A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in his holy dwelling.
Psalm 68:5

Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in your midst?            1 Corinthians 3:16


Holy God is father and defender, dwelling in his temple, in us.

Don't we know this?

How Elizabeth Came Home: 2

When I walked thru the arrival doors in Riga, I was surprised to hear high pitched squeaks before I even saw my girl coming. She ran up and threw her arms around me, I think we were both in shock that the moment had finally come. I was really there!! She was really coming here!!!

A sweet couple that I met thru Facebook offered to meet me at the airport, but went way beyond that. She worked out Elizabeth coming to Riga the day before so she could greet me at the airport, hosted us both in her home, showed us how to get around town, took us to eat at the amazing Lido, went the the Embassy appointment with us, and even gave me a bus pass that had just enough on it for every trip that we needed to make! God used her for a blessing to us in a detailed and gracious way!

Friday we had our embassy appointment. This was Elizabeth's visa interview where the US said yes or no. We got there, met our lawyer who was such a help thru the whole process, and then it was our turn to answer the questions. One of the documents was in Latvian, and the embassy official said he would go read it and be right back. We waited 45 minutes. Oh, I prayed and fought against anxiousness! Finally, he returned. Elizabeth's case, he said, was very complicated. It could look like a back door adoption, (adoption is illegal for foreign children older than 15 1/2 in most cases according to current U.S. federal law) He remarked that we were gracious to offer her this opportunity, but that she and we had to understand that she MUST return to Latvia when her visa expired. But, he believed our intentions were true and so he approved a 2 year visa for her. Praise God!!! We could come pick it up on Monday! They said YES!

Want to hear something else God did? Not until I was packing up my suitcase when we got back, did I realize that I had forgotten to take a required document to the embassy. He didn't even ask for it!!! Awed.

Well, we walked around Riga a bit more, explored the occupation museum which I HIGHLY recommend to anyone traveling to Riga, but especially those with Latvian children. Even with little English, I learned a lot about the history and perspective of the Latvian people.

Then, our sweet friend was so kind to drive us and our bags to the train station, and we were off on the train from the capital city, Riga, to Elizabeth's hometown, Daugavpils. Almost 3 hot sticky hours, and we were there! I'll tell you about our weekend, next time . . . .

How Elizabeth came Home: 1

Going back a month, I'm going to pick up the story and try to fill you in on some of the details of exactly how God made a way for Elizabeth to journey to the US and her family (that's us!!!). Here we go . . . .

Where we last left off the details, we were praying and holding on with every ounce of faith, waiting for God to come through in the last minutes and supply the document we had to have in time to travel to Latvia and get back in time for the first day of school. Well, 5 pm came and went. And I cried. Then we had to Skype our daughter. It was honestly the hardest phone call I have ever had to make, and I hope it always is. Elizabeth was so brave, but I could hear in her voice the heartache cracking.

We waited a week. Nothing. We continued to call our congressmen and federal numbers sifted from google. Nothing. God and I had some candid honest conversations. A few were raw. I began to wonder if I had misunderstood something along the way. . . .

Then we heard from our lawyer in Latvia. If Elizabeth is not out of the country before September 1st, she will have to attend school in Latvia. Game Over. So we prayed. And trusted. And didn't know for sure anymore exactly what God intended.

Then, we got a phone call. The paper was coming. And then it didn't. We waited, and  3 days later, we had what we needed! I picked up the paper and was at the airport 28 hours later! So thankful, so in awe of God's ways and the mountains He moved for us.



And it didn't stop with the documents! He orchestrated every detail and every step before us. I'll share what happened on the trip next time . . .

Elizabeth is Home!

The Davises are Happy to Announce

the addition of our 3rd child and oldest daughter

Elizabeth

to our family!

Elizabeth and I returned home together on August 31st, 2011. We promptly drove 6 hours to the beach. And she LOVED it! Watching both our oldest and youngest girls experience the waves for the first time was a sweet blessing. Jacqueline turned 2 while we were there.

She began school last Tuesday, to today we've made it one week! She is doing great, and Rob and I feel like we're in high school again ourselves with the homework sessions :) Thank you, Mrs. Jones for all the Algebra problems. They are giving us a great opportunity to bond and parent Elizabeth. And thank you, Mr. Brock, for teaching me well enough that I can remember how to graph a function 10 year out of high school!

Remember the last post? Well, God's perfect timing was about 4 weeks after mine, and He truly made a way where there was none. Elizabeth is from Latvia, is in the U.S. on a student visa, and we are her legal guardians until she turns 18. However, legal details aside, she is our daughter, sister of our children, and we will be the grandparents of her children whenever God blesses her with them. Time is short as we're adjusting to the daily school run, homework, etc along with our preschool home mentality but it is all going really well. I will write more soon about the details of our trip.

So, for those of you who might be counting, Rob and I are now legal parents to 5 children:  17, 6, 4, 4, and 2. And, now we are only split between 2 continents. Still waiting for document corrections and then travel visa stuff for our DRC daughter and son. Thank you for your prayers!