This is really happening!

We have planned, prepared, prayed, and waited for this day for a year and a half. It just doesn't seem real that in just 10 days we will begin our journey to Ukraine. The airline tickets are bought and the reservations for our accommodations have been made. This is really happening! This time next month we will have a son!

Our flight will leave Atlanta on Sunday, March 10th at 11:40am. We will arrive in Kiev, Ukraine on Monday, March 11th at 1:05pm. Our appointment with the SDA will be on Wednesday, March 13th. We haven't been told what time yet, but I'll let everyone know as soon as we find out. For those who aren't familiar with how the adoption process works in Ukraine, we meet with the SDA, then we return the next day for the referral to Daniel's orphanage. We will travel to the orphanage once we have the referral, where Daniel will write a letter stating he wants to be adopted by us. That letter is what gets the ball rolling. We will meet with the regional "social worker" and the orphanage director. They will have to complete some paperwork and once it's submitted, we should receive our court date.

I have to admit, the thought of court is a little scary. They can ask us all kind of questions from; "Why do you want to adopt a 15yo boy when you already have two children?" to "How do you think your health will affect you raising him?" I think it's the fear of the unknown. They have our home study which has just about every detail about us and our lives. There is no telling what they may pick out to ask us about. How do you prepare for that? But I know that God will be with us and He will lead us. I keep repeating in my head,  "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God." Philippians 4:6  It helps a lot, but I find myself having to do it more often as the day draws nearer.

We've been talking to Daniel about 2-3 times a week. He is so excited! He said he's already packed his bag! I can hardly sleep at night and we've already started packing too! Maybe I'll be exhausted enough by the time we leave that I'll be able to sleep on the plane. I doubt it though, because I'll be so excited to get there! We arrive on Monday and our appointment isn't until Wednesday, so we're going to take the train to Daniel's village and surprise him! He doesn't think we'll be there until Friday. I think that's what I'm most excited about, the look on his face when he sees us the 1st time. Seeing him with the girls will be awesome. They haven't seen each other in so long. I'm sure we'll get plenty of pictures!

Yay! T minus 10 days and counting! We're coming sweet boy!

Best Words I Ever Read...APPROVED

"For this boy I prayed, and the LORD has given me my petition which I asked of Him." 1 Samuel 1:27

I opened my email and it was the first one on my list. It was from our facilitator and the subject said "Approved!!!!"

It's surreal. That's all I can say. We have waited and prayed and waited some more. I can't believe it's finally happened, we are approved to adopt Daniel! In a little over a month, he will officially be our son. Son. I like the sound of that. Don't get me wrong, everyone knows how much I love my daughters, but there's something special a mother feels for her son.

We don't have our official appointment date yet, but it looks like it will be the week of March 20th. Hopefully we will find out the definite date later this week.

Thank everyone so much for all your prayers and support! We will keep everyone updated as we find out more.

Long Overdue

Sorry I have not kept our blog updated! Been a couple of crazy months! For those of you who don't know everything that's been happening, I will bring you up to speed.

We submitted our dossier in November, 2012 with great expectations of traveling to Ukraine in December for our adoption. We were thankful to get it submitted in time because the SDA in Ukraine closes in January to observe Orthodox Christmas. Unfortunately, instead of an appointment date, we received our dossier back. Our doctor had not put ICD-10 codes on our medical reports. We were so disappointed. I was devastated and our poor facilitator received a call from me, crying. Remember, English is not his 1st language, so understanding a crying woman on a poor phone connection was a real challenge for him. Why couldn't we just have the doctor send the codes? How could they reject us just because of a type-o? How would we tell Daniel there has been yet another delay?

It took a couple of hours and some raging with God (thank goodness He can take anything we throw at Him!), but finally I felt the Holy Spirit begin to calm me. "Everything in His timing", "He knows the plans for you, plans not to harm you", "I am with you even now", etc...As I went to bed that night, all I could think of was breaking the news to Daniel the next morning. This would be no short delay, due to the SDA closing for Christmas, we wouldn't be able to resubmit until February. Overnight I had a dream and I really felt it was from God. A dream of gong to see Daniel for Christmas. When I woke the next morning I mentioned it to Bill. He had been thinking the same thing! I began researching how we could do it. Could we afford it? Could Bill get the time off?

Everything worked out and we were able to leave on December 25th to visit Daniel in Ukraine! We were able to spend 7 days with him and it was awesome! I think we all needed it, the reaffirmation and connection. On our way back Bill & I realized that was the most time we had ever spent with Daniel. It was definitely the most one on one time. When we met him at Bridgestone, there were 8 other boys and we didn't meet him until their last week here. Even though he has grown up in an orphanage half a world away from us, we just fell right into "family" together. He is so much like Bill in his personality, the 3 of us have the same eye color, and he even has a cleft chin like Bill & Hayden! We had a wonderful time together and can't wait to return so we can bring him home forever.

The orphanage where Daniel lives.

Family!

Orphanage Rodyna

So all the corrections have been made and our dossier was resubmitted on February 5th. We have been told that there are not many applications right now, so we may know as early as next week if we're approved and get an appointment date! So many emotions: happy, anxious, excited, nervous; all mixed up inside. I will definitely let everyone know when we hear something!

Thank you everyone for your continued prayers and support. I know we (mostly me) have been a little withdrawn from friends and activities lately and we (I) apologize. For those of you have never been through this, let me just say it's the worst, best thing I've ever done in my life. It's like a pregnancy that feels like it will never end! The doctor keeps changing the due date or rescheduling the induction and you just can't face the questions anymore about "Are you ever going to have that baby?" Everyone wants to know when we're going and so do we! I'm not saying not to ask us about it, you deserve to know. We wouldn't have made it this far without your help! It's just hard, the hardest thing I've ever done, and sometimes instead of reaching out to y'all for support, it's just easier to turn inward. I'm working on that because I am sure once Daniel is home, I will probably need some help or advice or a shoulder to cry on. It will be a process and I know it won't be a fairy tale, perfect transition, but there will be one less orphan in this world and he will be loved by a mother and a father and 2 sisters for the rest of their lives.