Wonderful News

Today started out with a long awaited phone call from our American facilitator. We finally got our appointment date from the Ukrainian State Department of Adoptions (SDA).
This means that we will fly from Newark on Sept. 17th, arrive in Kiev Sept. 18th and go to the SDA at 10am on Sept. 19th to "choose" the first child that we want to adopt. After we identify the one we have chosen we will travel to his region and officially ask if he wants to be adopted. Then he writes a letter stating that he does want to be adopted and the paper chase begins. Because we want to adopt 2 unrelated boys, we will request a second appointment to get a referral for the second boy. We will do the same process again and begin more paperwork. Once the correct paperwork is in order we get a court date. Hopefully very quickly! Once the judge gives his decision that we can adopt, we have 10 days to wait until it becomes official. During that 10 day wait, Darren will return to the busy life of being a dad to 3 active kids...soccer, cub scouts, work and school...and I will remain in Ukraine visiting with the boys and doing any paperwork that I can. Once the 10 days are over, we get an official court decree that we are their legal parents! So anxious for that day. Then they can leave the trade school and orphanage and hang with me while we get their new birth certificates, passports and a medical exam. With those in hand, we can get a Visa and fly back to the US to reunite our whole family!!
Sure sounds easy, but having read so many stories of other people's adoption adventures, I know there are many hoops to jump, red tape and bumps along the way. I think someone had mentioned before that adoption is like riding a rollercoasters, and I sure love rollercoasters...at least the wooden kind! But any rollarcoaster that will get our boys home will be so worth it! I am praying and asking all our friends to pray that this will be a fairly smooth and fast rollercoaster.
We still need more cash to pay for all the expenses we anticipate and some that we are not anticipating. I am so thankful to the generosity of so many of our friends. Please check out the list on the side and let me know if you donated and I missed your name. I am trying to keep track of all the wonderful people to thank and add to our quilt squares! We are also hoping to get our old Land Cruiser sold to add to our adoption fund, so if you know anyone in the market for a sturdy 7 passenger SUV, please let us know.
Last Friday we had our first Bowlathon. We raised several hundred dollars towards our adoption expenses and had lots of fun. I plan to try to do one more before we leave to add a little more to our fund. Many people wanted to join us, but the time did not work out for their schedules. I am thinking Tuesday evening, Sept 13, a few days before we leave. I have also had some responses to my Facebook request and had some great friends send us donations that way. And dear friends from our church who have quietly slipped us some donations. It is such a blessing to see people so generously helping to change the lives of these two sweet boys. I can never thank you all enough for your contributions! I hope that you are able to follow our story and see how God works in their lives. I know I am anxious to see what Grand Plans He has for them! (As well as our 3 kids we have taught and watched for many years.)
There is still so much to do before we leave, but I know that the important things will get done and what is left will still be here when we get back. And I know that we have an amazing support system that will keep all that we love here safe and sound. When I really think about it, God has blessed us so much and that is the reason we want to adopt! To share the blessings that He has given us and be like Him the way He has adopted us into His family and made us sons and daughters! He gave His Son for us...how little we have to sacrifice to adopt our boys compared to the huge sacrifice that was paid on our behalf.