Something In The Works

I don't feel comfortable sharing details but just wanted to say it looks like there have been a change in plans and we may have something in the works. Having been approved for 4 kids and only having adopted 1 last Sept. leaves us still approved to adopt without new USCIS approval but we are getting it anyway.

There is another girl on our hearts that we have been praying for. Anyway, what I really want to do is ask for your prayers for this possible new situation. I am hoping to have good news to report soon.

Hello, God...is that you...

or am I legally insane?

Those of you who aim to walk in the Spirit will know what I mean when I say it really stinks when you are looking to God for direction but you have failed to feed the Spirit the way you should (in His Word, in prayer and in fellowship). As a friend recently explained, we need those three things like we need food, water and air to surivive. What happens if you try to go without one?

It's not that I am so far off course, but need to be careful with the worlds distractions and keep Him first.

Anyway...as I have mentioned we have been praying about adopting a boy through disruption. I had hoped that we would do this whenever we found a match but Dan said we should get "Faith" home first. Although that's not what I wanted to hear, I soon began to think he was probably right because we are gearing up to start homeschooling Anthony is high school years (still homeschooling Yana but not HS yet).

Then I heard of a boy that may need a placement. I prayed and it reminded me to "feed the Spirit" always. The boy will be remaining with his current family so I can let that one go.

Now there is another 15 yr old girl in need of a family. At first I was able to just hear about it and not think or feel like it was my responsibility to take her, we are still working towards bringing "Faith" home. But I have seen her picture now and UGH! can't turn away. Here's the thing, I KNOW in my heart that we will continue to adopt after this Ukrainian adoption journey we are currently on. I don't believe just adding a boy from disruption will be the last either. I just keep telling people I want 10 kids. Maybe I want 15 and just don't know it yet though LOL It's hard to just let this sweet girl (she is known to be very sweet and desperately WANTS a family) to remain in a bad situation (which is going to get worse) when I know I will continue to grow my family? She needs a family NOW.

I know, I know, you can't save them all but as the saying goes..."Adopting one child won't change the world; but for that child, the world will change."

Anyway, we are in prayer about this other 15 yr old girl who could be brought home now for minimal cost. I wish I knew for sure where "Faith" stands on all of this. Does she know there has been contact with her family? Does she know they have said they cannot adopt her? Does she still not care about leaving her boyfriend behind? Is she certain enough (as a 15 yr old orphan can be) that she wants us to move forward with her adoption (figuring she doesn't realize we already have...though this adoption could be for anyone in the end)? If "Faith" decides to remain in Ukraine then we can get this other girl, no problem. See the dilema?

We will just keep praying for God's will and see what happens; what else can we do, right?

Ssssssearching!

Well, we have decided with all of the family involvement with "Faith" that it is time to do a bio-family search for Yana. Right away, I felt that this information about "Faith's" family would upset Yana because we have not located her family (in short, we found her brother then he disappeared before we could make direct contact).

To my surprise Yana did not look upset but we decided not to wait for that to happen and offered up to do a bio-search. She is very happy. So I have sent my friend the information and he will start the search next week. If you would please pray with us over this, it would be greatly appreciated. Who knows what we will find and how it will affect our dear Yana.

We also need to be in prayer about our future travels to Ukraine. At this point, I don't see me going without Nadia. Just not an option as far as I'm concerned. I know we are talking about traveling in 6 months or so but at this point I don't think either of us are ready to be apart for even a night. Also, Nadia would not have her therapy suit on for a whole month if I left her home. I know I am not a therapist but certainly if she had her therapy suit on and was with me we could do SOMETHINGS to help insure that she didn't fall back on her path to progress.

But then comes the thought of taking Yana. I hadn't planned on it, the kids opted not to go last time. I was surprised Yana didn't want to go but she said, "It will just cost more money." The truth, I believe, is she rather hang out at Grandma and Grandpa's instead. But this time I am taking Nadia and we are working on the bio-search for Yana. Also, if we adopt "Faith", we will be going back to the orphanage from where Yana was adopted herself. Yana is also a great help with Nadia, so it might actually be beneficial to take her along as well. Ugh, I don't know, between the 2 we are probably talking about $3,000 more in plane tickets so....something to pray about I guess.

Give Me a B-O-Y !

So since my last post my thoughts and feelings have changed about adopting a boy while in Ukraine adopting "Faith".

When we were in Ukraine adopting Nadia I had the wonderful oppurtunity to meet up with my friend, Christie, and her husband for dinner. We discussed her familiy's hopes to adopt again and she shared with me some about adopting through disruption. Right away, my heart was opened to the idea. I felt that if we were to ever adopt again (aside from if we had the oppurtunity to adopt "Faith" or "Flower") that we would adopt through disruption.

Dan and I discussed it some since then and even included the kids in the discussion. It wasn't a "let's sit down and discuss this as a family" kind of discussion, but just an open discussion, probably standing in the kitchen or riding in the van, about what it would mean to adopt through disruption. We were in agreement, though nothing set in stone, that next time we would adopt this way.

Well, while in the car the other day Anthony asked me something to the sort, "If we can't adopt ["Faith"] are you going to adopt through disruption?" or "After you adopt ["Faith"] will you next time adopt through disruption?". In any case the light bulb went on and I thought, "Oh my gosh, what am I thinking? We shouldn't try to figure out how to adopt a 2nd child while in Ukraine (a boy) but should adopt him through disruption."

So I want to pray about this. I talked to Dan about it this morning and he, again, is in agreement. There is much we need to learn (like what we would need to do to be prepared for placement and what the process includes) but I will definitely be praying for God's guidance in this area.

In the meantime, I will tell Anthony he needs to clean out his room and get ready, because you never know. LOL A mothers got to do what a mothers got to do to get their teen boys room clean once in while, right? :)

Wonderful News from Ukraine

Not at all what we expected. In all fairness, it is hard not to be slightly skeptical based on what seems to be most commonly seen in Ukraine because of difficulty in supporting ones family and the money that comes from fostering a child. I am INCREDIBLY grateful that this situation with "Faith's" family is completely different.

The news we received, in short, is that the few family members who have recently become involved all are supportive of our adoption thus far. They all genuinely care for "Faith" and want what is best for her. At this time it does not look like it would be in anyones best interest to take "Faith" but they lovingly support her having a family.

"Faith" had even asked her uncle what he thought about us adopting her and he told her to follow her heart. He has said that he would talk to "Faith" about it, and encourage her to make the right decision. He will do whatever documents necessary to support the adoption.

Also, we learned that "Faith's" brother-in-law works in the States often. We are hoping that we can meet sometime.

So pictures of our family have been sent to her sister and uncle. I feel confident that communication between us directly will eventually happen and of course the family can keep in touch. We also hope to find her other sisters, some of which have been adopted into American families.

I am so excited for "Faith". It is not everyday that these children are able to have loving family support them through this process. I truly believe this will go a LONG way when it comes to healing and adjustment.

Let's keep praying!!

Blue Skies Ahead!!

Well, if you haven't already heard, RADA (parliament) did not vote on the moratorium on Tuesday. It had been posted on the RADA website about voting on this law on June 2nd, decided by the RADA committee, but it was never on the "official schedule". Then RADA refused the committees suggestion to include it on the June 2nd schedule. Anyway, I completely believe this was divine intervention.


So, what now? Well, we are moving full steam ahead. I began preparing and requesting documents as soon as I heard about the drop of this draft law. Today I sent out our first $520 for our homestudy and marriage certificates. It's actually pretty fun to send off the first of the checks, it makes things seem so official. SO WE ARE OFFICIALLY IN THE PROCESS OF ADOPTING AGAIN!!! God is AWESOME!!

My parents are away on a cruise in Europe and do not yet know of our plans Heehee...they won't be shocked, I don't think I can shock them anymore. They won't jump up and down, they never do in the beginning, as they always think I am nuts (pregnancy, 1st adoption, 2nd adoption...whatever...) but they will come around LOL Anyway, I am hitting them up for $ cash $ upon their return :) I am to get a small inheritance from my grandmother who passed away in April and plan to use that money for our USCIS fees and fingerprinting, as well as the complete dossier preparation.
Funny that this is our first time starting an adoption with some kind of money AND we have someone offering to help us cover the costs we cannot on our own. It's cool because I don't want to be like, "Gee thanks for offering, we have ZERO $$" I intend to do all that we can to cover whatever we can on our own.

In other adoption news, 3 posts back or so I mentioned a family member showing up for "Faith". Well, since our amazing blessing, we learned that a bigger "threat" to our adoption of "Faith" has come into the picture. Before I say who it is & what the situation is, know that we are thrilled about this person and would be happy for "Faith" even if we cannot adopt her because this person decides that she would like to....it is one of her older sisters.

Her sister is married and living in Russia. She has come to see "Faith" and showered her with love, new clothes and a cell phone. :) Of course. "Faith" is VERY happy. At first, and I guess still, we did not know what the sister's intentions were/are. "Faith" was asked what she would like and she said she would like to be with her sister but if she could not, she would like it if we would adopt her. Sounds very sensible to me.

We have had a good friend contact the sister and make her aware of the situation and try to learn of her intentions. Although she said it is fine for us to adopt her, our friend let her know of "Faith's" wishes. They (my friend and the sister) are going to keep in touch. My friend emailed a picture of our family and told her a little about us. Now he is waiting to hear back with any questions or information from her. We are just praying for God's will in this situation and will be happy with either outcome (us or the sister adopting "Faith").

While we were waiting to hear the sister's intentions, Dan and I discussed what we would do if we could not adopt "Faith". We are in agreement that we would still go to Ukraine and adopt; there are a TON of kids in need of a family and we have room in our hearts and home. We have even discussed adopting a boy/girl sibling group (ranging in age anywhere from 11-15 yr old). We'll see. Even if we are going to adopt "Faith" I still would like to consider also getting a boy, but don't know how difficult that will be these days with the SDA since the children would be unrelated. I was also hoping that if we were to adopt siblings they would be in the same orphanage, as that would make it relatively inexpensive to adopt the additional child.

I figure if we adopt 2 we can just put flights on a credit card (and of course still do all we can to get whatever funds together for the rest of the adoption) and can pay off the credit card with the SC Reimb. fee when we return ($1500 per special needs/ hard to place children....older children fall into this category.) Again, we'll see. Wewill just keep praying and let God lead the way.

Woo hooo!!! We are actually doing this again!

Urgent - Prayers Needed

PLEASE PRAY FOR THE ORPHANS OF UKRAINE

RADA (Ukraine's parliament) is voting on a law on June 2nd to stop international adoption of Ukrainian orphans.

For many kids international adoption is their only hope of every having a forever family. It is absolutely not within the norm for Ukrainians to adopt special needs kids, older kids or Roma children. For these children especially, closing Ukraine to international adoptions would be devastating.

There are children and families who are there RIGHT NOW in the process of adopting, that would have to walk separate ways if this law was passed....CAN YOU EVEN IMAGINE THE TRAUMA??

There are children who have met families through hosting, through previously adopted children, mission trips, advocates, sponsors, etc. that are waiting for their families to come for them...they will have their hearts broken once again if the doors close.

There are families that have appointments to travel this week, next week, next month, etc. that could not proceed and would have to start all over again somewhere else with no reimbursement of monies spent and with their hopes and dreams ripped from their hands.

There are so many situations that are incredibly heartbreaking. Even if a moratorium does not last forever, there are children who are aging out and will lose their chances of EVER being adopted. I know one family who is just about on their way to get this child they love and who loves them, she will be 16 in less than 2 months. A moratorium would be absolutely tragic.

Look at the statistics I have posted on the right ride of my blog. This is what happens to the children who age out of the system. This is real. These are real children, real lives that don't have to be that way.

Please pray fervently for these orphans and that this law will not be passed. Tell your friends, family, co-workers, neighbors, church, anyone who will be willing to stand up in prayer for these children, to PRAY. He hears our cries, our prayers can make the difference.

(James 5:16b) The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results.

This Day Deserves A Post!!!

I don’t even know where to start. I have had way too much emotional excitement for one day, I am pretty much poopka’d out; so please forgive me if I don’t keep a straight thought or ramble on. :)

Well, first of all, as I hope you can tell by the videos, little Miss Nadia Hope is doing absolutely amazing! I can brag on her all post long and go on and on about how much I love her, but then you’d miss out on some of the other exciting stuff going on….like going back for “Faith”.

As I mentioned in my last post we have been praying about going back for “Faith”. We had finally decided to step out in faith and just do it when we learned that a family member has somewhat recently popped up. This family member has been bringing her home for holidays and some weekends. The FEELING our friend has (she is a caregiver at the orphanage) is that he will request to foster her because of the money. Of course he may have all of the right intentions but I also trust that my friend has seen this scenario a hundred times over and probably has a pretty good idea of what is going on. But again let me say, we really can’t know his heart.

In any case, the news of this family member visiting AND upon learning she also has a boyfriend, made us stop and wonder if this is really what we are supposed to be doing. Then there was time praying (still are) about other employment options for Dan, just because he is not happy where he is at. We figured we might need to step back for a moment and really see what God’s will is here. So I’ve been praying…..and praying.

Dan and I finally agreed that we would find out what “Faith” wanted. We DO think she would still like us to adopt her. At this point she doesn’t realize that she is adoptable (well, will be at the end of the year) and has asked us (via letter) to keep in touch with her. We are currently just being the family that wants to love her and pray for her, even if we can never officially be a forever family. However, she needs to know the truth about her availability and decide if she wants us to come for her (which means she would need to not agree to foster care or guardianship by anyone else). Once we know this is what she wants, we decided we would move forward with the adoption process.

As I have mentioned earlier, however, we do not have the funds to do this and do not know where the funds would come from. We also know that if God is calling us to do this, He will provide. I don’t know how many of you follow Ashley Fumia’s adoption blog of Grisha http://fumia.blogspot.com/ but what an incredible testimony of their faith in Christ and His faithfulness to provide where He has called you to walk. So we are ready to take that step of faith.

Now, I have heard of a people (even strangers) sponsoring an adoption for a family but that kind of thing doesn’t happen everyday. It also happens to other people, not us, you know? Well, when someone told me today they would help cover what we could not to bring “Faith” home, I could not believe it. Yes, that really did happen!
I am still in shock. I have cried tears of joy and overwhelming gratitude, praised God like mad and still do not think my brain can fully comprehend what just happen. I swear when she was telling me I couldn’t get what she was trying to say. I mean, we know lots of amazing people that stepped out in faith and contributed $10, $25, $50, $100 even $1,000 for Nadia’s adoption, so I was thinking of a contribution on the lower end of those. I just could not grasp what she was trying to tell me.

And what does one say? I mean how do you say “thank you” for even the gesture? I don’t even know. Again, I am still in shock. Imagining beginning an adoption without wondering where the money is going to come from for the next step is so foreign to us. What would that be like? Not having to stress out?! And lets be honest, I have faith but it surely doesn’t mean I don’t ever pick those burdens back up that I laid at His feet and spend many nights awake trying to calculate numbers and trying to figure out how God’s going to pull this one off. I have zero desire to spend another, however long, calculating and recalculating funds.

Well, I am listening to my blog Playlist as I type this and just got to “When you Love Someone” from Hope Floats. If you recall in a MUCH earlier post, this song makes me think of “Flower” I just miss her so stinkin’ much…it’s incredibly painful. Please keep praying for her. We are not allowed to keep in touch but I have a friend who is checking in on her from time to time. I am still praying that someday she will officially be our daughter. You just never know, right?

For those of you still reading, thanks for hanging in there. :) Please keep “Faith” & “Flower” in your prayers and praise God for His incredible provision and faithfulness.

D*, you have no idea how much you have blessed us already. Thank you is not nearly enough but THANK YOU, thank you, thank you! God bless!

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Nadia Doing Her Thing LOL