Getting to the Final Stages

Our last post was May 28th and it feels like it has been longer than that. 

This is where we are now.  We sent off all the documents that needed to be authenticated in the US on June 6th.  I haven't heard the status of them but am praying that they are on their way to Ukraine now.  We were waiting on one more document from the state of Florida and we received it yesterday.  Tomorrow I will Fed-Ex our final documents to Ukraine!  WHOOO HOOOO!  It seems so strange that the document process, for right now is finished.  I was extremely nervous about handing over these precious, expensive pieces of paper to the Fed-Ex people and I literally prayed over the envelope as I relinquished control of them.  Per my mother's insistence, I made scanned copies of each document "just in case".

Vitaliy finished school on June 6^th and is now enjoying his summer break from his lessons, as he calls them.  During the summer the kids go to various summer camps, we are praying that this will make the time go faster as he waits for us.  Our missionary friend says that he looks good and is happily waiting for our arrival.  We continue to send him a letter a week so he knows that we love him and are coming to get him.  It was so wonderful to let him know that the documents needed to adopt him were completed! 

So what is next??  Once Ukraine receives all the documents that we sent, the adoption coordinator there will present our request to adopt Vitaliy.  The time between the submission of the petition to adopt and our appointment is told to be about 5-7 weeks, so if the petition is placed the last week of June we are looking at going to Ukraine in August!  Our girls start school August 27^th, we are praying that we will be back to get them started so they are not missing their first weeks of school.  We will return from our first trip without Vitaliy.  After a period of about 2 weeks, Brandon and I will fly back to Ukraine without the girls, and this time we will complete the adoption process and bring Vitaliy home!

Our biggest prayer need right now is the Command Sponsorship process to bring Vitaliy straight to Italy without having to go to the USA first.  Please be praying that the military process of this is miraculously efficient and uncomplicated.  We need him to be command sponsored to get his American Passport, Italian Visa, and the privileges of using the hospital and school on base.  This is extremely necessary and we wish to have a plan for execution of this prior to leaving for Ukraine. 

Our financial status is this: We have raised $26,979.30!  That leaves us with $13,020.70 to go.  We have dug through all of our stuff and have been selling things we don’t really need.  Things have been selling well.  Pray that it continues.  Others have donated items to sell for us and we are so grateful.