One Step Forward, Five Steps Back

Our last post was a hopeful anticipation of approaching our travel date to Ukraine, a giant step forward.  This past week however, we took several steps back.  A very slight imperfection in a handwritten date on one of the documents caused the SDA to question the entire dossier.  While they tried to figure this out, our home-study and our medical clearances expired.  This means that these have to be redone.  It was sort of like finishing a race, only to be told to run it again because it didn’t count.  Our initial reaction was anger and frustration at the system and the process, but as a couple of days went by I (Kimberly) realized that my anger was directed towards God.  I mean doesn’t He care that we have been going through this process for a year now, doesn’t He see that we are trying to fulfill a promise to care for the orphans, doesn’t He know how much our family wants to be united, what is the major malfunction??  I had taken a step towards the deep end of bitterness and resentment towards my Heavenly Father, I had forgotten that God is Love.  I had forgotten, Romans 5:8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Galatians 2:20 I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. And most importantly I had forgotten, Romans 8:37-39 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

I needed a reminder of why we were adopting.  Were we adopting to rescue an orphan?  That’s God’s job to be the rescuer.  Were we adopting because we wanted people to think what wonderful people we are?  The only good we do is what God has purposed for us.  The entire process from beginning to whatever the outcome, is completely under the careful, attentive, and loving hand of our Great God.  

We are redoing the needed paperwork and being ever aware that we haven’t been abandoned, nor has Vitaliy.  There is always a purpose for everything that happens when you are a child of God.  We may not be privy to the reasons and our understanding may be limited but we need not fear or fret because we know who our God is. 

Getting closer

It has been a long while since I have made an entry on the blog because we have been in a very long wait time.  Due to some issues with Brandon’s work situation and last minute documentation issues we have just been waiting for our dossier to be submitted to the SDA.  We were told the SDA was given our dossier on Wednesday this week!  This means that they have our request to adopt Vitaliy and we are waiting now for them to invite us to come to Ukraine to start our many appointments but most importantly for us, TO MEET OUR SON! 
We were told that there was some kind of issue with one of the documents but we don’t know the nature of the issue or how easy or difficult it would be to resolve.  We are asking for your prayers over whatever this issue is that it would NO longer be an issue. 

We were told that we could possibly travel as early as September 25^th.  Please continue to keep us all in your prayers.  The girls will start school the end of this month which means that in our absence they will have to be cared for by friends.  We don’t have solid plans yet for our girls or for our cats (minor detail on the cats) but we’d like to make sure that we have this all worked out soon so that we do not have to worry about two of our children as we go to be with our other child.  Please pray with us that these gets worked out soon, that the girls stay healthy physically and emotionally while we are gone.  This will be the longest separation we’ve ever had.  Pray that whoever cares for them will be blessed abundantly for their care and love for our family as we work to grow. 

Redline United brought another group of kids from the orphanage to the states in hopes of finding them forever families.  Right now, this adorable sibling pair are the only ones who haven’t had a family step up yet.  We wanted to feature them on this page and invite you to pray for them and maybe considering even being their family.  Ask us if you want more information on them.   Thank you for your support for our adoption and for pleading the case for orphans everywhere.