En route

Thank you for your prayers, I am en route to SOF via SFO and MUC. In SFO right now, made sure FaceTime worked (cute daughters are still cute via FaceTime, check), and just waiting for the next flight. I am pretending it is morning, since I need to be up for another day or so, in order to hit the hay around 11pm local time in Sofia. And I'm hoping to make it to liturgy in the morning...

But behold, a pretty darn complete play structure! Praise God that the monkey bars didn't take me down last night - they tried. But they're on now, and things are almost all zipped up. I took down the GoFundMe - thank you to all of you who donated. We are so blessed by all of our friends and helpers - and an extra thanks and congrats to those of you who have stayed with this blog long past the completion of its original intention!

When you have seen the worst

and then the worst

(perhaps),

and from there, 

even seen the best for what it is,

a poor but blessed shadow of 

the good that is to be,

and you have not flinched at the everyday works of God

(unexplained and unexcused as they are)

and you have shared with us

a road that led 

into a road that led 

into another life,

and remained steadfast 

in prayer

in love

and in pain,

there is little left to say

but 

thank you.

And may the Good Shepherd

unerringly lead us all

into His fold

and remember us

in His kingdom.

Lord, have mercy.

Thank you all.

In the works...

In answer to K's comment on my prior post, yes, thanks. We found a pretty good structure on Craigslist, and the boys and I went to disassemble it last Friday. We all melted into little puddles - it was in the high one-teens, and we worked from 1-4pm. Dumb, I know. But it fit the seller's schedule, and meant we could get the U-haul back on time.

Then (after smoothies) back home to unload it into our yard...

 Yeah, I know. Looks like a semi-organized tornado hit.

But it's coming back together - and my friend helped me get the chains, ropes, deck and slide in place since this photo was taken, so now the boys can go up and come down, which is very important.

It was just in time for the back wall to be repaired, so the timing was perfect. 

Today I stopped by the thrift store that's on my bike route to work, and we have some assorted Stefan clothes. It's a scattershot of 5, 6, & 7, which will actually fit right in with the scattershot assortment of clothes he's used to wearing from the orphanage. Still need to get briefs, though.

Also, we learned the bureaucratically obvious fact that the state supplied medicine for S.I.Tomov, a ward of the state. And the state will not supply medicine for Stefan Thomas Miner, the child of an American family. So we get to navigate that out-of-pocket, whoo.

We are still accepting donations through GoFundMe, but I will take it down once the play structure is complete and photographs have been shared with all our supporters. (That may be after I get back, we'll see...)

Thank you for your prayers, I fly on Friday, arrive Saturday night, and am hoping to attend liturgy in St George (the one Constantine built). Pray for Mama and the kiddos, please. Miles to go. But at least I am meeting my work deadlines before leaving...

In Christ,
Papa

That was fast...

There were some very happy boys

with a big shallow hole last night.

And today,

it's a yard.

Next stop, play structures. Thanks to all who have supported on GoFundMe, I will leave the page up until the play structure is done. 

And in ten days, I travel. Please pray for Mama and the kiddos. There's tension, as is to be expected prior to a mammoth family dynamic perturbation. 

In Christ,
Papa

Deconstructivism

It's pretty great to see a tractor man enjoying his work. Small Porgies would now like to grow up to be a tractor man.

Thanks to everyone who has helped with the GoFundMe, it is still live here: 

https://www.gofundme.com/a-backyard-for-stefan

God bless,

Papa

Thoughts on Wisdom

This is posted on my group blog, which is more concerned with culture/family than with adoption specifically.

Thank you for your prayers. I have a demo guy on the calendar for 19 June, and we'll see if we can get a play structure in before I leave on the 30th.

Thank you for any contributions to assist with that project.

In Christ,
Papa

Travel!

Hello all,
Thank you for your prayers, we just received our travel dates this morning! I will be flying over (probably leaving 30 June) to pick up Stefi on 3 July. Please continue your prayers, and we're very thankful to be so close to the finish (starting) line.

In Christ,
Papa

Getting ready

Hello,

You probably know that we try not to flog the fundraising around here. We want to be content, and are chiefly in need of your prayers anyway. However, today I set up a GoFundMe to raise money to pull out our swimming pool and put in a backyard that Stefan Thomas Miner can play in more safely. With the current setup, it's hard to run around in the backyard, so the boys mostly play out front. This is a no-go for Stefi. So, we'd like to tackle this, and we are thankful for help along the way!

Here is the link to our fundraiser, if you wish to visit or share it. We are always humbled by how people show love.

https://www.gofundme.com/a-backyard-for-stefan

In Christ,
Papa