Her name will be........

We have finally decided her name and want to share it with everyone. When we found out that she wasn't called Tatiana at the orphanage, we thought about changing her name to something else but keeping Tatiana in her name somewhere. So, her name after much input and thought will be Hannah Tatiana Sheldon! Hannah in Hebrew means Grace (of God) or favor which we believe she is grace given to us from God. Hannah in the bible was Sammuel's mother and she has a beautful prayer in Samuel 2. One part in verse 2 "There is no one holy like the Lord; there is no one besides you; there is no Rock like our God."

A bit of good news: I talked with Christi (our coordinator here) and she told me that Hannah has been released from the Russian data bank and now the judge is looking for a court date, so we may be leaving in late March to get her. We are planning to take Luke with us this time, and he is very excited about meeting his sister. We should be gone for three weeks or more and feel like this is the right decision for our family. He will miss a lot of school but his school would want it this way too!

My paperwork is going, but not great. We have had lots of sickness here(mainly me) which has slowed me down a little bit, but soon that will be a blink of an eye forgotten.

Keep it Cool-help purchase a refrigerator for the Kantemirov Orphanage

We asked at the orphanage what their greatest need is if our friends, colleagues, and families from our church and Luke’s school wanted to contribute to a gift that we would purchase in Russia. What they really need is a new refrigerator so they can keep milk fresh when the local farmers donate it. On our last day in Voronezh, we went to a Best Buy-like store and found a suitable refrigerator for 13,999 Rubles which at an exchange rate of 23 – 25 Rubles per Dollar equates to around $600 plus up to $150 delivery charge to transport the refrigerator the four to five hours from Voronezh to Kantemirov.
Additionally, we have shared with many of you our story of not needing our toilet seat covers when we went to the orphanage. In essence, you need a toilet seat in order to use a toilet seat cover, and to have a toilet seat, you really need a toilet; it is unnecessary to use a toilet seat cover on a hole in the ground. When we first asked the orphanage Assistant Director, she mentioned the need for toilets, but when she realized we were really considering buying something, she emphasized the pressing need for the refrigerator. While we want to honor the orphanage’s request for the refrigerator as our first priority, we’ve noticed how for many of our American friends, the need for toilets seems to be a compelling rallying cry. With that in mind, if God blesses this fund raiser with enough donations, we’d love to be able to also purchase a toilet for the orphanage. To be fair, we used the “toilet” facilities in a separate building from the one where Tatiana lives. The building where Tatiana lives does have two child size toilets (still no toilet seats) for the kids to use that were donated by Mormons on a mission trip.
If you’d like to help out, there are two ways you can contribute to the purchase of the refrigerator and toilet. For some of you, the simplest thing will be to give us cash or a check when you see us. For those who for tax deductibility or anonymity purposes would like to contribute through our Church, you can make tax deductible contributions as follows:

Make your check payable to Columbia Presbyterian Church Mission Discretionary Fund, and put on the memo line: Gift to Kantemirov Orphanage. Mail your check to Columbia Presbyterian Church, 10001 Route 108, Columbia, MD 21044.

Finally, and most of all, we know many people are praying for our family’s adoption, and we’re extremely grateful for your prayers. We will keep you updated, as we hear from Russia.

Loads of paperwork

The reason I haven't been writing much is I have loads of paper to complete before we go back to Russia. I have paperwork for our paperwork, if that is possible. This is stuff the judge needs from us to complete our adoption. I figured they had enough stuff on us, but they need more. I must say I wish I didn't have anymore to do because I have redone our dossier three times and that means about one inch of paper work each time. I need an attitude adjustment, but that may take some time, so my motto is just do it and don't think. Maybe that will work for a while, but in the real world.........

Anyway, the most common question we are getting is "hey, when are you going back?" And my most common answer is, "we are praying in March!" Things can change so quickly, and we are hopeful this will be true. I think I asked this question around five times in Russia and most of the time the same month was mentioned----March!

I think about Tatiana every day and pray for her in so many ways, but most of all for her to join us soon, so we can love her, care for her, and be her family.