We should be getting our answer to the Kaz authorities finally put together tomorrow, we will then get it translated along with our personal cover letter and get it couriered to the proper person in Kazakhstan.
We need a lot of prayer during this time, we are unable to answer the questions with the degree of detail that the Kaz authorities require, we are also debating at the moment the best person to send it too. Our social services have done a great job and have answered the questions to the best of their ability we now need to pray that the person who receives them will be happy and will restart our application promptly.
Amanda's brother Ken is still in the Royal Hospital, the doctors haven't operated on him yet but are continuing to do tests on him, please continue to pray for him.
We still believe we are in the hands of the Lord, we will be matched with the right child for us at the right time!
'the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.' phil4v7
Once we know anything more we will post again.
Philip & Amanda
Thursday 27 September 2007
Tuesday 25 September 2007
Tuesday Update
We got the second part of of our prayer answered this evening, a very detailed email has just come through from our agency spelling out the specific questions which we need to answer, we have also got an additional contact in Kazakhstan to send the completed info to as well.
We will be in contact first thing in the morning with our Social Services and will try to get an official letter from them addressing the concerns of the Kaz authorities, we also need to write a cover letter from ourselves to go with it, then we need to get both copied, translated and couriered to the contacts in Kazakhstan.
Our prayer on Thursday has been answered, we now need to keep praying that once the authorities in Kazakhstan receive the letter they will make a quick decision and get us under way again.
We would also appreciate prayer for Amanda's brother, he has just been taken into hospital suffering from a brain aneurysm, he will be shortly having keyhole surgery in the Royal Hospital. This was all taking place when we should have been sitting in the departure lounge in Heathrow Airport. He is in control!
Will post again when we get more news.
Philip & Amanda
We will be in contact first thing in the morning with our Social Services and will try to get an official letter from them addressing the concerns of the Kaz authorities, we also need to write a cover letter from ourselves to go with it, then we need to get both copied, translated and couriered to the contacts in Kazakhstan.
Our prayer on Thursday has been answered, we now need to keep praying that once the authorities in Kazakhstan receive the letter they will make a quick decision and get us under way again.
We would also appreciate prayer for Amanda's brother, he has just been taken into hospital suffering from a brain aneurysm, he will be shortly having keyhole surgery in the Royal Hospital. This was all taking place when we should have been sitting in the departure lounge in Heathrow Airport. He is in control!
Will post again when we get more news.
Philip & Amanda
Monday 24 September 2007
Monday Update
We have just gotten off the phone with our agency in America and praise the Lord we have had one half of our prayer answered, we have the name and the contact details of the person who has the authority to restart our application and we have been promised the other half of our prayer tomorrow, i.e the specific question that he needs answered!
The last two days have been a nightmare as our minds worked overtime and lurched from one worst case scenario to another, however the support of other Christians has been a great source of comfort for us both, to know that people are praying for us means a lot! On Sunday morning in Cardy someone read a verse which seemed very appropriate - 'Fear ye not, stand still and see the salvation of the Lord which He will show to you today. Ex 14 v13
We will update again tomorrow.
Pray that we get the specific question we need to answer tomorrow.
Pray that the contact in Kaz will be satisfied and will restart our LOI process.
Thanks for all the prayers, cards, words and texts of support, we really appreciate them all!!!
Philip & Amanda
The last two days have been a nightmare as our minds worked overtime and lurched from one worst case scenario to another, however the support of other Christians has been a great source of comfort for us both, to know that people are praying for us means a lot! On Sunday morning in Cardy someone read a verse which seemed very appropriate - 'Fear ye not, stand still and see the salvation of the Lord which He will show to you today. Ex 14 v13
We will update again tomorrow.
Pray that we get the specific question we need to answer tomorrow.
Pray that the contact in Kaz will be satisfied and will restart our LOI process.
Thanks for all the prayers, cards, words and texts of support, we really appreciate them all!!!
Philip & Amanda
Friday 21 September 2007
Update...
We've spoken to a lot of people today in order to try and find a solution to this problem, including but not limited to, our social workers, Almat from the Kaz Embassy in London, our health trust, Stormont and our agency in America. Our health trust are happy to give us a letter to pass onto the kaz authorities reassuring them that the care of the child is paramount concern and that no matter what happens she would be cared for by the trust. Our biggest problem at the moment is the fact that we really don't know what the problem is!!!!
So the next step is that on Monday morning our coordinator in Kaz is going to speak with senior official in the MOE to establish (a) Who is raising this issue? and (b) What is their specific question/concern?
Once we have established this then we can start to resolve the problem and give the appropriate persons the answers they are seeking.
Pray that we will get some answers on Monday and can start planning a way ahead.
We will post again on Monday
Philip & Amanda
So the next step is that on Monday morning our coordinator in Kaz is going to speak with senior official in the MOE to establish (a) Who is raising this issue? and (b) What is their specific question/concern?
Once we have established this then we can start to resolve the problem and give the appropriate persons the answers they are seeking.
Pray that we will get some answers on Monday and can start planning a way ahead.
We will post again on Monday
Philip & Amanda
Thursday 20 September 2007
Bad News...
Just got some pretty bad news from our agency, we were hoping to get our LOI today but instead we got news that the body in Kazakhstan who issues the LOI has suspended all UK adoption documents until they clarify a legal point with the UK courts.
Its a question which we feel can be quickly answered but the wheels of bureaucracy tend to run slowly in Kazakhstan so we have no idea at this stage how long we will be delayed.
Our agency is going to try to find out some more concrete information tomorrow so that we can at least know what the Kaz authorities want from us.
We are utterly in the hands of the Lord with this situation and as he has guided us in the past we are praying that we will soon see a way forward.
Pray that the issue will be resolved soon.
Pray that our daughter will continue to be preserved till we can get there.
As soon as we have any more information we will let you know.
Philip & Amanda
Its a question which we feel can be quickly answered but the wheels of bureaucracy tend to run slowly in Kazakhstan so we have no idea at this stage how long we will be delayed.
Our agency is going to try to find out some more concrete information tomorrow so that we can at least know what the Kaz authorities want from us.
We are utterly in the hands of the Lord with this situation and as he has guided us in the past we are praying that we will soon see a way forward.
Pray that the issue will be resolved soon.
Pray that our daughter will continue to be preserved till we can get there.
As soon as we have any more information we will let you know.
Philip & Amanda
Thursday 13 September 2007
Flights are booked!
"I'd like two seats on flight KC902 from London to Almaty please". It feels quite strange to have actually booked flights, after such a long time spent waiting we are now only a few weeks from being in Kazakhstan.
We managed to catch up with Almat in the Kaz embassy earlier today to find out the lie of the land regarding our visa, we had expected to be required to travel to London the day before our flight to sort it all out, however we were surprised but happy to hear that all we needed to do was turn up at the embassy the morning of our flight and he would give us our visa over the counter.
We also spoke with Alec McLane again tonight, he has our accommodation all sorted out for us, we are going to be staying with 'brother Randal', he has even offered to come with us and carry our bags :) We are looking forward to meeting all the Christians in Almaty after hearing so much about them from Alec's reports!
The only possible fly in the ointment is our letter of invitation, we need this to arrive by Mon 24th at the very latest in order to get our visa on Tue morning and make our flight on Tue evening at 9pm, Alec told us 'of course it will arrive' so we will take his word for it!!!
Pray that the LOI will arrive in time for us to get our visa and make our flights on the 25th.
Pray that our daughter will be preserved and will continue to thrive till we can get there.
Praise God that He has brought us this far and that we are able to stay with Christians during our stay.
Will report back when we hear good news about our LOI
Philip & Amanda
ps thanks to everyone who have left comments and sent emails of support, we really appreciate them.
We managed to catch up with Almat in the Kaz embassy earlier today to find out the lie of the land regarding our visa, we had expected to be required to travel to London the day before our flight to sort it all out, however we were surprised but happy to hear that all we needed to do was turn up at the embassy the morning of our flight and he would give us our visa over the counter.
We also spoke with Alec McLane again tonight, he has our accommodation all sorted out for us, we are going to be staying with 'brother Randal', he has even offered to come with us and carry our bags :) We are looking forward to meeting all the Christians in Almaty after hearing so much about them from Alec's reports!
The only possible fly in the ointment is our letter of invitation, we need this to arrive by Mon 24th at the very latest in order to get our visa on Tue morning and make our flight on Tue evening at 9pm, Alec told us 'of course it will arrive' so we will take his word for it!!!
Pray that the LOI will arrive in time for us to get our visa and make our flights on the 25th.
Pray that our daughter will be preserved and will continue to thrive till we can get there.
Praise God that He has brought us this far and that we are able to stay with Christians during our stay.
Will report back when we hear good news about our LOI
Philip & Amanda
ps thanks to everyone who have left comments and sent emails of support, we really appreciate them.
Saturday 8 September 2007
Back on track!
Watch this space, three weeks from now we should be writing this blog from Kazakhstan!!!
We met with our paediatrician yesterday and she was happy with the limited medical information we have for our child, we would have loved a photo as well but it seems that it is becoming increasingly difficult to get any information from the orphanage prior to travel. All we know at this stage is that she is 4 months old, small but healthy and has a minor correctable problem with her right foot, something which would probably effect her all her life in Kazakhstan but easily fixed here.
We believe that we have been led very definitely by God to this region and this child and we will continue to leave everything in His hands...
Our letter of invitation should arrive around 21st Sept and we hope to be on the 21.15 flight from London to Almaty on Tuesday 25th Sept.
Pray that we can keep on schedule with these dates.
Pray that our daughter will continue to grow and thrive.
We intend to post photos and video clips every day while we are in Kazakhstan, I'm going to attempt to post a short clip of our cot as a wee trial run, hopefully this works!!
Philip & Amanda
We met with our paediatrician yesterday and she was happy with the limited medical information we have for our child, we would have loved a photo as well but it seems that it is becoming increasingly difficult to get any information from the orphanage prior to travel. All we know at this stage is that she is 4 months old, small but healthy and has a minor correctable problem with her right foot, something which would probably effect her all her life in Kazakhstan but easily fixed here.
We believe that we have been led very definitely by God to this region and this child and we will continue to leave everything in His hands...
Our letter of invitation should arrive around 21st Sept and we hope to be on the 21.15 flight from London to Almaty on Tuesday 25th Sept.
Pray that we can keep on schedule with these dates.
Pray that our daughter will continue to grow and thrive.
We intend to post photos and video clips every day while we are in Kazakhstan, I'm going to attempt to post a short clip of our cot as a wee trial run, hopefully this works!!
Philip & Amanda
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