March 8, 2007 - Twin, two year old boys in Astrakhan, Russia

We woke up the morning of Thursday, March 8, 2007, without a thought that we could get a referral that day.  Our dossier for Russia had only been submitted three months prior, and we were told that we should not expect to receive a referral until early to mid 2008.  With that in mind, my husband, Greg, had an inner peace about having time to save money to adopt two children from Russia.  That morning, my husband's devotional ended in Matthew chapter 14.  In this chapter Jesus walks on the water towards the disciples who are on a boat, which is being tossed by the sea waves and the wind.  The disciples were terrified, thinking that Jesus was a ghost.  "Jesus says to them, 'Take heart; it is I.  Do not be afraid.'  And Peter answered Him, 'Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.'  He said, 'Come'.  So Peter got out of the boat, walked on the water, and came to Jesus."  Later that day, Greg expressed his admiration for Peter who was willing to leave the relative safety of the boat and step onto the surface of the water to be with his Lord.  Though Peter's faith faltered, Greg found it incredible that he was willing to step out onto the water, into the storm that raged.  The thought came to Greg's mind in the form of a prayer, "Lord, what storm would you have us step out into?"
Later that day, Karen, from Children's Hope International, called me at work.  My heart was beating so fast and my mind was spinning in circles, trying to capture every word that she said. I'll never forget where I was or how I felt when she said that there were 22 month old, twin boys, who were Asian in appearance in Astrakhan, Russia.  She said that they were born 3 months prematurely and weighed around 2 lbs. at birth. 
The families who were ahead of us on the list turned down the referral, so she wondered if we were interested.  (For some reason I have a hard time writing that families said no to our boys.  Though I know that God ordained all of that, I feel badly that my boys will have that piece of information.  But it is an important piece, because it shows God's sovereignty.  They were meant to be our children)
I called Greg as soon as I hung up with Karen.  Yes, we were interested.  AND Yes, we were scared.  Three months premature?  Two lbs. at birth?  What would we be facing?  We had to give our decision as to whether we would travel to meet the boys by that Monday, March 12th. 
We sensed God saying "Come, come out of the safety of the boat, and step into the storm."
We got pictures of the boys on March 9, so tomorrow I will post the first pictures we saw of our boy's sweet faces and continue with how we made our decision.