Beautiful Snowy Day

It was a beautiful snowy day here yesterday, lots of snow and very, very cold at least -10 even though the forecast said 4! We went to visit Luke and he was a very active 3 year old, eating everything and into everything :-)
He certainly likes to ham it up for the camera now.

He will also look in the mirror and say Kostya eee (and) Mama eee Papa!

Mark reads his Curious George book to him and he says GEEOORRGGG! and smacks the photos of the monkey with a stuffed monkey he has in his hand!

Mark took some really great photos on the way there, the scenery was just breathtaking. We also took some photos of some our favorite cottages in his town.

This one was taken just outside his orphanage in front of the tree where we took our Christmas picture last year.

On the way back we stopped in the forest and Kirill took some photos of us.

These last photos are of the trip home, the trees absolutely glistened in the sunshine, and the churches in the snow were so beautiful.

Today we had a wonderful day of rest and tonight we are going out for a celebration dinner with the Platters and Kirill and Nadia to an Italian restaurant.

Tomorrow it's off to see our boy! Love to all!

It's Official!

We had a successful court appearance! Our son is offically Luke Konstantin Richard Robb, praise the Lord!! We will now do the 10 day in country wait. We will spend a week in Moscow and will fly home to the states on December 24th, Christmas Eve--we can't think of a better day to be home. We get in to St Louis around 9pm, we'd love to see some friendly faces when Luke touches US soil and becomes a US citizen.
Thank you all so much for all the prayers for our family during our extended court time.
We love you.
The Robbs, now Mark, Danette & Luke

Court Continued

We answered questions for two hours at court today, and all things considered it went very well. Unfortunately, a paper we had notarized and given to our court rep a few days ago got lost, so they continued court until tomorrow when we can bring a new copy. We went to the notary and got the new copy as soon as we left the court house, so we are prepared to bring it in the morning at 9am. At that time the judge should issue his final decree.
Our orphanage director and our inspector both spoke with favor of us and how well we have bonded with Luke. The director said that she talked with him and asked him if he knew that we are his parents and he said 'yes, I love Mama & Papa.'
While we had hoped to complete court in one appearance we are so thankful that God gave us the words to answer the questions and that He has brought us this far.
We will post again tomorrow as soon as we can.

The Lord is Enough

While we are waiting for our court time at 2pm today we think about and rely on passages from scipture. Here are some we are strengthened by if you all want to read them along with us.
1 Peter 5:6-10
Phillipans 4:6-7

No matter what the out come of our court appearance today we KNOW it is God's will, and we praise Him for it.

We realized a long time ago this was not just about our family but this jorney has been about many other Christians growing in their faith thru watching these trials and tribulations. We can not thank you enough for your kind words and your prayers. They have meant a lot to us over the last 3 years. I hope in the end, no matter the outcome you all will continue your walk with the Lord and grow everyday. Remeber today is His will and there is a reason why we are here and you are following this so intently. I wish I could say it is because of the desires of our heart that brought us here but more and more we realize we had nothing to do with this. We are used as an arrow from His quiver to deliver His message. Even though this path has been very trying, it has been nothing short of miraculous in our lives and we cannot begin to thank the Lord enough for this window of opportinity we have been granted to glorify His name. While going thru this I am reminded of a a phrase our Jewish friend told us once......" Lord This is Enough" meaning if the outcome is not as we desire then Lord this has been enough. It was enough to lead us out of Egypt, it was enough to part the Red Sea and if nothing else is done, this has been enough to sustain our trust in the Lord. Even though our traditional Jewish friend and us have two different beliefs, I still like that phrase and I think about it often.......Oh and by the way Dan, Jesus lives....I tought you would like that!

Day of Prayer & Preperation

We are spending today in prayer and preperation for our court appearance tomorrow. We are now having our appearance at 2pm local time (3am Missouri time). We think this is because our translator teaches on Monday mornings.

This morning I got to go with the girls for a spa day and it was a really nice treat. We got pedicures and massages, a great preperation for my mind and body!

When I came back to the hotel I quizzed Mark with anticipated court questions as he had been studying while I was gone. He will quiz me one more time before we turn in for an early night.

Here are our prayer requests for tomorrow:

Favor with the Judge

Successful court proceeding completed in one appearance

For God to give us wisdom and the words to answer the Judge's questions confidently

To be Kostya's forever family

Our friends Scott & Lynn, Kara & Dwayne, and Pastor Andre will be gathering together to pray for us during our court time-we are overwhelmed at their love and support.

Thank you all for your prayers for this special day for our family.

Happy Birthday!

Little Luke turned 3 today, and we got to celebrate with him, what a blessing! We brought him some gifts from home, and we bought some here in Chelyabinsk. In the first photo he is holding a musical book from his Aunt Sue and a Cheborashka (the brown animal with an orange face) from Mama and Papa.

In photo two he is about to blow out his birthday candles on a special 'cake' made by Kara, a banana bread that she bakes in soup cans, which Luke loves!

He couldn't wait to have cake, he held is up and said Mama....pajahlusta! (Mom...please!). I didn't even have a chance to cut it, he just dove right in--and shared with his parents, of course!

He also got a Cheborashka backpack to put his toys in, he a special backpack at home from Grandma Woods, but it didn't make the weight limit cuts so we bought him this one for the trip home. Papa put it on him after he opened it and he wore it for most of our visit!

All in all we had a great birthday visit with lots of smiles, belly laughs and food. When his caregiver came to get him she asked if he was ready to go back to his 'groupa' and he said 'Nyet' no....big sigh.

Happy Birthday to our precious little boy.

Wednesday's Visit with Luke

We wanted to share some more beautiful photos of our boy from our visit on Wednesday. Luke is proudly modeling a new hat knitted by his Mama for him. One of the orphanage workers came in and asked him what I presume was 'who gave you that hat' and his respose was Mama and then some Russian words followed. It warmed my heart!

Although he loved his new hat I think he still prefers to wear Papa's hat. He is quite the ham when there is a camera around, but he is more interested in food than anything else. Pears, apples, cookies, juice and water are in high demand when we visit him, and when those are gone he is searching our backpack to see what else he can find!

Wednesday night Mark and Kirell (our new friend and driver) went to dinner with Kirell's dad and I went to Kirell and Nadia's house for some true hospitality. She made me a wonderful meal of ham, cheese, bread, pemaneie (like dumplings), and caviar and then served me hot tea. She let me do all my laundry and was truly a wonderful hostess to me. Thank God for all those He has put in our path.

Tonight we went to Dwayne and Kara's for another amazing meal and Karin and I started our own little knitting club! Dont' worry Rachael yours is still my top choice back home :-)

We are going to visit Luke tomorrow for his 3RD BIRTHDAY!

We'll post b-day photos when we get home tomorrow night. Have a great day everyone.