The Journey Officially Begins!

Our social worker came by Tuesday and the meeting went very well. We have tons of paper work to fill out, but it will be soooo worth it! Once we get the initial paper work filled out and turned in, we'll have to pay half of the home study fees and the "home study" officially begins. YeeHaw! We are so excited, just one more step closer to getting our boys here with us.
We went to our 1st adoption support group meeting last night at church. Between that and the books I've been reading-lets just say I'm feeling a little anxious. I mean we know that there will be adjustments, but there are so many ways children who are adopted can act out. The process of adoption is overall a happy occasion for the the family adopting and the kids being adopted; but people don't realize its also a time of great loss and grief for the adopted children. They will be losing their last hopes of ever reuniting with their birth parents, they're leaving the life they have become accustomed to at the orphanage, and they will be moving somewhere where almost no one speaks their language. There will be the happiness of new beginnings and the sadness of the end of their previous life. Please pray we will be able to navigate this transition with our boys and they will adjust well.
I am about to bust! I am so excited that we are getting close to making this a reality and then I'm so scared that we're getting so close to this being a reality.
"For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of  power"        2 Timothy 1:7

I love modern technology!

Skype still amazes me. We were able to talk with the boys on skype a while back with video so we could see them. The orphange has been having computer problems since then so we haven't been able to do it in a long while. Thanks to our friend, Julie Sanchez, we were able to call the boys today. Julie and her husband got their Oleg a cell phone and using skype, you can call. You don't get the video, but you can have a conversation. The cool thing with skype is you can do this 3-way so we had the translator & the boys on @ the same time! We were able to talk through the translator and it was awesome!

I had been struggling about what to say. I wanted to ask if they still want us, but how do you ask that? We're about to start our paperwork next week & we need to know that they still want to come. I didn't have to worry long because one of the 1st things Artem asked was if we had started the paperwork! I told him the social worker comes Tuesday and we'll hopefully be coming to Ukraine in a few months. I asked him if he was sure he still wanted to come and be part of our family. His answer "Of course!" He also wanted to know about his brother Vlad and I told him we are planning on adopting him too. That news was met with squeals and celebration as Artem shared the news with his brother. Next we talked to Oleg and I asked him also if he was sure he still wants to come and he answered "Da!" which is yes in Russian. I told them we just wanted to make sure since the process is really about to get up and going. We talked a little more, told them we sent them a photo album with pictures of us, them, our house, and their new room. Larrisa hasn't been by the orphanage yet to deliver it, but I told them its coming. We talked for about 20-30 minutes, but then the connection got bad & we had to get off.

It was awesome! They still want us! We're here working hard to get them here and thinking about them all the time, but sometimes we worry that they will forget about us. It didn't hit me until we got off the phone with them today...They may be worrying that we've forgotten about them! We know what all we're doing here, but they have barely gotten to hear from us since they left in September. Its got to be much worse for them. We are going to try and get a phone to them so we can call and text often. I'm so glad we were able to talk today and now we all feel so much better. They know we're working to get them here and we know they still want to come!