Activity in Irkutsk...Please be in Prayer.

We are asking everyone we know to be in prayer for the families and children of Irkutsk. Most of you know the situation, but for you newbies, I'll give a quick run down. We adopted Evan in April of 2005 after that there were two adoptions, one in June and one in August 2005. Around that time news broke of the death of Nina Hilt, a 2 year old who had been adopted from Irkutsk who was beaten to death by her mother, Peggy Hilt. As if there wasn't already enough red tape in Irkutsk, with us already having to wait a year between trips, this just added to it. Since then there hasn't been a single adoption by an American family...yes...since August 2004. Article here.

We have several friends who have been waiting over 4 years to bring home their children. While we waited for Evan, at times I didn't think people understood. (These were generally the people who drove us crazy with stupid questions anyway.) We (and all of these families) were with our child for an entire week, then forced to leave without them. It was the hardest thing that as parents we've ever had to do. During our wait for those who didn't seem to understand the pain and magnitude involved, I would explain it to them like this: Imagine that you gave birth to your child and you were only allowed to spend one week with him or her, then you were forced to say good-bye and had no idea when you would return to your child again. Can you imagine the pain? That's what the families of Irkutsk are enduring. We endured it for a solid year and could not imagine that it could ever get any worse...but it did! 4+ years worse!!

After lots of silence and nothing but declined paperwork, there is currently a lot of activity in Irkutsk.

Now that you've got a little background here's what were asking for...

Family 1: Some dear friends of ours finally received a court date!!!! This is the 1st American family to receive a court date since the last adoption in August 05...so make sure you grasp the magnitude of them being there. They arrived yesterday in Angarsk. They took with them their 5 year old son, who was also adopted from Irkutsk a few months prior to Evan. They will be spending a lot of time with their son in the baby home and will then go before the judge in court next Monday, September 29th. Remember, that Irkutsk is 13 hours ahead so that's the 28th for us. Please be in prayer for this family that they will receive favor with the judge and that the adoption will be granted. You can't even begin to understand how difficult she is, so pray hard!

Family 2: Some more dear friends of ours will have their paperwork submitted before the judge on October 2nd. Please pray that the judge will find favor with their paperwork and not ask for petty changes like she has always done in the past and that she will grant them a court date.

Family 3: Yet, more dear friends of ours will travel to Irkutsk for a week in October for an "in-between" trip to visit and re-bond with their daughter. Please pray that trust will quickly be regained and that they will have a wonderful trip.

There is finally a lot of activity in Irkutsk which we praise God for.

Please leave a comment to let these families (they read our blog daily) know that you will be praying for them.

Irkutsk Gold

Here's a story that I came across from RussiaToday http://www.russiatoday.ru/


Siberian City built on gold and hydro-power

The world's largest and deepest lake Baikal is situated in the Irkutsk region in eastern Siberia, home to some of Russia's most breathtaking natural wonders. Russia's main gold-producing sites also lie along its shores.

The Siberian region is abundant with many other precious metals, as well as having hydro-electric power.“We’d start our shift at 8 am. If you were 20 minutes late, you could get six months in prison!” recalled Efim Veshchev, a gold-digging veteran, now in his 90s.
The hunt for Siberian gold started on the shores of Baikal more than a century ago. The Irkutsk region still remains one of Russia’s main gold-producing sites.Working in the goldmines was tough and risky and few wanted to take such chances. So the job was often done by prisoners and there were plenty of them here.Since Tsarist times, the city of Irkutsk has been known as a place of exile.

By the end of the 19th century, every second man here was a deported convict, many of them nobles. Over the years, the city’s turned into a real melting pot.
During the Communist years the region’s vast natural resources became a magnet for ambitious projects. In 1954 the construction of the Bratskaya hydroelectric plant started and it now provides power to hundreds of homes and factories.

from: http://www.russiatoday.ru/