Our Day

I took pictures today to kind of document our day. It was a bit of a whirlwind day, the pictures make it look a little dreamy, but it definitely wasn't (other than our wonderful approval from immigration, yay!) Anyway, first on the list of things to do today, clean the bathroom. Be thankful, I didn't take pictures of that. It was gross! No matter how hard I try, black mold keeps coming back in the toilet.

Anyway, the kids were at eachother all day, the pictures don't show that. One day, I will look at the pictures and only remember the good times. Then when my children have children and ask me if their children are like they were, I will say "no, you were perfect angels, just look at these pictures". Ok, it sounds funny in my head anyway, because my mom does that. :) ( of course, I think she thinks my kids are perfect angels too)

We made heart placemats for Valentines Day. The kids loved it, and were so proud when they could use them for snack and dinner. 

 Justus tried to eat his. I think he is doing some major teething lately, because he is chewing on everything. 

This actually was a peaceful moment this morning. They were playing with babies together. 

Until... Justus decided he needed to do something more "manly" like fix something. 

 After nap, we made strawberry banana mufiins. 

Malika wanted to wear her apron and she insisted I wear mine too. We need matching girly frilly ones. 

Justus, of course, had to unroll all of the paper towels. 

Our strawberry banana muffins. Mmmm, with a glass of milk, these were heavenly. I could have eaten all of them. (Josh just had one and said they were good, but he expected sweeter, well, they are healthy muffins and I haven't had sweets in a while, so I thought they were wonderful)

Strawberry Banana Muffins

1 c. whole wheat flour

1/2 c. white flour

1 t baking soda

1 1/2 t. baking powder

1/2 t salt

3 ripe bananas, mashed

3/4 c sucanat (natural sweetener, but you could probably use regular white)

1 egg

1/3 c. butter, melted

1 cup chopped strawberries (I used frozen)

Prehat oven to 375 degrees. In a large bowl, mix together flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt, set aside. In another bowl, beat bananas, sugar, egg and melted butter. Stir the banana mixture into the flour mixture just until moistened. Add strawberries. Pour into lined or greased muffin cups. 

Optional crumb topping (this would probably make it sweeter, I forgot to do this, but thought they were great without it). 

Mix together 1/4 c. sucanat or sugar, 2 T flour, 1/8 t cinnamon, 1 T cold butter, until it resembles course cornmeal. Sprinkle over muffins. 

Bake for 18-20 minutes or until center comes out clean. 

Our Golden ticket!!!!

Oh my gosh, we just received our I-171H in the mail. I am so excited, I can't even think straight. I'm trying to figure out how to get everything finished to mail our dossier by this weekend.

Thank you Jesus.

Just an update

I haven't written on here in so long, because there isn't much to say. We are still waiting for our approval from immigration. I am hoping it will come this week. I called immigration last week, just because I am so anxious. They said our case has been assigned an officer. This is a good thing. But, each officer has about 80 cases on their desk at one time. I am still pretty confident it will come soon. The days have been dragging by while we wait though.

After we receive the paper, we have to get our homestudy, then send the rest of our documents to be apostilled. After that, we send our dossier to Priscilla's country! Yay! We are almost there.

We have been quite busy with things at home lately. I have thought and thought of ideas of things to write on here, but none have played out well enough to post. Tomorrow, I will take pictures of our day, and post them though, just so you can see that I don't spend my ENTIRE day by the mail box. :)

Twin stuff

Our first twin thing! I made matching bibs for Justus and Priscilla. Of course, Justus already used his and it is dirty. 

Down Syndrome Dancers - Awesome video

I love this video, so I had to share it. I smiled and cried happy tears watching it.

Aghh! I'm going crazy

Lets just say, I am probably one of the least patient people. I really am going crazy with all of this waiting. I am reading blog after blog of people going to get their babies or submitting their paperwork soon, and it is making me even MORE crazy. Why do I do it?  Even though we only started this 5 months ago, it feels like an eternity.

I have been trying to get our social worker to send me our final copy of the home study to send ahead to Priscilla's country for translation and haven't had much success with that, so that means it will be pushed back more.

It seems everything I try to do to make it go faster only fails. Our fingerprint appointment is next week, but sometimes they take walk-ins, so I've been thinking we could try to do that, but then it snowed and we have been snowed in.

I keep playing it out in my head, "next week we get fingerprinted, then 2-3 weeks later approved, then we...", oh, if only it really were in my hands. But then, I am reminded of Proverbs 16:9 "In his heart a man plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps".

Really and truly, I just have to resign myself to just trust in the Lord and that He knows exactly when this is all supposed to take place and it WILL take place in his timing. 

I just want to go get our baby. I wanted to go yesterday. She will be 18 months this week and I am missing out on so much with her.

Please pray with me for our sweet little one, pray that she is safe and healthy and well cared for. Pray that immigration will be quick and all will go smooth to bring her home.

accepting

Priscilla's country is accepting dossiers on February 10th! I am so excited about this, we are getting closer. Please pray that immigration will be quick so that we can send our dossier (this is the huge packet of documents we have been working on) soon. After we send it, it has to be translated, then submitted to the SDA (state department of adoption). Then we will be given a travel date, about 3 weeks after submission.

Yay! This is getting more real, and definitely closer. I have a picture of Priscilla right by the computer, so whenever I am on her, I keep looking at her sweet face to remind myself she is real and that this really is happening.

Board book

I wanted to make some board books to take with us to get Priscilla. Some for the kids on the plane and one for Priscilla to look at of our family. I looked into getting them made, but they seemed pretty expensive, so I googled how to make them and came upon two different websites and made up my own, you can check them out here and here. I thought it was so neat, so Malika and I made one. It is far from perfect, but turned out cute. I will do things a little bit different for the next couple, but will definitely make more. 

If you live near me and want to come make some, let me know. It would be fun to have a book making day. 

fingerprint date!!

We got our fingerprint date from immigration. It is going to be scheduled for the 18th. Yay!! I'm so excited, we are moving forward. Hopefully it won't take long to be approved through USCIS after this. We could be submitting our dossier next month. Pray it all goes smoothly and quickly.

A family is in need of your help...

to bring their little girls home. The Lane family has been in the process to rescue two little girls from a life without love, but they desperately need help bringing their two precious little ones home. They already have their travel dates and they know they are going. But it is all in faith, because right now they only have the money to get over there.

We have been completely blessed by all of our friends, so I just wanted to send this out to ask you to pray about giving to help them. Every little bit will count, so please pass this on.

You can go here, if you would like to donate.

What we've been up to

I've been sitting here for about 30 minutes trying to figure out what to write, but I can't think of much, so I will just write the random things that have been happening in my life (at least the things that I don't care if the whole world knows).

Lately, I have been feeling very stuffed in our house, so I have been looking for houses. We even went out with a realtor last friday. We found a house that we LOVED, we really didn't expect this to happen. When I saw the house online, I didn't really even like it, and thought I would hate it even more in person, but that didn't happen. It has been torture for both Josh and me, because we really wanted this house and could possibly make it work. Anyway, long story short, we have been praying about it, and both of us know this isn't really the time to be buying a new house. It is hard, because we both love this house and could see it as our forever home and we could have many children there, but we also know that we would be walking out on our own if we did it. I know that if we wanted to, we could make it work and get that house, but I also know that I would regret it.

So, we took down our Christmas tree, and what do you know, it isn't quite so stuffed in our house. :)

The other day, Malika said something so funny, I'm still not sure what she meant. She said her sister was going to get in a bubble and come over here and we would pop it and she would live here. She's so funny. I made her repeat it twice, because it just didn't make sense. Since then, she has heard me say this to others, and she thinks it is so funny. Now she tells me Lilly (her baby doll) said the same thing. The things she comes up with.

I have been checking our mail everyday waiting for our fingerprint appointments from immigration. So far, nothing has come. Hopefully this week. Please be praying with us, that this part of our process would go very quickly. We are almost done. I only have one paper to redo and then waiting on immigration and we can send our dossier. It's starting to feel more real.

We are so amazed and surprised at how much money people have donated. If you were one of those, thank you so much. We are so grateful. People have been so giving and supportive. I really expected more people to question us, but really other than the couple in the beginning, everyone has been extremely supportive. I'm still in shock that we have the money and that this really IS happening. And that I really did hear the Lord about the finances. I mean, I thought I did, but money is such a huge thing today, that I thought we would be having to do many fundraisers for the money to come in. But, now I know when God says $25,000 is like 25 cents to Him, He means it. If I had just truly believed Him in the beginning, I could have saved myself the time trying to come up with fundraisers. :)

Her last Christmas

Today has been a hard day, and even as I write the title to this post, tears are coming. I have been reading others blog posts, some of who have brought their children home, or are now meeting their children, and some bringing their babies home this week. I am so beyond happy for them, but it grieves my heart to know that my sweet little baby is all alone this weekend, she doesn't even know we are coming for her. It is the weekend, I have heard that on the weekends the children sometimes stay in their cribs all day. Did anyone even tell her it was Christmas?

Well, baby girl, this is your last Christmas you will be spending by yourself. Next year, you will have a family. You will have a brother and a sister who already love you, pray for you and include you in their days. You will have a Grammy and Poppy, who are just as excited for you to come home as we are. You will have 2 cats that you can chase around. You will have a home that you can run and play, and be free to be whomever you want to be. You will have enough food to eat that your belly will never ache with hunger again. You will have more than enough arms to hold you. You will never have to live your days in a crib again. We wait for the day to meet you, and pray that it will be soon.

We love you.

Good news on the vote

This is from Andrea Roberts, founder of Reece's Rainbow


The vote did not even happen yesterday.  And it won't happen before the new year.  And when it does happen, it will be a vote to go Hague, not for moratorium or anything else.  This is what our team has known and told us all along, and what we fully expected.

Reece's Rainbow is prepared with a Hague accredited partner (one we already work with and trust) to continue adoptions without interruption in the country, with our same amazing team of helpers and facilitators who have built this program from the ground up. 




We are just trusting and having faith in God that we will still be able to bring our little girl home in the spring. 

Please be praying with us for these things:

1. That immigration will be very quick

2. That the Lord will keep our little girl safe, and that she will have a bond with at least one care taker

3. That nothing will stop us from bringing her home as soon as possible


Thank you to all of you who have been praying. Have a wonderful Christmas!

Home Study and the Vote

Our Home Study is done!!!! I am so relieved. It is being overnighted to immigration, so should be there tomorrow.

I found out that the vote is going to be wednesday, just before noon. So, that would be tuesday, US time. Please, please pray that it will not get passed. Or that it would not get voted on. The way it is written up right now, if it is passed, it will halt ALL adoptions. We would not be allowed to adopt, if they pass it, so please pray.

Is this your little girl

I just know somebody is out there that has been thinking about Leeza. She needs a mommy and daddy more than she even knows. She needs someone to take her home and love her and teach her and be patient with her.

Are you that someone? Will you rescue this sweet little girl?

Even if you know she in not your child, please go donate here so it will be that much easier for her family to take her home. Many people have the heart to adopt, but the cost of it turns them away. Please don't let this sweet little angel fall through the cracks. Let's help her find a home.

Another blogger has this great idea for a Christmas gift, please go read about it. I think it is one of the best ideas for a Christmas gift. You will be blessing both, the person you give the gift to, plus a Reece's Rainbow child.

Will you pass this on? I just know someone out there wants to be Leeza's forever family.

yay! Look at our funds

God has completely blessed us. This past sunday we went to a church I used to go to, to share our adoption story and take a church group picture and individual family pictures.

Wow! We are completely blown away by their generosity. The church gave us $3,000 and one family gave $2,000. Plus, a 6 year old little boy wanted to give us all of the change he and his siblings had been saving for a vacation. And it wasn't just a little bit of change, it was two huge jars full of change. We haven't counted it yet, but it looks like several hundred dollars. What an amazing family, to teach their children to be so selfless. It is hard to take all of the money this little boy had been saving, but I think of the selfless widow and want his life to be blessed with more than a vacation could ever do. He is helping to bring home a little girl and give her a mommy and daddy. I hope that I could teach my children to be as selfless as this little boy is.

They also prayed for us, it was so wonderful. The words they prayed felt like they came straight from God's lips. One man prayed for all of the officials, and anyone in power. He went through each one and named them off. All I can say is, I had chills. Another lady told me after that while he prayed, she saw angels standing in between each of those people. Brings tears to my eyes now, just thinking about it. "If God is for us, who can be against us".

Thank you NHCC for all that you have blessed us with. With your generosity, we will not have much left to raise. I am hoping to be able to raise money for another child when we have the money we need.

Slipper Drawing

The slipper drawing was yesterday. Here is the link to the video of the drawing.

The winners are:

Picture Frame - Patricia Ohler

Gift basket from bath and body works - Mike Young

gift card for Outback - Patricia Ohler ( since she won twice, she entered this back in and Becky Gordon won the second time)

Thank you to everyone who donated. We have 38 pairs of slippers to send to the orphanage. 

What about them?

It is so amazing all that God has done in our lives, in just the last few months. Wow! Just thinking back this time last year, I never would have expected that this is where we would be, even just 6 months ago.

God has changed ME a ton.

Not just me, God has changed Josh too. Just the other night when we were having our family worship time, Josh prayed for our 3 kids! It just makes me so happy that he already thinks of Priscilla as ours. I do, but to hear it from him, confirms everything I feel.

I can't even begin to say all that God has changed in me, maybe it is more of an attitude toward life than anything else. I know for sure that I feel I have a hope and a future now, or more, that I can kind of see what the future holds. I have a vision. The scripture that says "people without a vision perish" is so true. When I have something to hope for and hold on to, something to look forward to, I continue to press in, because I can see what is waiting for me around the corner.

I think about our sweet little baby girl sitting in an orphanage. She doesn't even know we are coming for her. Does she have something to look forward to? What about all of the other orphans. What about the ones who have already been transferred to the mental institution. Is that the reason 90% of them die within the first year? Because they have no vision. No hope for their future.

I hope that some of you reading this, will also catch the vision and be a father to the fatherless and  hope to the hopeless.

If you want to adopt, and think that you can't because of the money. There is a tax credit right now for over $13,000 per child. You can read about it here. And God will provide if you take the step forward. We are a testament to that, as are the many other families adopting through Reece's Rainbow. I know that adoption is the heart of the Father, and He will do all He can to see these little ones into a family. So pray about it, and then pray some more. :)

Is this your little girl? This little girl has captured my heart. She needs a mommy and daddy to love her, and color with her, teach her to swing, and  kiss her goodnight. She is 3 years old, and could be transferred to a mental institution, please don't let that happen. 

Or what about this little girl. Isn't she a sweety?  She has arthrogryposis. Most children with this condition are only affected physically. She needs someone to tell her she is beautiful and that she can do and be anything. Will you be that someone?

Look at this sweet face. He also has arthrogryposis. He deserves a mommy and daddy. Is Igor your son?

These next little girls are in the same orphanage, so they can be adopted together. Aren't they just beautiful. They have HIV, in their country, people with HIV have no place. When they turn 16, they are out of the orphanage like other children, but they will not be able to get a job. So, most likely they will turn to prostitution. I saw the second little girl on another blog, she said this orphanage is overrun and they have no room for the children, but the mental institution has room. It just makes me sick to think of them having to go to a mental instituion. Will you step forward and adopt one of these beauties?

This little girl has a special place in my heart. She is in the same orphanage as Priscilla, so I will most likely meet her, and maybe hold her and love on her. I want to take her home too. She has down syndrome like Priscilla does, but she also has Fetal Alchohol Syndrome. 

Is this your baby?

I could go on and on, but that is what Reece's Rainbow is for. :)

Eric Ludy - Depraved Indifference

This is long, but if you have time, watch it. I am in tears now.

This week is the week that our home study is supposed to be complete. I'm really hoping to hear about it soon. I think I am starting to annoy our social worker, I have emailed several times to find out how it was going.

Things have slowed down so much, with the adoption part of my life, anyway. Yesterday, I mailed off a packet of papers to get apostilled. I sent it through FedEx, just to make sure it actually got where it was supposed to go. It costs $20, and that is only one way. I still have to pay for them to come back here. Oh well, God has provided all of our finances so far, and I'm pretty confident He will provide all that we need.

I was trying to think of a good idea for another fundraiser. I was hoping to raise at least $15,000 by the end of the year. We will have close to it, we have almost $13,000 right now. I thought about doing a raffle for a Kindle, but I'm not sure if we would even cover the cost of the Kindle. Anyway, I think a raffle would be a great idea, if I had somewhere to sell tickets. So, if any of you have any ideas, please pass them my way. We don't have access to a building, so we can't do a fundraiser that involves a place.

We haven't heard anything about Priscilla, so I hope that is a good sign. :) Oh, how I wish we could see new pictures or hear something, anything. I get jealous when I see that others have new pictures or videos of their children. I have met through email 3 families who have adopted from her orphanage. I think from Reeces Rainbow, that is all that have. So many families are traveling now or will be soon to get their children, but no one going to her orphanage. So, there isn't really a way for me to find out how she is doing. It is so hard.

Here are some pictures of the kids, and a little of what we have been up to.

Yesterday, we decided to get adventurous and paint on the floor, on paper, of course. Justus painted on the paper, and the walls, and himself, well, just about everywhere. I don't know if we will be doing this again, anytime soon. :)

Look at those cute little chubby legs. I couldn't resist a picture of them. 

Malika was very neat, and only painted on herself. 

Yesterday we didn't paint enough, so today, Malika and I tried to do a painting with the salad spinner and a paper plate. She had so much fun (can't you tell by her smile). Sadly to say though, the paintings didn't come out so well. 

10 days left for the slipper fundraiser

There are only 10 days left for the slipper fundraiser, so if you would like to enter the drawing for one of these prizes, be sure to donate before then.

Prizes

Digital 10" photo frame (holds 2500 photos)
$40 basket from Bath & Body Works
$25 Gift Card - Outback

You will also get a chance to send a pair of  beautiful slippers to an orphan in Priscilla's orphanage. And of course help us to bring our little girl home. 

Random thoughts...

I know I must write something, so I don't leave everyone hanging, things are just difficult right now, and I don't know what to write about, since things seem up in the air. We are moving forward though, just slowly, since we have to wait for our home study to be completed. Our social worker says any day.

Malika has been talking about Priscilla a lot lately. This morning, she sat down next to Josh, and I overheard her say " Will you pray for Priscilla with me, Daddy?" So sweet. I'm not sure what she really thinks about her. She has a baby doll with the same name, and sometimes when we are talking about Priscilla, I think she is referring to her baby doll, rather than her sister. But, we put up a picture of Priscilla on our mantle, and she knows that is her sister.

I just can't wait for her to come home. I am constantly thinking about her.

Yesterday we went to my Mom and Dad's house for Thanksgiving, I can't help but think about next year. What it will be like to have 3 kids, and that will be Priscilla's first Thanksgiving. We went to the park yesterday afternoon, and it was very windy. Josh and I were talking about how she may not even know what wind feels like, or what it feels like to get in a pool. We are so excited and ready to go pick her up and bring her home, to begin her life. And to enjoy all of her firsts with her.

And then, all these thoughts come crashing down, when I think about the vote.

Somedays, I have faith to move that mountain, and other days, I can't see anything but that mountain. All I know, is that we want her home, and we are going to fight until she is here.

So, Priscilla, just hold on. Mommy and Daddy are coming for you.

News on the vote

I just read on the RR group about the upcoming vote. It is scheduled to be read for the week of December 14-17th, and it is said to be very last on the list.

So, hoping that it either will not be read, or that it won't get passed.

If it does get read and does pass, then pray that they will not stop adoptions that are already in the process, or those with special needs children.

This is taken from the RR yahoo site, about the Hague convention, and why it could be good :

For those of you not familiar with the Hague convention and what the laws say that govern Hague, I just wanted to add that the reason you hear many of us saying "Hague would be a blessing!" (and it WOULD) is because the Hague convention would ensure that ALL orphans in "Priscilla's country" are registered for adoption and that children can NOT be placed in an orphanage indefinite without parental rights being terminated (which happens to a lot of children...hence the reason "Priscilla's country" has so many older children in orphanages that are not registered for adoption or just became registered for adoption at a much older age). It would also GREATLY improve the process....no unknown, unpredictable length of travel, no expediting fees or surprise expenses, no secrecy to the process and what's actually going on while you wait in a car, no unexpected paper work changes and 40 pages worth of documents in triplicate :) It would STREAMLINE all adoptions.

Also, for those of you in process, the Hague treaty specifically says that countries should NOT stop their adoption programs while working to become Hague compliant. So, the Joint Council WILL encourage "Priscilla's country" to keep their adoption program OPEN should they express a desire to "shut down to become Hague compliant". They are actually already doing this!

Finally, I do want to add one other thing to clarify a little about why you hear us talk a lot about the children with special needs specifically. The Hague treaty also says that countries that are members of the Hague convention should FIRST do everything possible to keep the children in THEIR OWN COUNTRY. Those programs start with the "young and healthy" kids. While we certainly hope and pray that it will also one day include the children with special needs (hence Connecting The Rainbow), the reality is that "Priscilla's country" (and other countries in Eastern Europe)are years away from those programs filtering to include children with special needs. That is why you hear the urging to not stop the adoptions of children with special needs (and older kids...who also aren't included in those programs right at the start). It is NOT because we don't think ALL children deserve a family...we DO.


Thank you to all of you praying and sending letters. I have a huge peace about this right now.
I'm not sure what God's plans are for the future of our little girl, but I do know that He placed her in our hearts for a reason, and I also know that He loves her way more than I ever could. So, we are just trusting that He knows best, even if it doesn't turn out the way we would like it. 


Saying all that, I still have a peace about it. And strangely, I still feel like she will be coming home in the spring. So, I am just going on that little piece of hope that I have. We are just moving forward as though nothing will stop us. 

Why???

Why not? Ok, just kidding, I just couldn't think of a better title.

Yesterday, I tried to take my mind off of the stress with everything going on, so I found this cool blog, and made this tissue box cover. Well, it didn't really help me take my mind off the stress, but at least I got a cute tissue box cover out of it.

I woke up this morning with Priscilla on my mind. So, I got out this little dress that my friend, Judy gave to us for our little girl. It even has a cute matching baby doll outfit. I want her to wear it for her 2nd birthday. Please, oh please come home by your second birthday.

Even Justus wants her to come home to wear her dress.

Today has been so hard. I'm not sure what is going on right now. I will go re-mail the documents. All is not lost in that, I think. My heart is just really torn up. I tried to go shopping tonight, to see if it would help get my mind off our little girl, it didn't. Everywhere I turned, I thought of her.

I feel like I am pregnant and the doctor just told me they aren't sure how my pregnancy will end, they aren't sure if the baby will make it. And even if the baby does make it, I could be very overdue. I may never see her beautiful little face or hold her hand or look into her eyes. I love her beyond any words could ever say. I don't know how this has happened, when all I have of her is a picture. I just know it happened.

Unless God says in a huge audible voice to stop, we will keep trudging along, we aren't giving up. I don't think I can give up. But, in all honesty, I don't want to do this anymore. I just want my life back. There, I said it. Now, isn't that selfish of me.

I don't even want to go to bed tonight, because then I will just have to wake up tomorrow. Ok, I'm not depressed, just sad.

I am so beyond mad right now...

...because, guess what showed up in the mail today? My documents that I sent to EE, 2 months ago!!

They weren't supposed to come back. Arghhh, I am so upset. Because, not only does Priscilla's country not even know that I am trying to adopt her, now I will have to re-pay to send these. And they aren't cheap.

Just praying that things will work out in the end. We are NOT giving up. We will bring her home.

Something that can be done

Today, I have been thinking and praying all day about this vote that is going to be passed. I have been very sad, because I just have this bad feeling about it. I posted on a chat group for other adopting parents from Reece's Rainbow, and someone posted a link to someones blog, this post gave me a little hope, at least to know that there is something I can do.

This is the post:

Even if you don't feel the call to adopt, you can get involved in orphan care. And here's a simple way to get involved today...

By now, most of you have probably heard about the decision in Ukraine to go forward with a vote to halt international adoption until an inter-country agreement is in place. Please take a moment to write to your senators & congressmen, then encourage your friends and family to contact do the same!

Below you'll find a letter that you can use, or write your own.

To send a letter to your congressman:

https://writerep.house.gov/writerep/welcome.shtml

To send a letter to your senator just click on the state and follow the link:

http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm

Please help us get the word out!!

________________________________________________________

Dear (name),

I am writing to you today regarding a VERY urgent situation. Many families in the US are currently in the process of adopting children from orphanages in Ukraine. Most of these children are older or disabled. American families adopting these children offer them what may be their only opportunity at a normal and productive life free of crime, prostitution, or institutionalization due to illnesses that are treatable in the United States. I personally know one of these families.

On November 3, 2010, the Ukrainian parliament voted to proceed with voting on legislation that would halt all international adoptions until inter-country adoption agreements are in place (see the State Dept. announcement at http://adoption.state.gov/news/ukraine.html) . At this point, all that is needed for this to become law is one more vote in Ukrainian parliament and a signature by the Ukrainian president. This could happen any day. If it does, many families and innocent children will be greatly affected. I personally know one of these families.

I am writing to you to urge you to act quickly on this matter by 1. Contacting your Ukrainian cohorts and requesting a consideration of revision of the law to allow adoptions to proceed while the agreement is being drafted (as was done in Russia) and 2. Work with your colleagues in congress to begin drafting this agreement so that it is ready to go in the event the law passes.

Thank you for your timely consideration of this urgent matter!

Please take the time to write these letters. Please forward this to all your friends and families. Post on facebook or twitter or wherever else people may read it and help out.

Pray,pray,pray....Here we go again

We need prayer again, desperately. Ok, not just us, but all families adopting from Priscilla's country. I have known about this for a little while, but haven't said much to anyone, because it seems I am asking people to pray constantly. And I guess I was hoping it would go away, but it hasn't.

Remember last month or so, I asked everyone to pray about the bill they were trying to pass in EE, that would stop all adoptions. Well, they have been up to it again. I don't know the full details, but it seems there is another bill. This one is to stop adoptions, in order to clean up how they adopt. From what I hear, they want to become a Hague country, basically this is just a set of rules in order to protect the children who are being adopted. You can read more about it here. This could be a good thing, but if they do this now, then ALL adoptions would be stopped. There are about 75 families adopting, at least through Reece's Rainbow, with about 100 children involved, with most of the children having medical needs.

If they pass this bill now, these children's lives would be in jeopardy. Also, adopting families have an expiration date on all paperwork being done, so everything that we have worked so hard on would be void, and we would have to start over.

I know, I know it has been a huge roller coaster. I wish they would just get their act together and stop scaring us. I hope that they will consider the children in this matter. So, please pray.

I have even thought, wouldn't it be nice that they could set a date in the future, like say, the end of 2011 to do this, so that adopting families can finish adoptions, and future families will know before committing to a child.

I have not been too worried about it, until now. So, maybe that is the Lord's grace or His way of showing me it will be ok, I don't know. But, I do know enough to have people praying. I think the bill may be voted on next week or so (actually it was already voted on and passed, but has to be voted on again).

Hmmm...don't have a title

Well, nothing new is going on, just a big waiting game now. I do hope everything comes back in time to submit in February. I really don't know what I was thinking when I thought there was a chance to submit this year. Everything becomes clearer by the day. :)

I emailed a lady who adopted from the same orphanage we are adopting from. She said it was one of the better orphanages and that the children are very well taken care of and loved. She said I would be happy with how well taken care of they are. That makes me so happy, to know that Priscilla is being loved and fed properly. So, maybe she won't be as little as I was thinking.

Oh yeah, and we have raised half of the money we need already! Praise God!

impatient

Yesterday, we had our last home study appointment. I also thought we would be done with it, and it could be sent to USCIS, but our social worker said it would not be completed until the end of the month.

I am really trying to just trust in the Lord and not worry about things, and just hope it will all get taken care of in time. At least we have the winter break and I won't be stressing over it (too much).

I am so impatient today. I just want to hold her and take her home so bad. I am glad things are not quite so stressful right now. We are nearly done with getting the dossier ready, and there is not much to do on our end, except wait. Sounds good, but is kind of torture. At least to me. I thought I would rather like it without stress and busyness, but now, all I do is think about our little baby, and how we are missing out on this time with her.

Aside from my impatience, today has been a good day. It has been very normal, we stayed home and just enjoyed life. I absolutely adore my children, and I am so grateful for this time to spend with them. My hope is that the next few months go by quickly, but not too quickly that I forget the children I already have. :)

We have the document!

Well, as some of you know, we have had a very difficult time getting a document for our dossier. The Proof of home ownership. This is one document that we had no idea it would be difficult to get, we have owned our home for quite some time, and even pay taxes on it! 

I won't go into detail about what we went through to get this document, but I will say, we have been quite busy getting this one little piece of paper. We went to the courthouse a total of 4 times, went to the mayors office once, to a lawyers office twice (to get a new deed to our house), and I was on the phone many times to many different people trying to get it resolved. 

I have to say thanks to my friend, Jill's dad, Senator Tom Butler, for his help. I called him last week to ask him for help with something else, not expecting this to come up. So, anyway, he called me back and I told him of the problems I have had, he said to email him everything and he would take care of it. 

And he did! 

Senator Butler forwarded my email to a lady in the legislative office. She called me and wanted to know in detail everything that happened. She said she would take care of it. So, about 30 minutes later she calls and said she found someone to do it for me, and that when she told this person of all that we had been through, she said she would be happy to help us. 

I was so nervous, but I once again went down to the courthouse. I was afraid this lady was going to be mean, too. She was the nicest lady. When I went into her office, she even said it was so nice to meet me, and she said "so, I've heard you have been through a lot". Then she asked what I needed her to do. Then, just like that, she did it. No questions, nothing. When I opened up my folder with all the papers, she saw Priscilla's picture, and said she was beautiful, and that she wanted me to bring her back to meet her.  I'm still in shock that it was so easy. After I left her office, I couldn't believe it, and kept looking at the paper, just to make sure I really had it. :)

Praise Jesus!