Internet is great....when it works!

We are sorry it has taken us so long to post this time, our internet is not working properly the last couple of days. We have had a crazy couple of days, we got assigned a new appearance with a new person on December 3rd. We are very excited, yet cautious. We have been advised to keep things more generic on our blog, so you will probably notice we've made some changes. We made a trip to Luke's town to meet with the director and another official, it was a very lenghty meeting with lots of suggestions and many decisions to be made about this additional wait. We are trying very hard to please everybody, and as we all know that is not possible! Please pray for God to give us His wisdom for each decision we make along this journey and that we will not doubt His path once we find it. Thank you all so much for your prayers, calls and friendship.
We love you all,
Luke's Parents

Lost in Translation

Mark and I met with our court rep tonight, along with the other adoptive family, to discuss possible avenues with our court issues. It appears that she will resubmit our dossier on Friday with the new judge. We are praying this new judge (who has experience with international adoptions and is deemed to have been fair in the past) will accept our dossier and give us a new court date in early December, in which case we will stay here in Country. If the court date is not reset, or is in late December we may have to re-evaluate our travel plans. Will you all please pray with us for favor with the judge and a newly appointed court date so we can have cause to stay to bring Luke home?
I believe our fellow adoptive parents will travel home on Saturday as their dossier will not be available for resubmission until next Friday and they have already been here for 4 1/2 weeks. We went out for Sushi together and I had caviar for the first time, very tastey! Will you also pray with us for favor with the judge for the Platters and a new court date for them in early December, as well?
We also completed our medicals today, a huge relief to have that off our minds
We are so thankful that we serve a God that is in all the details, great and small. That He is going before us in all of these appointments and issues and working them all for His perfect will.
Thank you for the love and support.

Divine Bonding

We went to visit Luke on Monday and had another great visit. When we got to the orphanage the director was surprised to see us because our court rep. forgot to call and let her know that we were accepting her invitation to visit. Luke was on a walk with his group so we went to the local cafe for some more solanka soup and hot tea. He was waiting for us when we got back and he ran right up to us to be picked up. We had a tea party with him and he played a mini keyboard for us. He loves to go through our backpack, and he pulled out the iPod and put the earphones on to listen to the music, he said in his language before we turned it on 'a song'!

We brought Luke another pear and he was a very happy boy! Our translator, Mila, brought him some Cok (pronunced sok) juice and he loved that, too. He loves for his Papa to swing him in the air, he laughs and Marks says again? and he says Yes!

When it was time for us to leave he looked sad, a good sign that he is bonding very well with us.

We went to our missionary friend's apartment and they are so wonderful, they cooked us pizza for dinner and let us do a load of laundry in their washing machine. They drove us back to our hotel where a phone call from our agency awaited us with frustrating news. The judge is holding up the progress of our court dates with paperwork hurdles. Please pray that God will give us divine intervention because we feel at this point that is what it is going to take to get in for court. Our court rep is meeting with the judge and an attorney she hired on our behalf today (Tuesday) and we hope God sends us a compromise with the judge. The other family is still here and it is really good to have friends to talk and pray with. Another family decided to delay their trip because of these new hurdles. Thank you all so much for the prayers and

comments on our blog-keep them coming we savor them.

Love, Mark & D

in photo above are Kara, Dwayne, Kirell, Nadia

Delays, delays

Well, we met with our court rep and we got the dreaded news that we will not have court on Wednesday--probably not even this week. There is a mistake on one of our documents, an incorrect name on a document that was not prepared by us. It is very disappointing to hear that we cannot have court, however, we are looking at the bright spot in our week-more opportunities to visit Luke. We will delay our medicals by a day at their suggestion and will visit Luke on Monday. Please pray for our document to be corrected and to make it to Country in record time, it will be sent express via DHL, however there is not an 'overnight' option here. Thank you all so much for the wonderful comments on the blog, we savor each and every one of them.

Luke loves pears and Kenny Chesney music!

Hello back in the states!

We had a wonderful visit with Luke on Saturday. Lots of time to play and give hugs and kisses to our boy. We took some cereal, a cakelike candy bar and a pear for him, my he has an appetite (just like his Daddy!). He ate all the cereal and the bar and then he pick up the pear, plucked off the stem and handed it to Papa and then preceeded to eat the whole thing!

We let him listen to Mama's iPod (Kenny Chesney of course!) and he loved it, he was so calm and he swayed back and forth to the music, then he would look up at us and smile! The orphanage director invited us back Monday, Tuesday, anyday! And she said we could come without a translator, something that is never offered so we feel very blessed that she is so comfortable with us.

We went to dinner at another hotel with another adoptive family and the missionaries from the States and had a great time. Unfortunately, the other family met with our court rep yesterday and the judge we are all assigned to is new and doesn't understand how our adoption agency and the umbrella agency we are all covered by work. She thinks something is 'fishy' with it and may require a letter from Moscow explaining that this is common practice (it's been the practice for 10 years!). If this is the requirement it will delay our court dates, so please pray for God to soften her heart, and have her speak with a more experienced judge to get clarification so we can all proceed with our court dates. We'll keep you posted!

The Robbs Reunited!

We had an amazing visit with Luke today. When he walked in the door he ran right to me and yelled MAMA and threw his arms around me, it was the most precious moment of my life. We spent about 2 1/2 hours visiting him and we played and played! He chatters about in Russian and we run behind him trying to keep up! He will repeat words in English if I point things out and say them. He picked up the digital camera at one point and when I tried to take it back he walked to Mark and said PAPA! He's already working the system! Being called Mama and Papa is certainly music to our ears. When we left he gave us big hugs, and when prompted by his care giver he said Ya tiba lublu!(I love you) and Dos vayadonya (good bye) Mama, dos vayadonya Papa.
Our orphanage director presented us with some 8 photos of Luke over the past year, what a gift! She also showed us his Christening certificate and a cross on a string that he will get when we pick him up, boy did I cry on that one! She asked us after or visit if everything was ok, and we said DA, DA, DA (Yes, yes, yes!). She invited us back to visit on Saturday, which is a rare invitation and we happily accepted.
We came back to Chely around 3:30 and had our chest x-rays, another special treat.
We'll post more tomorrow after our visit with Luke.
Love to you all.

WE'RE HERE, SAFE AND SOUND!

Hello from our Region! We made it to our hotel at 1:30am on Thursday local time, after 30 hours of travel. We were so exhausted we fell in to bed and woke up to our 6:30am wake up call. We traveled the three hours to visit Luke today in Triotsk only to find out when we got to the door that they are having federal inspections and the orphanage director told us with much remorse that she could not accept us today. We were disappointed, but did not want to do anything that might make trouble for the orphange or Luke. We picked up some documents at the Ministry of Social Services to bring back for court here in Country.
We went to a cafe in his town and had Solanka soup, which is make of pickles, olives, lemon, tomato broth, potatoes, various meats, sour cream and dill--suprisingly tastey! We also had a yummy piece of honey cake, similar to our cakes, but more of a graham cracker consistency that cakelike.
On the way back to our hotel we stopped and had our blood tests at a private labratory, like our labs at home really, very clean, and everything disposable and pre-packaged. We are hoping to see Luke tomorrow or Saturday, with several more medical visits for us in between.
Thank you for the prayers, we feel them all the way over here.
Love you all.