He Provided it ALL

Ever hear something that's so super amazing, wonderful, stupendous... that you want to run around screaming and jumping up and down like a crazy person???  Well, we are....

FULLY FUNDED

 

It's official :)  We received a grant that covers the rest of our needed expenses for the adoption!  Praise the Lord for his amazing timing and provision.  What an awesome way to start our Thanksgiving Holiday!  We have seen God's hand in so many parts of this journey starting way back at the beginning of the hosting process.  He has been faithful every step of the way, and we continue to trust Him and His will.  PRAISE the Lord!!!!

 

"And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus." Phil 4:19

 

So, if you're wanting a quick breakdown of what is left - here it is:

Step 1 - Our official Dossier is in country and will be submitted on Monday.

Step 2 - It is reviewed and approved.

Step 3 - They notify us of our appointment date. We estimate that they will notify us the last week of December.

Step 4- We go to Ukr*ine for an appointment hopefully in late January!  WOW!

 

It's interesting... My first 2 kids were born at the end of December.  The last part of the pregnancy always went really fast because the holidays were so busy.  With the holidays being at the end of this waiting period, it seems like V*ktor's adoption is going to go about the same way!  It seems a long time away and yet so close :)

 

Please continue to pray for the process.  Thank the Lord for all He has done and continues to do. Pray for V*ktor's roommate J and his registration, for the other kid A and any reservations he has (his family is traveling soon), and pray for our preparations for the trip.  God bless you all!

 

We got our family pictures made last week.  They turned out great!  Here's a "doctored" one :)

 

 



Answered Prayer!

Whew!  I could go into all the logistics of how and why, but you probably wouldn't understand anyway unless you're going through this adoption journey yourself.  What you need to know is that WE GOT IT!!!!  YAAAAAAAAAA!!!!

It has been a roller-coaster week of praying and wondering if we would get what we needed.  The approval came today in the nick of time :)  A wonderful, compassionate woman (who I will likely never meet or hear from again) somewhere in the US worked very hard to complete our last document and got it to me this afternoon.  We will be forever grateful to her.  Brian and I signed it and got it notarized, then I rushed to the Capitol building to get it apostilled. Final stop, FedEx to overnight it to the family traveling tomorrow to Ukra*ne.  The guy asked me if it had a value, and I told him "priceless!"  By tomorrow morning, it should reach the family just hours before they board a plane to Ukra*ne!  This is the BEST way to ensure it is delivered.  If we just shipped it, FedEx and UPS can only guarantee delivery to the country. They really can't control what happens after that.  Sometimes documents arrive that way, a lot of times they do not.  Once there, it will join the rest of our documents for translation and authentication so that it can be submitted next week.

As long as all of that happens on schedule, we will likely be going to Ukra*ne mid-January!  Continue to pray for everything to go as expected and that all the other details can fall into place.
A few updates on other kids - O was denied by the US Embassy for a third time :(  Please pray for him and his family who loves him and is heartbroken.  The Embassy made a lot of sudden changes to their policies on Wednesday, November 7th, so adjustments are being made by everyone in adoption and hosting programs.  Please pray for all of those affected by these changes.  J is writing a letter to Ukra*ne government pleading for assistance in getting him available for adoption. Pray for whoever receives that letter that they will do the right thing for him.

I never feel like I can say it enough, but THANK YOU ALL for your consistent prayers, support, and encouragement :)  We will get our V*ktor home soon! Thought you might enjoy a picture of C's birthday.

A Goodbye, A Celebration, and A Deadline

 The day after my last post, we saw Brian's Grandma for the last time. She was an amazing, strong, wonderful woman who I will always love just as one of my own grandparents.  We saw her Saturday afternoon, and in the middle of the night we got the call that she had gone on to her forever home.  Brian left with his brother to go be with the family and I stayed home with the kids. Ever lose someone and find yourself looking around at your surroundings wondering why they look the same? The world is different, now. It's forever changed by the loss of that one soul. Yet, where I sat, nothing looked different. But it was. It is. We spent a lot of time with family over the last week. Grandma made beautiful hand-stitched baby blankets for each of her 10 grandchildren and 15 great-grandchildren. Over the years, she also made other quilts for the grandchildren.  Here is how the church was prepared for her goodbye.  That's just one side of the church. The other had just about as many quilts.  Notice the corners turned up on each one?  She wrote a note on each one with the child's name, birthdate, weight, and that it was "Made with love" by her.  Even when saying goodbye, we were surrounded by her love that she put into each stitch of all those quilts.

Yesterday, we had C's 1st birthday party. As usual, Grandma had planned ahead, so C got a birthday card that had been picked out and signed by great-Grandma. It was so special, and I know C will be happy she has it one day.  It was a good birthday - she devoured cake, pulled paper off presents, and played with boxes as much as she did the toys. Then, she crashed out asleep while the rest of us had supper.
We REALLY need some papers to fall into place this week for our adoption. We're getting down to the wire on having our submission this year.  Basically, if I don't have a certain piece of paper in my hand on Friday and overnighted to the family that's leaving Saturday, then we probably won't be able to submit until February after their holidays.  Please pray that we can get this one last document ready to go in time. If so, then we are looking at a possible January travel date!  Our fundraising is continuing to progress, and we trust that we will be able to go when the time comes. We truly appreciate all of your continued prayers.

Glasstastrophe and a Golden Ticket

It's been a crazy week - crossing a lot of things off our "to do" list! 
First, a little about Halloween.  B got all dressed up as "Fancy Nancy" and she went to story-time at the library.  After that, we headed over to the county courthouse for a home ownership letter we needed for our adoption packet.  Back home briefly to finish decorating sugar cookies, then we went to school for A's class Halloween Party.  I did half of it with C in the moby-wrap - fun!  I think all the kids had a really good time :)  After school, we went to the library so the kids could get some new books.  Once we got home, while carrying stuff in, we had a glasstastrophe!  I pushed on the glass pane of our veeeeeeeery old french door.  It broke, glass everywhere, and my arm was sliced up a bit.  OW!!!!!  We have always wondered what toy was going to fly through one of those windows.  I didn't figure it would be my hand/arm!  Anyway, awesome brother-in-law came over and got C out of the car for me.  Brian came home, bandaged me up, and got kids dressed for trick-or-treating.  A was Ironman and C was an adorable lovebug.  We made lots of rounds gathering candy and showing off the costumes - ending with soup and more sweets at Grandma's house.

Thursday, B had preschool. Then, the girls and I headed into town to get 37 documents "apostilled."  It's basically to notarize the notary.  The State puts an official seal on it showing that the notary is authentic.  We had missed a stamp on one document, but I got the other 36 finished!  Later, I sent B home with Brian and went to Walmart with C.
This morning, OUR LETTER FROM H0MEL#ND SECURITY came in the mail!  Basically, it doesn't matter how fast we complete the rest of our documents, we were stuck waiting for this letter, and IT CAME!!!!  If you know me personally, you know I'm a little goofy :)  I was singing "I Got a Golden Ticket" all morning after I found out it was at the post office.  Brian wasn't quite as amused by it as I was. He kept rolling his eyes at me :)  So after Mommy time, Brian and I went to Omaha to get fingerprinted!  All of our documents were put in the mail to be reviewed by our facilitator.  Now, all we need is the "results" of our fingerprinting and the US approval. Then, it can all be submitted to Ukraine! Based on our estimated timeline, we could be traveling mid-January.
The only other thing we need is the remaining funding.  We are being reviewed this month by a foundation that does grant money for adoptions. Please pray that the rest of our needed money will come in so that we can go get our V*ktor as soon as possible!  Pray for him and his roommates that they will stay encouraged and uplift each other through the time of waiting.
Thank you all so so so so so so so much for your continued support through prayer, donations, and encouragement.  It means more than you could ever know!

If you would like to give, you can use this link:
http://www.youcaring.com/fundraiser_details?fundraiser_id=7124&url=bringviktorhome