bread but didn’t eat it. (I didn’t blame the dog – the bread was sour tasting!). But, when we came out of the market with our 5 gallon jug of “water without gas,” the bread was gone. Either, the dog was actually hungry or there was a hungrier human around!

We were able to go to the baby home to see Isaac on Wednesday! We arrived at 10 as Vlad had called to see when we should come. They had shared that Isaac was down to one nap a day, so 10 would be best. But, when we arrived, and Isaac was not ready . . . we learned that he was still taking 2 naps a day and we were interrupting his schedule! So, we waited awhile, and then were able to spend an hour with Isaac. It was so good to see him again after being away for 2 months. He is still the happy boy we remembered!

It took a little bit of time for him to warm up to the strangers (us), but we were soon on friendly terms! He wasn’t walking yet, but doing everything he could to get around. We helped him walk around the room and played with toys we brought on the lobby couch. Then it was off to the mall for 2 hours before we could come back for our afternoon visit.

Vlad took us to a different mall with a Russian version of Wal-Mart on the ground floor. I was really curious to see what you could find here and we got a shopping cart.

I did learn a great method to prevent shoplifting: require everyone to bring their bag/purse, etc. to the station where they heat seal your items in a plastic bag before you can enter the shopping area! So, we pushed our plastic bags around in our “much better than the American Wal-Mart” shopping cart.

After 15 minutes of exploring, we checked out with our Russian chocolate! It really was a steal compared to prices at the corner market near our hotel, and less than we’d pay for chocolate in the states.

Vlad met us upstairs as we were eating lunch and filled us in on the rundown of our court appearance the following day. I was a little nervous but a lot excited

We were soon on our way to spend 2 more hours with Isaac. We got a lot of amazing pictures together, in spite of the very dim lighting in the lobby. Matt was still incredibly jet lagged and kept dozing off on the couch. I noticed that a young woman from Russian social services was standing in the doorway, smiling and watching us with Isaac. Stay awake, Matt! Isaac didn’t seem to mind any of it and was constantly amused as people walked through the area. So many distractions!

After visiting Isaac, we drove through CRAZY Moscow rush hour traffic, made it back to hotel and then walked a mile or so to Arbat street and the surrounding area. We picked up some Russian matryoshka doll magnets at the same place we’d stopped in our last trip. Of course the clerk recognized us! Those crazy Americans – what are they doing here twice in the same winter?! (My guess of what she may have been thinking!)

We walked around a long time and had a pretty late dinner at our new favorite Russian restaurant, Coffee Mania. Sounds American, but they serve Russian food. I had the Bunny Burgers with Russian cucumbers and dill and Matt had Russian deer (Maral) dumplings from the owner’s recent hunting trip! The absolute best thing I had on this trip was their special mango tea. (Tea without tea.) The warm mango juice with jasmine was out of this world, but the ginger root, sliced mango and feijoa at the bottom of the pot added even more flavor. (I bought the closest ingredients I could find here and hope to try and replicate the tea!)

Thursday, April 5 was our adoption court appointment. Besides waiting around for 1 1/2 hours before going into the courtroom, it couldn’t have gone any better! Masha, our translator did a great job and we were very aware of most everything that was said. Matt and I were both asked questions, formal statements were read and others from the baby home (including the woman who had been observing us the day before) testified. Everyone seemed to be on our side and clapped when the judge read that we were legally approved to adopt Isaac! What a HUGE celebration and answer to prayer. Praise the Lord, a letter from my doctor regarding my medical history was sufficient (as it should have been) and no questions were asked about the big “c” which has been in remission for 17 years now. Praise the Lord. Thank you to everyone who was praying for us. The Lord moved in that courtroom.

We were able to spend an hour with Isaac after we finally made it to the baby home (due to lots of traffic with several auto accidents). I shared our wonderful news with him and we were able to officially celebrate being Isaac’s parents! Isaac seemed pretty happy as well! The hour went by quickly, and by God’s grace, it really wasn’t incredibly hard to leave, (at least for me), as I knew we would be back in a month or so to bring him home.

Thankfully, we made it home with no flight delays. When we checked it at the ticket counter in Moscow, the woman behind the desk smiled as she talked with us, remembering us from the 45+  minutes we spent together in January as she helped us try and get back to the States after our flight was canceled.

No jet lag to speak of after we got home. I am looking forward to jet lag on our final trip and to getting our little guy! Keep praying! We’ll have him home before my 32nd birthday in May .

Some friends at work were so sweet to let us use their car seat for Isaac. Their kids are growing up and it is no longer needed. We’ll be purchasing one as well to have one in each vehicle.

Anyway, John brought the car seat into the office for us and the 3 of us went out to our Honda where John showed us the set-up, even strapping it into the car for us. (Much easier than I thought it would be.) The really amazing thing is how much I feel like a Mom when driving around with a car seat in the back!! A fun and unexpected surprise! It will be even better when Isaac is here and we can strap him in.

So I’ve realized I’m not the world’s best blogger! I tend to keep a running journal in my head, but it doesn’t always make it onto paper, much less onto our blog here. My apologies to anyone who was looking for the more frequent updates about our adoption journey.  You can always call or email! I’m here to try and begin to catch up over the last few months!

January 2012

Things happened so quickly with learning our travel dates, getting our Visas and booking our flights and hotel in Moscow, all within a matter of days! We left for the first of 3 trips on January 21, arriving in Moscow on Sunday morning.

Thank you so much for your prayers for our family. We had a week filled with adventures, and the Lord gave us the strength we needed each day. Our little boy, Isaac Lee Ritsema is so precious and definitely God’s perfect provision for our family. Here are our Top 10 memorable events from our first trip. We hope this gives you a glimpse into our week . . .

1. Meeting and spending time with our little boy. We relished every moment! He’s so healthy, happy and loving.
2. Signing the consent to adopt our precious Isaac.
3. Praying with and for Isaac at the baby home before we had to leave on Friday.
4. Seeing where Isaac lives and learning about his life here. The women who work at the baby home love him and call him a little pumpkin! They take such good care of him.
5. Making new friends at the airport and nearby hotel after our flight out of Moscow was canceled. We met 3 other families on our flight who were also traveling for Russian adoptions!
6. Our appointment at the Department of Education went very well. We were nervous and excited at the same time but wanted to be very professional with the Russian officials offering us the official referral of our little boy.
7. Souvenir shopping for gifts for Isaac in the years to come.
8. Being tourists – walking around Red Square, touring the Cathedrals in the Kremlin and trying different Russian foods.
9. 45-80 minute car rides from our hotel to the baby home through insane Moscow traffic with a “prospective NASCAR driver!” And subsequently, being thankful that we didn’t have to drive here!
10. The experience of being human popsicles in the frigid temperatures as we spent a lot of time walking around.  January 22, the day of our arrival, was the coldest day of the year so far feeling like -5F. It did get much colder in the days to come!

Backtrack to 8am . . . our driver, Vlad took us by the Domsky Monastery before our appointment at Moscow’s Ministry of Education (MOE) where we were asked some questions and then officially given Isaac’s referral. This, of course was the primary purpose of the first trip – to receive the referral and after spending time with our child, to decide if we would sign to accept the referral.

Here’s a few pictures of the beautiful Monastery located minutes from the MOE, and apparently a historic area most visitors don’t know about. A handful of panels were saved from Moscow’s Christ the Savior Cathedral and preserved on the back wall on the Monastery’s grounds. The panels depict many scenes from the Old Testament:

Domsky Monastery

An Old Testament scene saved from the original Christ the Savior Cathedral

Sunrise at Domsky Monastery

The snow was beautiful on the Monastery

A walkway at the back of the Monastery

Moses' sister, Miriam

Sadly, we learned that Isaac was not at the baby home, but was in the hospital. It’s standard procedure in Moscow to send children in the baby homes to the hospital when they get sick. This prevents more kids from getting sick and allows them to continue to receive great care. So, on January 5 Isaac was taken by ambulance to the children’s hospital for a minor cold. Thankfully, we were able to see him for all of 3 minutes at the hospital, but only after the woman at Orphanage No. 20 made 3 pleading calls to the hospital to allow us to visit Isaac.

It was frustrating to only be able to look at him for 3 minutes and not be able to hold him or take any pictures at the hospital before he was whisked away by the stout Russian nurse. So, we took a picture outside instead, hoping to see him the next day at the baby home.

We received a call on Wednesday morning that Isaac was still in the hospital. The ambulance hadn’t picked him up to go home on Tuesday, so we couldn’t see him. Talk about disappointment! We definitely didn’t understand what the Lord was up to, but wanted to trust that His ways and timing are perfect. In hindsight, we realize that the Lord could have been protecting Isaac from being adopted by a Russian family being in the hospital for 3 weeks. We’ll never know.

“As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts.”   Isaiah 55:9

Matt and Margaret outside the children's hospital

During the days we weren’t able to see Isaac, we walked around Red Square, toured the Cathedrals in the Kremlin and did some shopping on Arbat Street, buying gifts for Isaac later on.

M and M at St. Basil's Cathedral

Having fun in Red Square!

Matt in the Kremlin

Beautiful Cathedrals in the Kremlin

Russia Orthodox Service

Don't mess with me!

Margaret loves vintage hats!

Historic Red Square with Margaret in left the corner!

Fun on Arbat Street!

Our favorite day, by far was Thursday, January 26 when we were FINALLY able to spend time with Isaac! The ambulance made it to the hospital on Wednesday afternoon, bringing him home. I’ve wanted to adopt this guy since I was about 10, so it was amazing to be able to hang out with our son! It took a little bit of time for him to warm up to us, but it didn’t take any time for us to fall in love with him, knowing that God has handpicked Isaac for our family!

We signed the papers to officially accept Isaac’s referral on Thursday afternoon. Isaac couldn’t have known the significance of what we were doing, but he seemed excited none-the-less!

A little known fact . . . we were required to provide our child’s legal name on the first trip for all of the adoption documents that would be completed in Russia prior to our court date and final trip. Why Isaac? The Lord impressed the name “Isaac” on my heart last September, about a month after we had begun the adoption process, reminding me of the significance of the name. Isaac was the son of God’s covenant with Abraham – a covenant to increase and bless Abraham’s descendants, making them more numerous than the grains of sand. Isaac really was a miracle as he was born to Sarah and Abraham in their old age, when they were well past childbearing years. The Lord also showed me that the child He had for us is not really our child. He/she was God’s child and just as Abraham was called by the Lord to take a crazy step of faith: literally placing his only son on the altar, we were also called to completely place this child in God’s hands. We could never have imagined how true this would be, even in our adoption process.

(It just happens that Isaac also has a great, great, great, great, great (I think that’s about right) Grandfather, Isaac Shelby, who was the first governor of Kentucky. Shelby County, Tennessee was named after him . . . and, I’m guessing my Grandfather, Shelby Rees Lee, Sr., was also named after Isaac Shelby. So the family history is an added bonus!)

We chose “Lee” as the middle name for the significance with both Matt and myself. We went back and forth on many possible middle names. Lee is perfect!

First Meeting!

I love my Daddy!

Isaac means "He Laughs" in Hebrew!

Margaret gladly signs the papers to accept Isaac's referral!

So cute!

What a great day!

We had one more amazing day with Isaac on Friday! He loved the toys we brought to play with but was just as content sitting with us and talking. We helped him walk around the lobby area we were in and I told Isaac it was fine if he waited to start walking until we were back. I’d love to see him take his first steps!

Our Friday schedule was similar to the one on Thursday. We were able to spend time with Isaac from 10-12 and then went to a nearby mall to walk around and eat lunch from 12-2 while Isaac napped. Then we had more quality time together from 2-4 at the baby home.

You can only imagine how hard it was for us to say good-bye. We took some time to pray with and for Isaac before we left, knowing that our son is in the Lord’s hands. God has been so faithful and we trusted that He would continue watching over Isaac and would bring us safely back for the next 2 trips.

My favorite Ritsema family picture!

Matt and Isaac

Margaret and Isaac

We headed back to our hotel through crazy Moscow traffic. Thankfully, we never had to drive ourselves, but as I mentioned earlier, our driver was a little dangerous! At one intersection, we were surrounded by cars literally inches from our car on all sides, coming towards us not just from behind, but from both sides. All thoughts of any semblance of driving etiquette were out the window. Horns blared, drivers inched forward in all directions just waiting to hit your car, and tension filled the air. I held my breath wondering how we hadn’t gotten into a car accident yet! At the same time, I felt in a small way like I was the scene in the Italian Job where they flip the traffic light controls causing a huge pile up from all angles!

Crazy Traffic!

We made it to the airport on Saturday morning, only to learn that our flight was delayed . . . for a day. A “mechanical delay” proved to be a problem with the plane’s landing gear. Thankfully, Delta didn’t want to “risk it” but had to fly in the part to rebuild the landing gear from JFK the following day.

The problem was that, together, we only had a dollar on our person (and of course some credit cards). Hmmm . . . it was a bit crazy and nerve wracking that morning when we pulled up to the airport and our driver gave us our final bill. We handed over all our money but $1. Two sides of the coin here: scary that we only had one American dollar left but so incredibly thankful we had enough money to pay him. I guess we shouldn’t have tipped the other driver on Thursday . . .

After over 7 hours of standing in line at the different airport ticket counters, and waiting in the bitter cold for the free airport hotel shuttle, we FINALLY got to (much warmer) the hotel check in line with all of our new friends! It was hard to be stuck in Moscow an extra day without being able to see Isaac. But, while at the hotel we met 3 other American families who had also traveled to Russia for their adoptions! Amazingly, 2 of the families were adopting from areas in Russia that are very close to my heart due to my previous ministry travels in Russia: Saratov and Yekaterinburg! And, they were believers. It was so fun to talk with them and share stories!

Thankfully, we were able to fly back to JFK and then on to Orlando on Sunday. I was so ready to fly back to Moscow! Our next trip couldn’t come soon enough!!

Here are some pictures of Isaac from our second trip to Russia! Click here to view more cute photos!

Here is a short video on why we use Facebook and social media sharing the Gospel, as one woman put it, “It should be as natural as brushing your teeth, if you brush your teeth.” I’m sure we all brush our teeth, so sharing the Gospel should be just as natural. We should go where people are, and people are on the internet, Facebook, and Twitter.

Click here to view pictures of our little boy, Isaac Lee Ritsema!

More details to come, but thought you would want to see a picture.

We received a call from our social worker at 4:07 pm on Monday, December 12. Debra was so excited as she asked, “Did you check your email?” I was at work, sitting in front of my computer, so I frantically searched my inbox to see if I had any new emails. Hearing the excitement in Debra’s voice, I was secretly hoping that this was THE EMAIL we’d been waiting for! Nothing . . . but a few seconds later I saw a new email from our adoption agency. I clicked on the email and was speechless as I looked at the cutest little boy who has been matched with our dossier!! I picked up the phone and told Matt he needed to come over!

Matt and I learned in November that we would receive a referral for our adoption in January or sooner, but had no idea we would be matched with a child before Christmas! I was praying for God’s perfect timing and we have definitely seen His hand in the timing of our adoption process. We truly received the best gift ever, the picture and referral of a little boy in Moscow, and trust that this is the child God has for us! It was so fun to share our exciting news with friends and family over the holidays. Our gift was a great reminder of the wonderful gift we have been given in God sending His Son, Jesus to earth as a baby.

Our little boy seems to be healthy and happy. He’s definitely a cutie! We’ll find out much more information about his history after we travel for the first trip.

Last week we learned of a new policy change in Moscow that will require us to travel to Russia 3 times (instead of 2) before we bring our little boy home. It wasn’t what we wanted to hear, but I think God had already prepared my heart to receive the news – I was honestly okay! To look on the bright side, we’ll be getting a few more frequent flier miles than we originally expected. And its easier to ask someone to watch our dog, Myles, for a week vs a month! I know it will be so hard to say good-bye to our little boy after the first 2 trips, but we hope to have him home around May.

Last night, Matt and I began talking about our clothing needs with the cold winter weather in Russia. Matt is used to these temperatures from his years in Iowa. I still have my boots and thick socks from my mid-winter trips to Russia when I worked with Campus Crusade at Eastern Kentucky University. I laughed as I remembered that Russians, especially in Moscow, are often very stylish and wear muted colors. So, I won’t be wearing my bright red winter coat. I’ll take my black one instead! It goes without saying . . . the weather in Russia will be very different from the Florida winter weather.

Please celebrate with us and keep praying. I’m so excited about all the Lord has in store for 2012!

What if Joseph and Mary had Twitter, Facebook, and today’s other social media – how would they announce the coming of their baby?

We are now the proud owners of a crib and dresser for the baby’s room! This was our second trip to look at baby furniture at the Crib 4 Life store and each time I gave Matt a hard time for not parking in one of the “Expectant Mothers” parking spots! Our sales associate was very helpful but it was evident he felt a bit awkward as he looked at my belly and said ” . . . when will you need this by??” I tamed my sarcastic side and said, “We’re adopting a baby!”

The proud owners of a baby crib

There have been many memorable moments so far. We had to take pictures of our home, including a picture of the “baby’s room” to send in with our adoption paperwork. I emailed our social worker to ask if I should label the picture. How would they know this was the baby’s room since it there was a full size bed in the room?!

I spent last Saturday rearranging rooms upstairs to clear out a bedroom for the baby. Matt really wants to get busy painting, but I hope to pick out the bedding first. We hope to go gender neutral with the colors (going with my favorite color – green) since we don’t know if we are getting a boy or a girl. I’ve only looked at bedding at 2 stores, but no one seems to be selling bedding that would work for a boy or a girl.  I’m sure our parents did not have this problem since they didn’t know our gender ahead of time! Any suggestions?

The Ritsema family is growing! On November 19 we took 2 pounds of adoption paperwork to FedEx.  I (Margaret) was giddy as we packaged up almost 4 months of work to mail to the Florida Secretary of State and US Immigration Services!  We put so much prayer, time and effort into each form, and it was a step of faith to hand the documents over to the young woman behind the counter. We had to get pictures, of course, to celebrate this milestone in our journey! Many thanks to all of our “notary” friends at work who helped notarize over 70 documents for our adoption!

Yes!  Our adoption is moving along! We have a lot to pray for and give thanks over this holiday season – including you!  Thank you for being a part of our journey even now as we, by God’s grace, prepare to welcome our first child home. We’re blessed to have a wonderful team of encouragers in life and ministry.  We are excited to give our child an opportunity to have a new life, a loving Christian family and most importantly, the opportunity to know Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Savior.

Our social worker and adoption agency both feel that we will be traveling to Russia by March 2012!  This is will be the first of two trips to meet with Russian court officials, complete additional paperwork, and then bring our child home.

One of the most enjoyable parts of our adoption journey is sharing this experience with you.  You’re part of the work that God is doing to bring three lives together!  Your partnership in prayer and/or finances is God’s provision for us to continue the ministry to which He has brought us, and you.  We cannot thank you enough!