Your Guess is as Good as Mine!

The most often questions asked me these days is; "When are you going to get Koyla". Your guess is as good as mine, only God knows the plan. We are doing all we can do, our facilatator, Victor, is doing all he can do, so now we just keep the faith that it will come soon.

The lastest update story is a tale of United States Law and Ukrainian Law and the Rahns are in the middle. On April 16th Victor went to the SDA office with the final 3 pieces of paper. The dossier was now complete, accepted and ready for the date. They told him to come back on the 23rd to get the date. On the 23rd they told him they could not give him the date yet because there are two major holidays coming up in May that will affect when people can have appointments. They had not decided how much time they were going to take off for the holidays. They asked him to call on Monday and they would let him know. On Monday he was told that the office had been so business that they did not have time to schedule appointments, but if he came in on Wednesday, the 29th, they would have the appointment scheduled. On Wednesday he was told that they found fault with the I-171H form, which is our American form for U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. They said the dates were wrong and that they had never heard of an extension before. Victor explained that we were granted an extension and that this paper was still valid. Victor has to go to the U.S. Embassy to get a letter that stated that this form has been approved and the extension is a new law that was passed in July 2008. Victor called the SDA who said that the letter would be accepted but that he would have to come back on May 7th because the deputy director of booking appointments has gone home and is now on vacation and then there will be the holiday (Labor Day is May 1st), so therefore we can not book the appointment, but we promise that it will be booked on May 7th and we will get them in at the end of May. Victor wants me to get a new form that has dates changed and our government agency can't change the dates on the form because it make the form illegal. Who will win the battle? Who knows? God does!!! In the mean time I lay awake at night repeating,
Trust in the Lord with all your heart, Be still I am God, I am the vine you are the branches, Be angry and do not sin, and Don't be afraid. Stand firm and see the Lord's salvation. It did work. I finally got the peace that I was needing to fall asleep.

In the mean time, Koyla will turn 13 on May 7th, and Yana will be done with soccer by the time we leave, and Rick will wrap up work that needs to get done, and I can think about all the things I want to do in the Ukraine for the summer, since more and more of my summer will be there. I am still hopeful that we will have an appointment somewhere around the 20th or 21st. I am praying that I am in God's will on that. I would love to be back in the United States before the July 4th holiday. We do know that God's timing is perfect, even if we think he is looking at the wrong datebook.
Fran