Another Thing to Consider

Please, please pray for us today! This is the day we decide whether to leave tomorrow afternoon (if we can get on a flight last minute:) or if we stay longer with the hopes of finding a child for our family. We had our bags packed to leave, but then found out this morning that the govt. here may be voting for the 2nd and last time (it passed the 1st vote already) on Dec. 16th about whether to freeze international adoptions by U.S. citizens and others. If passed this 2nd time, it will most likely be signed into law by the end of the month and would be effective immediately. This has made things even more stressful, to say the least. We are tired and would love to go home and see our children, but don't want to miss what the Lord wants us to do. Again, please pray for us!

We May Be Returning Home for a While

We just talked to our facilitator and he said that tomorrow we will decide if we should go back to the U.S. and then return in the second half of January. He will go to the State Dept. of Adoption tomorrow and talk it over with them. Their Christmas break is during the first two weeks of January and everything shuts down here. He is thinking that we will not be able to complete an adoption because Dec. 25th, which is also celebrated here on a lesser scale. Also, there is not a little girl that he sees for us in the very near future. My concern is that the government will shut down all international adoptions starting in the new year. As much as I would be sad to return home without a little girl, I am trusting that God's timing is perfect and that He is in control of this whole process. There have been many things that have been difficult about it, but we have drawn closer to the Lord while we've been here. Paul and I have had many sweet times of prayer and reading the Bible together. We will update this blog as soon as we find out what our next steps are. I'm still hoping that we can meet a little girl before we go so we can know who exactly we are fighting for!

Back in Kiev

We are back in Kiev and will file our documents at the State Dept. of Adoption tomorrow requesting a second appointment for another referral. We don't know how long we will have to wait for this next appointment. Again, we've been told that there are no girls between the ages of 1-5 without major medical problems available for adoption so please pray that the Lord would move and one would become available. We know that He can do anything! We went to a wonderful church service that had English translation with Chris Judy's brother and his wife this morning. Then we went to lunch with them and they gave us a tour around the city. It was so nice to spend time with them. Throughout this trip we have been reminded to praise the Lord in all things and to allow Him to be in control of all things. We are concerned that Paul will have to get back to work soon and that we are running out of time here so please pray that God would orchestrate all the details. My parents have also been saints to watch our kids these past two weeks, but I know that they need to get back to their lives soon. He has a perfect plan for us...we just can't wait to see what He has in store!

We Need to Start Over:(

Today might be one of the toughest of my life. I don't mean to sound dramatic, but it was very difficult. For a variety of reasons, the adoption of this little girl we see in Lviv has fallen through. We are heading back to Kiev tonight to start the process over again. This will significantly prolong our stay here also. We continue to be told that there are no little girls under the age of 6 that do not have major medical problems that are available for adoption. Please, please pray that God would bring forth "the one" for us. We have come so far, and hope that the Lord has someone for us.

Happy Thanksgiving!

We woke up to snow today! Thankfully it was just a dusting though. I hope that everyone has a great Thanksgiving. We all have so much to be thankful for. We were reading this afternoon that we should give thanks regardless of our feelings and He will give us joy regardless of our circumstances. Sounds like a good deal to me! We were invited to celebrate Thanksgiving with a family that we met at church. The man/father of the family is here in Lviv planting a church and grew up in S. Africa and Wisconsin. He seems like a very interesting guy. We are looking forward to it. Please continue to pray that we can get the papers we need to get a court day so we can go home! Also, please pray for our hearts. Every time I leave the orphanage, I cry and cry thinking about how these ADORABLE children have everything in terms of clothes, shelter, and food, but don't have the most important thing...a mommy or daddy. It is breaking my heart!!! I'm trying to hug and love them all and play with our little one all at the same time. They crave attention and we are thankful that we can give them some. It's going to be very hard to leave them all after seeing them for about four hours a day for many weeks! Pray that these orphans in Lviv will eventually have homes to grow up in.

We Need Your Prayers

Today started off great with getting to see our little one in the morning. We had her all to ourselves playing with toys, taking photos, and tickling and hugging. After about an hour our cell phone rang and we were told to meet our new facilitator outside. We live each day being told by cell phone where to go and what to do. It's an amazing ride having other people completely control your life! We got in a car with her and an attorney and drove to the city where our little girl was born, about an hour west towards Poland. There we told a woman why we wanted to adopt our precious one and then there was a whole lot of discussion about something??? After about 15 minutes we got back in the car and listened to more "discussion". Finally we were told that the city government had just changed administration and that the document we needed in order to release our daughter for adoption would not be available until next Friday (NOT THIS FRIDAY). UGH! This will set us back in time considerably. Paul is scheduled to be back at work the second week of Dec. with a full load of patients and surgeries that would all have to be re-scheduled. Please pray that our attorney can work a miracle and get this document sooner. As soon as we have it, it will only take a couple more days to go to court and then Paul can go back home. I will still need to stay 10 more business days after court, then go to Kiev for a few more days and then leave. Please pray hard!

Photos of Lviv, Ukraine

 

 

 

Our First Real Visit to the Orphanage

We just got back from seeing our little girl and being with her whole "group" of eleven at the orphanage during their play time. There are five girls and six boys of 2-3 years of age in this one building with 3-4 caretakers watching them. (There are babies in another building on the property.) In the hour that we were there, two different doctors stopped in to check on things. It was far better than we could have ever imagined. One of the caretakers named Maria gave me a tour of the small facility. Each room was just renovated, with fresh paint and new looking furniture. There was a play room, a sleeping room, bathroom, small kitchen (the food is made in another building and brought over for each meal), and a room with tables for eating and lockers to keep all of their clothes and jackets in. The floors had nice clean tiling with carpets on top of some of them. The room that the kids slept in had very new looking cribs that were all the same in three perfect rows. The cribs had matching bed linens on each one. The bathroom was very clean with potties lined up along the walls and hooks for each child. Outside there were three separate playgrounds with nice equipment, each for a different age group. It was impressive. Paul chased our little one around the room for a lot of the time. She absolutely loved it. Every time he caught her, he would tickle her and she would laugh and run away from him again. You could tell how much she loved the attention and to be held. Even in one day you could see how much more comfortable and affectionate she was with us. We had a 19 year old boy (or do I call him a man?) come to translate for us. He sat between Paul and me at church last Sunday and had translated the entire service for us. He is studying to be a translator at the university here and was so kind to us. He was very helpful because up until he arrived, Paul and I were doing a lot of charades trying to communicate with the three caretakers. We hope that we can go visit her everyday. My only fear is that I'm going to want to adopt the rest of the precious 2 and 3 year olds in the room! Forgive me for giving so much detail, but I want our daughter to be able to read this one day and learn more about what her life was like before we met her. Tomorrow we will find out our next steps. Our facilitator told us to renew our apartment for three weeks so we took care of that today. Three weeks seems like a long time, but Paul will be able to leave after court, which should be in a week or two. Thankfully our apartment is in the center of Lviv so we can walk to grocery stores, restaurants and shops very easily. They say it's the most European city in Ukraine with the most beautiful architecture. We feel very blessed to be here. Another day I'll have to write about all of the funny things we've accidently bought and said while trying to live in a place where we can't even recognize the letters of the alphabet! Many of you had told me that you cannot make a comment on our blog. I would have LOVED to have heard from you and apologize for that. I will look into this. In the meantime, we are getting e-mails and would love to hear from you!

What a Day It's Been!

Today has been an emotional rollercoaster!!! We saw a little (and I mean little) girl today at a very nice, clean, well run orphanage. She is 29 months old with blonde hair and blue eyes and has been there since she was 3 months old. We heard all good reports from the psychiatrist that we met with before meeting her. The only issue was that she was born premature and very small. We then entered the room where the children played. The others were escorted into the lunchroom so that we could play with this little girl alone. She giggled when we tickled her and threw her in the air. We watched her walk and eat and were impressed with her fine and gross motor skills for such a little one. We thought that our meeting with her went very well, but we wanted to go back to our apartment to chart her growth over these couple of years and pray about this HUGE DECISION. After realizing that she didn't even come close to the growth charts especially for her head circumference, we started to get very nervous. For hours we e-mailed her photos and videos to doctors trying to get some answers. During that time, we had our doubts and were thinking that we might have to say "no" to this precious one. Then after talking to a few doctors (a BIG thank you to Melanie Walker, MD, Tim Jordan, MD and Sharon Foster, MD), we felt that her size was "proportional" and that she would hopefully catch up developmentally once we got her home. She does have strabismus "crossed eyes", just for Paul and his colleagues to fix once she gets home. Isn't that something the Lord would do? Also I asked the Lord that she have a name that we were considering using in the U.S., which is both Ukranian and American. And she has one of those names, which is incredible considering how many possible names there are in the world!!! I'd tell her name and post her photo, but we are not allowed to until after the court hearing. I'm not sure when that's going to be so we'll have to post that later. We miss our kids terribly and don't know what we would do without skyping and getting to see them every night. What a day it's been! God is faithful in bringing us to the one He has chosen for our family. We will go visit her again tomorrow and learn how long this process will take to get her home:)

We've Arrived in Lviv

We took the overnight train last night from Kiev to the largest city in the west called Lviv (almost to Poland). The architecture here is amazing! And there is so much history here also. We are staying in a great apartment that we found online that is a short walk to the center of the city. We saw so many brides taking photos in the square that we lost track of how many, which was kindof cool. We also took a tour of the city by tram that helped us get our bearings. Eventhough we can't speak or read the language, we are getting along fine. Some of the restaurants have menus with pictures of the food or English translations. We also carry a pen and paper in case we need people to write a price down for us. Thankfully we are getting picked up by some friends of friends for church tomorrow morning so we are very thankful for that. Despite being in this beautiful city, we can't stop thinking about the magnitude of our meeting on Monday with this little 2 1/2 year old girl. Please keep us in your prayers.

Meeting with State Dept.

Last night we were told that there are no girls from 1-4 years of age with minor, correctable medical issues available for adoption at this time. We were also told that it would take a miracle if there was going to be a profile of a little girl that we would be interested in at our meeting with the State Dept. We could hardly sleep last night and were feeling discouraged. This morning we read Isaiah 41:10, which says "So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand." This gave us great encouragement as we went to the State Dept. for our appointment at noon. We knew that God was in control of whatever the outcome was going to be. We were shown many files of children. We were surprised when our facilitator/translator stopped at one of the files of a 2 1/2 year old who lives in an orphanage in the western part of Ukraine. She was born premature and is small, but does not seem to have any major medical problems. Many unexpected things happened today that made us feel like the Lord wanted us to go see her. God is so personal and has made Himself so real to us since we've been here. We have also been blessed with American friends that have supported and helped us since we've been here. We will leave tomorrow evening to take an overnight train to arrive on Sat. We will then go visit the little girl on Monday. Please be praying for wisdom and discernment as we decide whether to adopt this little one.

We Made it to Kiev

We just arrived at our apartment in Kiev. Thankfully all our flights and connections went very smoothly. We flew from Raleigh to D.C. to Munich to Kiev. It was very foggy when we arrived and it's dark now so we haven't seen very much yet. So far Kiev reminds us of New York City in that there are a lot of lights and a lot of traffic. We met some interesting people along the route so far. One couple from MS who has 28 and 26 year old boys is adopting a 16 year old girl. The 16 year old was about to graduate from the orphanage with no place to go. They explained to us that children gradute from the ophanages at 16, but are not allowed to work until they are 18 years old. Then we met a woman from WA who has 6 children including a one year old with Downs Syndrome. She and her husband are in the process of adopting two small children with Downs Syndrome to have a total of 8 children! The mother told me that at four years old, these orphans with Downs Syndrome are put into institutions. Our meeting with the State Dept. is Thurs. at noon (5 a.m. EST). We would appreciate your prayers as we decide (or it may be decided for us)which little girl to go visit!

Just a few more days until we leave

Just a few more days before we take off for Kiev on Monday. I am running around trying to find travel size everything because Paul wants me to bring just one piece of luggage (and it's not that big of a suitcase) and a carry-on for the month. I know that I can do it, it's just going to be very full. I'm also hitting all the banks in the area to find new bills or at least ones that haven't been folded to take with us. I've already been to 2 and am about half way there. We were told that it's much easier to exchange newer bills. A big thank you for your e-mails and words of encouragement. They mean so much to me. Nicole's friend from MD sent me a stack of index cards with handwritten Bible verses on them and it brought me to tears. I carry them around with me everywhere. I can't believe that in less than a week we could be seeing our new little girl. I am bringing her a stuffed yellow lab dog that Nicole picked out. It looks like our Sophie. I hope she likes it! We are finally all set with what computer to bring. Paul returned the iPad because the camera app. is still not out yet and we really want to Skype the kids with video. We are bringing a Netbook and a couple of cameras that take video. It's all becoming very real...pray for our nerves and that I don't forget anything really important! Love to you all!

God's Voice & Plans

An amazing thing happened this morning. I had written down a list of specific prayer requests about our adoption and had Paul look it over. He wrote on the bottom Isaiah 30:21. Then I got in my car and received an e-mail from a friend who gave me the same verse! There are 31,103 verses in the Bible. Isn't it incredible that they both gave me the same verse within the hour? God must be trying to tell me something. I just need to be listening! Isaiah 30:21 says "Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, "This is the way; walk in it." He is so personal and good to us.

Regarding what I wrote yesterday, I spoke with someone who had looked over the bill in Russian. She said that adoptions are still moving along and that hopefully they will not be stopped in the near future. Back in 2006, the government did suspend international adoptions for that year. Thankfully God is in control and His plans will prevail.

Concerns about Suspending International Adoptions in Ukraine

Paul woke me up in the middle of the night to tell me about this notice which I have copied from the U.S. Dept. of State's website. Please be praying about this!

Adoption Notice

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
Bureau of Consular Affairs
Office of Children’s Issues
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
November 3, 2010

The Ukrainian legislature is in the process of voting on a bill that would suspend all intercountry adoptions from countries without bilateral agreements with Ukraine, including adoptions from the United States. The bill passed a first reading and vote, but must still pass a second reading and be signed into law by the president. The second reading could take place in the next few weeks. If the bill passes the second reading, it may be signed into law as early as the end of 2010. The draft bill appears to include suspension of all adoptions in progress.

The Department is will post updates as information becomes available.

Welcome to our Blog

We finally got this blog put together! We haven't blogged much before, but thought this would be a good way to share our adoption journey with friends and family and to tell them any prayer requests. I (Diana) think that creating this blog was more trying on our marriage than any other thing we've done throughout this adoption process! Part of our story is written on the left side of this page and our adoption timeline is on the right. We leave on Mon., Nov. 15 and arrive in Kiev on the 16th. Our meeting with the State Dept. in Kiev is at noon on Thurs., Nov. 18 (which is 5:00 am est). This is when the State Officials will present us with one or many different profiles of little girls to choose from. We would covet your prayers about this! Once we decide on a child, we will go to her orphanage, which could be far from Kiev, to visit her. We will take video and photos of her and e-mail them along with her medical records (which are usually pretty limited) back to a physician in Raleigh. We will have 72 hours to decide whether we want to accept that referral. If we do not accept the referral, we will head back to Kiev and wait for another appointment with the State Dept. to get another referral. We pray that the first child referred to us is THE ONE. It is very difficult to imagine having to "turn down" a referral. Once we accept a child referred to us, we have to wait about 10 days to go to court. If all goes well during court, she will declared to be our child and Paul will then return to the U.S. I will then stay during a waiting period of about two weeks longer in order to bring our new little girl home. I will probably be in Ukraine for about a month and Paul about three weeks if the first referral is accepted. Please be praying for this whole process! We are trusting that God has a plan for us and that He will lead us to the child that He has chosen for our family!