I have written allot about our son Thomas lately, but not much about Philip. Philip was adopted from Thailand when he was 2 years old. He is now almost 8 years old. About2 days before we were supposed to travel to Thailand I got an e-mail from them saying we should not come. They said they were missing some part of our paperwork, and we should wait until this was cleared up. This happened to be on the 29th of December (just before New Years). I tried calling them, but know one was there. They had all left for the holiday! We had 5 airline tickets (non changeable and non-refundable). I gathered the piece of paper they said they needed, and in faith we took our flight to Thailand. When we got there, we contacted the social worker who was handling (or should I say mishandling) our case. She was kind of upset to hear from us. She said we would not be allowed to meet with the board. We would not even be allowed to meet Philip. We would need to go home and come again when they called us! We are not made of money! We could not "just come again". Besides, it was a nightmare flying with Jessica. We were not ready to put her through another 12 hour flight so soon.( We hope we can manage our upcoming trip to Thailand)! Anyway, we waited until the day the board met. We expected her to present our case, but she never mentioned us. We where stunned! We had spent two weeks in Thailand, and had not even met Philip. The board, who only meets two times per month never even, heard we were there (at their invitation I might add). Juergen made an appointment with the director of international adoptions. He mainly just wanted to tell her how disappointed we were, and ask if only one of us could come to meet the board. We could not afford to bring the whole family again, and we did to want to bring Jessica again! I made a phone call to a young woman who had been an exchange student in the USA. My parents were her host family 10 years before. She now worked in the Thai government. Her boss was "best friends" with the prime minister of Thailand. She (her name is Mind) called her boss. When Juergen met the national director of international adoptions she was kissing his feet and begging his forgiveness. We think she got a call from the prime minister! We ended up having to stay one extra week in Thailand. They scheduled a special board meeting just for us. They let us meet Philip right away. I also learned that even when the body is dead and in the grave, God can raise the dead! I am also very blessed to know that God used the kindness my parents showed to Mind 10 years before to bless us! You reap what you sow (and sometimes your children also reap what you sow)!