Many of you have already heard about our very disappointing news. Two of our boys, Christian & Henry, have been moved to a foster home. This makes them unavailable for international adoption. It was ultimately their decision, but what upset us the most is that we nor our lawyer where notified that this option was being offered to the boys. They made this very important decision without any input from us. What made this option so attractive to them is that it's the foster home where their sister, Leana, lives. We didn't get to explain to them that we have also been working on adopting their sister. We made no headway over the summer to have contact with her, so we moved forward on the 3 boys with plans to meet Leana while we're in Ukraine. We feel like they would have made a different decision, possibly, if they would have had this information. All we can do is trust that this is all part of God's plan and there is a reason Christian & Henry weren't meant to be part of our family at this time. It's so hard though. We have loved these boys over a year and already thought of them as our sons. It feels like our children have been taken from us. We know it will take time to heal and accept this situation, but these boys will always have a part of hearts.
Good news is that Daniel is definitely coming! He is very excited that we will be there soon and is telling everyone "No Oleg. Daniel Holliday!" We can hardly wait to bring him home and meet our family and friends!
We think this may be a good time to tell you all about another sweet boy that stole our hearts last December. His name is Vova, or Bobo as my dad calls him. He is 9 and just the most precious boy you'll ever meet. We felt very attached to him while he was here. He would call Bill & I "Mama" and "Papa". I don't know if its b/c we were the 1st houseparents when he arrived & spent lots of time with him throughout their visit or if maybe he already knew something we hadn't figured out yet. We knew we were already in the process of adopting 3 boys and were in no position to be considering another, so we just decided to wait & maybe adopt him later on. We had thought about maybe next year if he was still available. We have had friends adopting from his orphanage and he has told them to tell us "Hi" and we've sent him a photo album. So there's been a little communication between us, but nothing like what we had with our 3 boys. We didn't want to discuss adoption with him until we had a better idea of when. It wouldn't be fair. We still haven't discussed it with him, but we have made several inquiries to get information about him. Someone we spoke with, we have since found out, told him that there's a family in America that wants to adopt him. I'm sure he suspects its us b/c we've sent him messages through friends and the photo album. Our friends that are their currently have been able to visit with him often and he's told them all about how an American family is coming to get him, but he doesn't know when. Awww. So at least we know he's open to the idea.
We know we will be traveling to Ukraine sometime early December. We have been trying to decide if we should go forward with adopting Vova while we're there since we're already approved for more than 1 child & we'd already be there. The issue is that he's in another region from Daniel and that really complicates the adoption process. Adding to the complications is "when" we're going. The Ukrainian government all but shuts down in January for Orthodox Christmas. There is no way to foresee how long it could take to complete both adoptions. We had friends this summer who adopted from the same 2 regions and there's took about 3-4 months! We just can't be gone like that. I think we're just going to play it by ear. If things are going unusually quick with Daniel's process, we may consider going forward with Vova. If things are going slowly, which seems to be the norm in Ukraine, we will just have to make another trip next year. We will continue to pray for God's will in this, but we're feeling more & more that He is moving us toward adding Vova to our family.
The time is growing near for us to leave for Ukraine. We have all the funds for the adoption costs and travel, but we're still in dire need of funds for our 30-45 day stay. We'll have to rent an apartment, pay for food, and the costs for transportation while in Ukraine. We have a donation button on the top right corner of our home page, but you can also send tax deductible donations on our behalf to Manifold Mercies. Make checks payable to Manifold Mercies and mail to: Manifold Mercies, P.O. Box 237, Kellyton, Al 35089. Put "Holliday Family" on the outside of your envelope to ensure the donation is set aside for our adoption. If you don't like snail mail or checks, you can visit their website www.manifoldmercies.org and click on the "donate" button. If you make a donation online, just let us know so we can notify Manifold Mercies and let them know its for our adoption.
Thank you so much for all your prayers and emotional & financial support. We could have never done this without all your help!
Love,
The Holliday's
Bill, Kim, Hope, & Hayden
Good news is that Daniel is definitely coming! He is very excited that we will be there soon and is telling everyone "No Oleg. Daniel Holliday!" We can hardly wait to bring him home and meet our family and friends!
We think this may be a good time to tell you all about another sweet boy that stole our hearts last December. His name is Vova, or Bobo as my dad calls him. He is 9 and just the most precious boy you'll ever meet. We felt very attached to him while he was here. He would call Bill & I "Mama" and "Papa". I don't know if its b/c we were the 1st houseparents when he arrived & spent lots of time with him throughout their visit or if maybe he already knew something we hadn't figured out yet. We knew we were already in the process of adopting 3 boys and were in no position to be considering another, so we just decided to wait & maybe adopt him later on. We had thought about maybe next year if he was still available. We have had friends adopting from his orphanage and he has told them to tell us "Hi" and we've sent him a photo album. So there's been a little communication between us, but nothing like what we had with our 3 boys. We didn't want to discuss adoption with him until we had a better idea of when. It wouldn't be fair. We still haven't discussed it with him, but we have made several inquiries to get information about him. Someone we spoke with, we have since found out, told him that there's a family in America that wants to adopt him. I'm sure he suspects its us b/c we've sent him messages through friends and the photo album. Our friends that are their currently have been able to visit with him often and he's told them all about how an American family is coming to get him, but he doesn't know when. Awww. So at least we know he's open to the idea.
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| Our "Bobo" |
The time is growing near for us to leave for Ukraine. We have all the funds for the adoption costs and travel, but we're still in dire need of funds for our 30-45 day stay. We'll have to rent an apartment, pay for food, and the costs for transportation while in Ukraine. We have a donation button on the top right corner of our home page, but you can also send tax deductible donations on our behalf to Manifold Mercies. Make checks payable to Manifold Mercies and mail to: Manifold Mercies, P.O. Box 237, Kellyton, Al 35089. Put "Holliday Family" on the outside of your envelope to ensure the donation is set aside for our adoption. If you don't like snail mail or checks, you can visit their website www.manifoldmercies.org and click on the "donate" button. If you make a donation online, just let us know so we can notify Manifold Mercies and let them know its for our adoption.
Thank you so much for all your prayers and emotional & financial support. We could have never done this without all your help!
Love,
The Holliday's
Bill, Kim, Hope, & Hayden
