Going to Visit a Little Boy

We went to the State Dept. of Adoption this afternoon and have decided to go visit a little boy. He is 4 years old and has blonde hair and brown eyes. He looks like a real cutie:) Tomorrow we will take an overnight train and visit with him on Wed. We continue to pray for "peace that surpasses all understanding" as we make this huge decision about whether to adopt this precious one.

A New Little Brother?

We arrived in Kiev and met with our facilitator. We forgot just how cold it gets here! It's looking like we may need to start thinking blue instead of pink. How do I change the name of this blog to a new little brother? Our appointment at the State Dept. is Monday and our facilitator is thinking that there will most likely be a boy and not a girl (who is under 5) to go visit. Please pray that the Lord would lead us to the child He has for our family! We will write a new post Monday.

Trying to get to Kiev

We are hoping that Paul's parents can fly in tomorrow morning. Their flight this morning was canceled due to all the snow up north. We also hope that we can get out tomorrow because we are flying through D.C., which is apparently getting even more snow tomorrow morning. According to weather.com, "Dulles airport is getting back normal operations", which is great news since they were recently dumped on with 5-12 inches of snow shutting down schools and the govt. The other kicker is that Jimmy has been home sick today and won't be going to school tomorrow. We are trusting that the Lord has this all worked out. Our trip goes from Raleigh to D.C. to Munich to Kiev, arriving in the late afternoon on Sat., Jan. 29. Our appointment with the SDA is Mon., Jan. 31 so we will have a day to adjust to the 7 hour time difference. We'll let you know when we make it there!

Info. about Proposed Bill to Place Moratorium on Adoptions

I have been meaning to post this info. about the proposed bill to place a moratorium on Inter-country adoptions. We are leaving next Friday and are still hopeful that we will bring home a new little sister for Nicole, Jimmy, and Scott!
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January 12, 2011
U.S. Embassy Kyiv/Kiev has learned the proposed bill to place a moratorium on Inter-country adoptions in the Ukrainian parliament has once again been postponed. There has been no announcement of a rescheduled date. In order to best prepare for all possibilities in Ukraine, Embassy Kyiv/Kiev encourages any prospective adoptive parents with cases currently open in Ukraine to contact the U.S. Embassy Kyiv Adoption Unit with their case status and contact information. The Embassy maintains a listserv to communicate with U.S. citizen prospective adoptive parents and will use this to send updates as information is available.
The U.S. Embassy Kyiv and the Department of State will continue to post updates on their websites as new information is available.

Our 2nd Appointment with the State Dept. of Adoption is Set for Jan. 31

We are planning to head back to Ukraine on Jan. 28 to go to our 2nd appointment with the State Dept. of Adoption in Kiev on Jan. 31 (not Jan. 25 as we had thought when we left Ukraine on Dec. 1). At this appointment, we hope to receive a referral to go see and hopefully adopt a little girl. We continue to hear rumors that the Ukranian Parliament could vote to freeze international adoptions at any time. We have asked our case manager here in the U.S. if she has any updates about this and are still waiting to hear back from her. Please pray with us that we will be able to return to Ukraine to adopt a little girl and be able to get her home as quickly as possible. We are so thankful that Paul's parents are able to come watch our kids. Paul and I (Diana) will be together in Ukraine for a minimum of two weeks and then he can return home after the court date. I will most likely stay for the 10 business day waiting period after court (unless we can get that waived!) and then return home after that, hopefully with a new little girl.