Update: February 15, 2007: Sixty Seconds We Won't Ever Forget,
We knew it was going to be an early morning today as we started off to the airport at 4:30 a.m. for our flight out of the main city here. Nevertheless, both Heather and I had a hard time sleeping from nervous anticipation of what was to come today. It was the day we've been waiting 15 months for, but in a sense, much longer than that. We have longed for years now to have a child to call our own, and today was the day we were going to meet him!

We asked that you pray for clear skies so our flight would leave on time, and we had absolutely no problems on that front. We landed in his snow-covered city just before 9:00 a.m., met our driver and interpreter, and were brought to the hotel where we're staying for a couple of nights. We were told that we would probably meet with government officials and possibly go to the baby house (orphanage) hopefully later in the day, but when we arrived at the hotel, they said we needed to leave for our meeting right away. We jumped in the cars and went to the government building.

Upon arrival, we were prepped for our meeting and all of the sudden found ourselves in front of government officials asking us questions about who we were, why we wanted to adopt, and if we were sure this was what we really wanted to do with our lives. It was interesting... one of their main questions for us dealt with our age, i.e., that we might be too young to adopt. I don't get it... maybe they've been talking with the Wal-Mart lady in Birmingham or something, but we made it clear that this was definitely what we wanted to do! They were satisfied with our answers and off we went.

Next stop--baby house. As we rode in the car, Heather made numerous comments to me about how her stomach was aching with nervousness. I couldn't wipe a giddy smile off my face as this surreal scene unfolded... driving through this town in Kazakhstan to go and meet our son! We arrived at the baby house and went inside. We were quickly escorted into the director's office where she read off some medical information regarding our child. As she was reading, all of the sudden this lady comes around the corner behind us and walks in with our son. Whoa... wow... yikes... ahhhh... holy cow... this is HIM, isn't it? Heather took him from the lady's arms. Oh my goodness... this is a BIG KID! Man... what do I do now? Ahhh... this is MY SON!

For a wonderful 15 whole seconds, he looked at us with his bright curious, inquisitive eyes. And then it happened. He bawled! He lost it. The poor kid... who in the world were these people? We found out later that they had just taken him from the middle of his lunchtime meal to bring him in to meet us. No wonder he wasn't the happiest kid on the block! I stood there with a screaming kid in my arms for about 10 seconds before he was rescued by the ladies standing around us. And then he was gone. What in the world just happened? Less than sixty seconds had gone by, I'd met my son for the first time, he yelled in my arms, and he was whisked away--back to the lunchtable! And that was it.

Heather and I looked at each other--do we laugh, do we cry, do we run go get him back? We sat back down in our chairs, dumbfounded by the scene that had just unfolded. Our hearts were full. Talk about a giddy smile now... we just sat there smiling, thinking about the child we had just encountered for the first time. The child that we will soon--God willing--have the opportunity to call our son. The child that we will soon hold in our arms--not just for a screaming 15 seconds, but for the rest of his life. Thank You, God, for Your faithfulness to us. Thank You for granting us our heart's desire. Thank You for doing it in Your timing. Thank You for this opportunity to adopt Your child. Thank You for entrusting us with his precious life. Thank You, Lord...

Well, enough excitement for the day. We're about to crash in our hotel and get geared up for the second day of visitation tomorrow. Adoption procedures here require a minimum 14-day visitation period before going to court. We are always cognizant of the fact that nothing is final until that court date, so we pray with patience and submission to His will. Until that date, we will meet with him on average twice a day for about an hour each time. Thank you guys for your constant prayers, support, and encouragement to us. We lean on you as we lean on Him.

We love and miss you!
David and Heather

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