Getting closer!!!

 

I don't really feel like I have any one important thing to say, so this may just be a bit of my rambling :)  WE HAVE 18 DAYS UNTIL WE LEAVE!!! WOW!
   So we got home from TN and turned on the water.  One faucet (which was already kind of a problem anyway) just kept running even when knobs were turned off.  So, we shut the water off to that faucet and 3-4 days later Brian was finally able to completely replace it.  Old houses are tricky, you never know WHAT you're going to get when you go tearing into a project.  Poor guy kept having to go back to H*me Depot every day to get a different part!  Alas, that's done, and now I have a few more (hopefully quick) projects for him to do in the next 18 days- yaaaa!  (Sorry, every time I say how many days I have to say yaaa - it's  reflex - haha).
     V*ktor continues to be excited about our arrival.  Having the date has indeed made it seem a lot better for me anyway, and I think it probably has for him, too.  He has asked if we can bring some things for his roommates and maybe other kids.  Though I am going to want to pack a lot of stuff for us since we'll be there so long, I definitely want to take some things for him and the other kids.  So, if anybody wants to donate any of the following for us to take over, just let me know:  bouncy balls, gum (like in 5 pks), hand/foot warmers (the onetime use to put in gloves and shoes), hats, warm gloves, chap stick (poor kids beg for this because their lips are so chapped), or other small toys. These I can carry with me whenever I go to the orphanage and hand out something to each kid I see.  His roommate J's mom (still praying for a miracle with the registry for this sweet boy) was just there for a visit and she said every time she was there that the kids just swarmed her for hugs and a little suprise.  It's an opportunity for us to love on and minister to the other kids as well as it is for us to get V*ktor home. Ha- at the start of hosting, we thought of it as our mission trip without leaving home.  Now, I guess through our adoption over there, we will be on a mission trip of sorts :)
       I have just a swarm of thoughts in my head and prayers going up.  If you are wanting some specifics on what to pray for us, I'm just going to lay out a list here for you :)

• It's really starting to hit that I will be leaving A and B for possibly 8 weeks.  That is a REALLY long time!  Please pray for them that they would be happy, content, and not worry about us. Sk*pe will be a big help.
• Pray for our parents and friends who will be caring for A and B.  Pray for their strength, energy, and wisdom when parenting for us in our place.  Please pray for good health.
• The financial part of it is not a definite.  Plane ticket prices can vary greatly and there's always the chance that some piece of paperwork can slow down the process which means longer time in-country and more expenses.  We have fundraised the amount we were told we would need.  We completely trust that God has brought us this far and will continue to provide when it is needed.  We hope that we will be able to stay within what we have.
• Travel mercies - that C will be a good little traveler and that we can all get over the jet-lag as quickly as possible.
• Please pray for our safety and health throughout the whole process.
• Remember V*ktor in prayer, too.  Though he is really excited and can't wait to come home, I can imagine he may have some anxieties.  Change is HARD!  It can be scary. Even when you decide to do something and know it is a great decision, there's still a little fear involved in trying something new - the unknown.  I know there always is for me anyway - in new jobs, moving, or other major changes.  Pray for him and for us as his parents.
• Finally - Please pray for a FAST timeline.  There are a number of steps in the process.  Sometimes they go very quickly and sometimes things move slowly. For example - if a certain paper has to be signed by a specific person in a specific office... The day you go to that office, that person is out for the day... it's Friday... You've just added 3 days to your timeline.  or     The judge only wants to do adoptions on Thursday.  You just got ALL your papers and it's Friday... You've just added 6 days to the timeline.  We know God has it all under control and He has a plan.  We are praying for things to move quickly, but in the end we trust it will happen in His perfect way.

This picture is so cute :) My sister M is such an awesome aunt! She knows B so well that she got her a Lalal**psy doll just like the mermaid that B just picked out as a birthday present from my mom. I told B several times that we could take it to the store and let her pick out another doll or toy. She was INSISTENT that she wanted to give it to her cousin H so they would both have one to play with. Such a sweetie!

Thanks again everyone for continued prayers and encouragement!  We are truly blessed!  Oh also, I do have some Tshirts left, so if you want one let me know!  Free-will donation

WE HAVE A TRAVEL DATE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!  WE HAVE A DATE! WE HAVE A DATE! WE HAVE A DATE!

Can you tell I'm a little excited? :)  We had a wonderful Christmas here with my family in TN!  We woke up Christmas Eve to an AWESOME Christmas present of our travel date to Ukr*ine!!!! Because of the timing, we have a full 5 weeks notice.  This is a huge relief because a lot of times people get less than 2 weeks notice.  I know in the end God has the plans under control, but He has blessed us in allowing me extra time so I'm not quite so stressed about it!  There are still lots of details about travel and everything to work through.  Yesterday, cousin N got to help us tell V (on the phone) when we will be there!  Even though we had been telling him we would be coming after Christmas, he was still pretty excited about having exact date (as were we) :) 

It was a fast, busy day with all the cousins and family.  The kids are so blessed with many people who love to spoil them on Christmas with lots of fun toys! The day started with Mom in the hall banging pots and pans together loudly! ------ When Dad was a kid, he and his 4 siblings apparently got up at the crack of dawn every year and woke my grandparents up playing with their toys.  After they were mostly grown, my grandfather came home from 3rd shift one Christmas morning.  Since they were still sleeping, he grabbed pots and pans and started banging them together running through the house to wake them up.  When I was a kid, my Dad told us the story, and, of course, we wanted to start a tradition.  Thus, we have been waking up on Christmas Day to someone banging pots and pans for almost 30 years now :)--------  A was really excited that he got his MP3 player. He has been wanting one since he saw V's (that he got for his birthday here this summer).  B got her "Stomp**z houseshoes!"  We had a yummy breakfast cooked by Aunt M! Then, we headed next door to Nana PJ and Papa G's.  Santa visited over there, and the kids all LOVED that!  It was a great afternoon spending time with family, watching kids play, eating great food, and catching up with each other. 

I LOVE this picture.  It's my grandparents with their 11 great grandchildren (okay, so one is photoshopped because she got there right after three of the others left).  In about 3 months, the 11 kids will be 14 through adoption.  My cousin J and his wife N are adopting twin girls from L*tvia, and we are adopting V!  That will even it up at 7 boys and 7 girls!



After a great day next door to Mom's, we headed to my Aunt A's house to visit my Dad's family.  Almost everyone was there, and we had a good visit. B and C were REALLY tired, though, and slept practically the whole time we were there!  We had a very blessed Christmas and hope you did as well!
We are REALLY thankful for Brian's parents!  Apparently our pipes froze yesterday (guess I shouldn't have turned the heat down so low when we left :( ) They spent almost 4 hours at our house getting them unfrozen.  I feel awful that they spent their Christmas doing that, but at the same time we are so blessed that they were willing and able to do it for us.  Today we're just enjoying a low-key day at Mom's house playing with Christmas toys and games!  Maybe we'll venture out later to see about sales on comfy snowboots for C and me.  (I got Brian some for Christmas.)  Looks like we'll need them soon!

Then the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. ¹¹ For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.  Luke 2: 10-12

Waiting and waiting and waiting - and a cool tree topper

I think I spoke too soon about this waiting going fast.  I read my last blog how I thought this would go quickly because of the holidays and everything. Well, now that I have nothing to do except wait.... it's slowed down considerably! The 3 days between phone calls seems longer and longer!  I sometimes forget that people don't know what's next in the process. Of course, half the time even I don't know or can't remember what's next!!  I thought I'd take a minute to break down what is going to be involved in our trip to Ukr*ine.
Sometime in the next 2 weeks (REALLY hoping sooner rather than later), we will get a call or email telling us what date we will be expected in Ukr*ine for an appointment.  At that point, we will book plane tickets and make our final childcare arrangements, preparations for the trip, etc.  We anticipate the appointment will be in mid to late January.  We are hoping for January 21st :)
2 days before our appointment, Brian, C, and I will travel to Ukr*ine.  We will go to our appointment first thing in the morning on the date given. Then, we wait for a day until we get our official papers.  Once we have that, we get on an overnight train (that will be 14-15 hours) that will take us to V*ktor's city.  The next day (or really when we arrive off the train), we go to the local court in order to get our permission to see him.  After a few days of paperwork, we wait.  We pray that the wait will be short.  It can be anywhere from 1 1/2 weeks to 3 1/2 weeks.  During that time, we are not "doing" anything, but we can see V*ktor every day :)  Some people go home for this waiting period, but that is a lot more expense in airfare, so we are staying.
At the end of that wait, we go to court and the adoption is official! Brian will go home the next day.  There is a 10 day wait at that point (which again some people go home for this). Then, it is finalized, and V*ktor can come with me!  We will catch a train back to Ki*v where we will visit the Emb&ssy for birth certificate, visa, etc.  About a week later, V*ktor, C, and I will COME HOME!!!!!!!!!!
I hope that has shed some light on the process as it will unfold!

In the past few weeks, we had Thanksgiving at Grandpa's, I did some Christmas shopping (and finished), we decorated our tree, saw Santa, watched several high school basketball games, had lots of Christmas program practices (I'm directing the program at church again this year), and pretty well kept ourselves busy :)

Four score and... okay, about 17 years ago... We lost the angel for the tree. Mom graduated from college that day, and seeing how she had spent many years working towards it, we put her diploma atop the tree.  There began a new tradition of choosing something different to top the tree each year.  We usually try to pick an object that represents something meaningful that happened that year.  When Brian and I got married it was my veil.  When Megs got married, we put my bouquet up there, when Dad died, we put his hat, when C was born, we put her hairbow, etc.  This year, we, of course needed something to represent V*ktor.  Everyone agreed on the beautiful towel he hand-embroidered for us :)   I uploaded this picture so he could see it when he had access to the computer.  Though I tried to explain, I'm pretty sure he was quite confused.  I asked if he had seen the pictures and he just said, "no make sense."  LOL!  Not sure if Santa didnt' make sense or the crazy Americans who put a towel on top of a tree...  Ahhh, he'll understand soon enough :)



 

I'm not going to spend much time or detail talking about this, but I do ask your continued prayers for V*ktor's spirits.  We cannot WAIT to get him home!  Pray that we find out our date very very soon.

 

Not sure if anyone is still reading my blogs since I didn't update for so long!  I'll try not to let it get so spread out next time between entries :)  MERRY CHRISTMAS!

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