We're Home Again

We arrived home late Friday with well wishes from many friends and we greatly appreciate them all. The children are doing great and getting adjusted to being in America. We have been very surprised as to how comfortable they are at our home.

Santa Clause visited us on Saturday morning and brought Matthew, Jon and Natalie some toys. However, the Nerf guns have been the biggest hit. We also got two new bikes so that everyone has one (we had one passed down bike from Rylan). On Sunday, we went to Church and everyone went to a Bible study class. Please give us a call or come by our house to visit with our new children.

We're getting closer!!

We said our sad goodbyes yesterday. Mark, Rylan and I shed some tears, but Jon, Natalie and Matthew were ready to get on the train. We rode the train to Romania. It was quite an experience. We had two rooms since there are six of us now. When we finally got the kids almost to sleep, the border control agents came by and turned on the lights to check our passports and the documents we have on the children belonging to us. Due to this being a part of the former USSR, they change out the wheels on the train wheels because there have a different track gauge So, we finally got to sleep and we arrived in Bucharest at 6:30 in the morning. We checked our luggage and Mark headed to the embassy. At 4:oo we will be officially finished. We are supposed to leave at 1:00 Romania time(5:oo central) and we arrive into New York late in the afternoon. We then fly from JFK to Atlanta and drive home from there, but we probably want make the connection in New York, because we only have an hour and we have to go the customs. This is when the kids become American citizens. We are so ready to be home and cannot thank you all for your prayers. We know God has done and is still doing some awesome things in these children's lives and ours. It is so neat to see that Something that God laid on our hearts 4 years ago is now coming into place. God is so good and he knows the perfect timing. Sorry, I guess I need to go we are just so happy. You guys can try calling us on our cell tomorrow we should be in U.S. in late afternoon.
Can't wait to see you guys. We love ya'll,
Chapmans

Leaving Moldova Tonight

Well, this should be our last update from Moldova. We leave at 5:10pm tonight for Romania. We will be at the US Embassy tomorrow as well as visiting the doctor (embassy requirement). We should be able to update the blog from the hotel in Bucharest. Thanks again for everyone' prayers.
Mark

Great News Home Friday Night, Jan. 25th

After lunch, we received the children's passports. Hurrah! I went directly to the Romanian Embassy for their transit visa. I didn't have the updated tickets so they would not process the visas. However, I will be there at 8 am tomorrow and they promised to have the visas by the afternoon. We have an exit interview with the U.S. consulate here in Moldova at 2 pm Tuesday. I purchased the train tickets to Romania and we will leave Moldova on Wednesday night and arrive into Bucharest Romania the next morning. Visit the doctor and U.S. Embassy on Thursday and fly home on Friday. We have a direct flight from Bucharest to JFK and onto Atlanta (around 9 pm EST). We do have a tight connection in JFK airport so this could change Fri. night. There were not any seats available into Birmingham. Thanks for everyone's postings to the blog. We have certainly felt everyone's prayers during the past few days.

This weekend, we spent two nights with our friends in the village of Cortjeuz (4 hours north of us). They had a great time meeting our new family and we needed a change of scenery. Rylan got to experience an outhouse and counted all of their chickens (there were 24). He said that if one was missing it might be on the table for dinner. We can't wait to be sleeping in our bed.
See you soon,
Mark

The Children are Officially Ours

Sorry for the lag in updates. On Monday (1/14), the judge's decision to award the children to us was made official. Our facilitator received the court's decision and translated it for use at the US Embassies. On Tuesday, we received the new birth certificates. We had hoped for several hours but chasing an elusive signature, seal, computers crashing led to us getting the certificates around 2 pm. I felt like I was in the labor and delivery waiting room at a hospital waiting to see if was a boy or girl since it took so long.
Today was the passport day. We were told it could take up to 30 days to get passports for permanent immigration of Moldovan citizens but then it could be several days. The first passport location we visited this morning was not successful in getting the process started. So we went to another location and after several delays (extra documents to be notarized), we had the children's photos taken by 2 pm. Our hope is that we have the passports by Friday. Then we can visit the US Embassy in Moldova for an interview and then onto the Romanian Embassy here in Moldova for a two day transit visa for the children (this could also be several days but we are praying for an expedited process). All Moldovan adoptions are completed with a medical exam in Bucharest Romania. It would be possible for us to travel to Romania over the weekend and visit the US Embassy in Romania on Monday. However, this is Martin Luther King and the embassy is closed. For now, we will remain focused on getting the passports and see how this affects our remaining Moldovan/Romanian tour stops.
The kids are getting very excited about leaving for the US. At dinner, Jon was getting upset when we explained that our trip to the US was delayed. Adrain has decided that he wants to be called Matthew. He keeps pointing to himself and says "America - Matthew". Adriana likes the name Natalie. Ironically, we read in the court proceedings that her grandmother's name was Natalie as well. Thanks for everyone's thoughts and prayers. We will add a post by Friday regarding the remaining documents for travel.
Mark

We survived!

Hey thanks for your prayers. We did great. We felt the prayers. Mark arrived at 7:00 last night. The kids kept saying "Dada, Germany?" It is amazing and ALL GOD that all the children are so lovable and seem basically happy. We have our upset moments don't get me wrong but basically happy children. We will try to go to chuch with our friend tommorrow and then maybe back to the church that is supported by Andy Stanley's church in Georgia. We really like it and there are like three of our translators from past mission trips that go there. We are looking forward to Monday and pray that we do not have to wait very long for their passports and visa's. They could make us wait up to a month. Please pray that that is not the case I will be CRAZY, Mark would have to leave to come back to work. So PRAY!! We know God is in control and I kinda think He knows what He is doing.!!
Love ya,
Chapmans

January 9th

hey,
we need extra prayers starting tommorrw. Mark needs to go to Germany for work for a day but it will be my first time with just the kids. please pray for patience on my part and lots of obedience on the childrens. Please pray for Mark's safe travel. When mark gets back we hit the road finishing up last minute details in Moldova. Then it's on to Romanina. Our official 20 days of waiting is over on Monday, then we have to get their passport, and visa's. I know now one of the reasons why we have waited so long to get the kids was to learn patience's. We miss you guys more than you will ever know and thank you for your encouraging blog remarks.
Love,
Chapmans

it's snowing!

Hey everyone,
we really miss all of ya'll. We are counting down the days until we can be in warm weather. The children are very excited about coming to America. We have some flash cards and one is a airplane and they lok at it and say Jon America,Adrian America, Adrianna America, Moma America, Ry America and Dada america.Please continue to pray for us we are in one room and a bath we go and eat in another house but we are all getting cabin fever. It started snowing last night and it is only warming up to right below freezing. We really miss Alabama weather. Please keep writing or calling us. We need some touch from America to get through the last weeks.love ya'll.
the Chapmans

Sunday, January 6th

We've been at our new residence for a week and enjoying it here. Please keep Jon in your prayers. We are trying to give him food that he can keep on his stomach. Regarding Adrian, he is constantly hungry. His brother and sister call him "piggy". When we give him an apple, he eats the entire thin, core seeds and all! Adriana likes to clean so Paula will have a little helper. Victor connected us with our own phone line. So, our direct number is 011-373-22-46-59-41. We'll be going to a church that is affiliated with Northpoint Church in Atlanta this afternoon. It is called "God's Design."

Counting down the days

I went to the US Embassy this morning to get a personal update on what we needed to complete to get back home. Next Monday (1/7/07) and Tuesday, most things in Moldova will be shut down for the Orthodox Christmas. The Judge's decision will be final on the 14th and then we can start working on their Moldovan passports. This could take a day with the right amout of funding. Then we wait until Wednesday (the US embassy only accepts American visits on Mon, Wed. & Fri.). Where can I get a job like this! If it all goes well, we could be traveling via overnight train to Bucharest Romania on Wednesday night. On Thursday, we would get the children's medical visits completed and finalize everthing at the US Embassy (Romania). We could travel back as soon as Friday (there were Skymiles seats on the direct Romania to JFK flight and arrive into BHM on Saturday at 11PM) last week or take our scheduled flight on Saturday that gives us a forced overnight layover in Paris and home on MLK day. We've enjoyed meeting some Americans that are staying at the same house with us from Nashville. They are doing missionary work at Jon's orphanage here in Chisinau and in the city of Beltz. Thanks for keeping us in your prayers. Mark

House Hunters Moldovan Style

We were staying with a friend that had an apartment that could not accomodate all of the kids. So, through our friend, Maya in Atlanta, she made contact with someone that she knew that hosts American missionary teams. This family (Victor Belaug) had a loft style apartment that we could rent until we leave for the US. We moved in last Sunday (Dec 30th) after picking up the 3 children at their orphanages. The family that has this apartment, has worked with Matt & Tricia (missionaries from the USA) and visited the US two years ago and visited with Randy & Valerie Hall (Birmingham-Reaching Orphans with Hope) as well. Isn't God amazing. We haven't had too much free time since all of the children are with us throught the day. So, we will try to update the blog in a few days. If you would like to contact us at our new apartment, the number is 011-373-22-46-20-62. They are currently hosting a team from Nashville, so if you call, let them know you're trying to reach the Chapman's. As a side note, they all speak English and Rylan has become best buddies with their son Mark that has a lot of Legos. Thanks again for keeping us in your prayers. The Chapman's