SCORE!

Just got word from our adoption worker. Our dossier was SUCCESSFULLY SUBMITTED!  What does this mean, you ask?  Well, it means that Ukraine has 2-3 weeks to make sure that everything is in order - but all the major stuff is great.  We should be able to travel anywhere from 4-6 weeks from now, depending on how long it takes for them to verify all our documents.  SO this was a major victory, but we still need to keep praying that everything continues to go smoothly and that we get an invitation to go soon!  We are sooooo ready to meet our son!

Rejoice in the Lord always, again I say REJOICE! Philipians 4:4

Paperwork and Prayer

So, all throughout this patience producing experience we have had a major headache with paperwork.  A completed dossier for a Ukrainian adoption is about 35 documents which all have to be notarized and apostilled (state verification of the notary).  We have had to complete and redo our dossier a total of 4 times for various reasons.  Every time we would get a phone call from our adoption worker, I would cringe and say, "What now?"  It has been a constant thorn in our side...and it will be removed in about 32 hours!  Our paperwork will be submitted on February 9 when the Ministry of Social Policy in Kyiv opens.  That will be at around 2am our time.  Once our paperwork is accepted, they can't require us to update or change anything.  It's like getting the final lap flag or a two minute warning.  It represents the end of the not-fun part of our journey.  We have been marking time by this date for more than 4 months...needless to say we are a bit anxious for Feb. 9 to get here!  It is very important for our paperwork to get approved the first time because we don't want to wait anymore :)  There are a few specific prayer requests for you to consider as Thursday morning approaches:

1. Pray that the worker viewing our paperwork will be in a good mood :)
2. Pray that the holes punched in our home study and amendments will not cause problems (I know it sounds silly, but it is actually a big problem).
3. Pray that the notary seals that have expired on two of our documents will not cause problems.
4. Pray that Konstantin will be successful in pleading our case to the adoption official.
5. Pray that they will be swift to offer us an appointment.

Tommorrow I will be in a constant state of prayer - especially from about 1pm on since the offices will be closed at that time and will be holding my future when they reopen.  We know that our Lord is in control and everything will happen in His time, but He has given us the power of prayer for a reason.  So, we will PRAY!  Thanks for joining your prayers with ours.  I will update as soon as I have word on Thursday.

"I will not leave you as orphans, I will come to you."  John 14:18

Why Ukraine?

As the day gets closer when we find out when we FINALLY get to go to Ukraine to meet our son, whom we have chosen to name Micah, I decided that it was time to start sharing our journey with our family and friends.  Our journey to adopt our second child began 3 years ago when we applied for another domestic adoption with the same agency we used to adopt Nathan.  After 9 months, we got a late night phone call asking if we would be interested in an African American baby.  We said yes and just 36 hours later, we were on our way to the hospital to pick her up.  Sarah was going to be her name.  15 minutes from the hospital, we got another phone call informing us that the mom had changed her mind.  Sarah wasn't going to be ours after all.  After the 45 minute ride home with Brent and I mourning and Nathan crying in the back seat for us to turn around to go get his baby sister, my mind was made up.  I was not going to do that to my family again.  After a few weeks, I discovered that Brent agreed with me and we began to look for children in the foster care system.  After 6 months, it became clear that since we can't be foster parents because of our job, we were not going to be able to adopt a relatively healthy, youngish child from the US.  In December of 2010 we decided to embark on our international adoption journey.  The most frequently asked question I get is "why Ukraine?" The initial answer is simple:  My family originates in Ukraine.  My paternal great-grandparents were immigrants from Ukraine.  However, since I was a young teenager, I have had a deep conviction for the people of Ukraine and children without families.  For a long time I thought I was going to be a missionary there.  I have found my mission field helping children without families and now I will expand MY family with a child from the country that I love.  I am excited to share my journey with you. I am not going to pretend that I have time to write something every day.  Nor am I delusional and think that you want to read about my life every day!  But, I will update when I can and when there is news to share.