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.

Our Story in a Children's Book

Check out this link.  

http://www.rockethub.com/projects/9479-help-me-discover-the-ending-to-my-book 

Someone has heard about our adoption and wants to write a children's book about our story!  Go to this site to see how you can get a 1st edition copy of this adorable book while helping us reach our financial goal and also fund future international adoptions through the purchase of this book. :)  The site gives all the details and we are thrilled that our story can encourage other adopting families and their children while making a way to fund international adoptions. 

Facing The Darkness

For those of you who have been checking this blog you may have noticed a rather disturbing comment to our latest post. This isn't the first time we have had random so called Christians post things like that on the page. Usually we are able to find them first and delete them before anyone sees them, but I didn't catch it in time. I considered deleting it but I saw that someone replied already (with kindness). I thought about leaving it and letting that person see it but on the other hand, I thought about deleting it because as my friend said "they probably won't bother to read the reply". There are many people that call themselves Christians who act nothing like The Christ that they claim to represent. I know this and it is evident all throughtout the world. That is why it is so hard to show the actual, true, love of Jesus Christ because so many have been abused by those carrying the banner of Christ falsely. When people say that there are hypocritics in the church, I say "You are absolutely right." It doesn't mean we all are, however.

Thank you for your encouragment. I know that there are naysayers and agents of the devil at work trying to discourage all who truly follow the way of Light. We are not overwhelmed by these comments as we know who is on our side. His story will be told and we are but His servants and grateful ones at that. :)

We will press on in love and devotion to our son Vitaliy.  God has been ever generous in giving us a parental love for this boy we have never met in person but with whom we've developed a relationship with over the past 10 months.  Just as we longed to see and hold our daughters, Grace and Hanna, as I carried them in my womb, Brandon and I long to see and hold Vitaliy who God has predestined to be our son from the beginning of time. 

Sin affects all areas of this world and our lives.  Sin permeates the very fibers of creation.  Children should be raised by their "natural" parents but sin has broken even the blessing of family.  Poverty, death, sickness, mothers abandoned by their partners, drugs and alcohol, all play a part in a child being orphaned.  Adoption isn't "natural" but God created it into His story after the fall of mankind into sin.  He created adoption by first adopting us, even though we are totally undeserving.  Though it may not make since to those who scoff and berate, we choose to follow God's calling and make sure that Vitaliy is an orphan no longer. With your love, support, encouragement, and prayers you play a part in this too. 

Difficult Trials

This post is one of the most difficult to write.  It is hard to express our grateful appreciation for the help we have been receiving along with our disappointment of the recent news we’ve received.  First I will start with the good news. 

We were told that we would be traveling to Ukraine the end of this month and that we needed to have $13,500 in cash with us for various adoption needs.  At the point when we found out this news, we only had about $2,000 of that in our savings account set aside for the adoption.  My cousin Matt and his wife Tara decided to start a FaceBook page called $50 for Vitaliy.  The point of $50 for Vitaliy was to give one final push in the month of July to help us with our financial adoption goal.  At this point we have $3,748.80 and that is quite a big jump in only a week!  What we are most surprised about, and perhaps we shouldn’t be, is the fact that those who have the least are giving the most.  We have seen this repeatedly throughout this process.  We’ve had young families with meager means giving large amounts because they believe that acquiring wealth and things are not as important as eternal things such as giving an orphan a family. On the other hand, we know some who have much, find it nearly impossible to give even a small amount.  I debated on discussing this on our blog but it is interesting to see what people value most in life.  It isn’t about a few giving a large sum but a lot giving a small amount.  When I discussed what people might think about donating $50 with Tara.  She told me, “$50 is nothing, most families would just have to sacrifice going out to dinner a couple of nights in the month of July.” We are grateful for everything that people have sacrificed for our family, especially your prayers.

Now for the not so great news, as I mentioned before, we were told and planning on heading to Ukraine the end of July or beginning of August.  We were informed last week that we aren’t going to be able to travel that soon after all.  There are several factors, so I will try to make a long story short.  First of all, there are 12 other families besides ours that are in this final stage, ready to travel and finalize the adoption of our children.  The number of families that are going to overwhelm the existing assistance in place in Ukraine.  Also Ukraine is very similar to Italy in that August is vacation month.  Basically in August, Ukrainian families take their vacations, which means that government offices that are essential for adoption procedures will be sparsely manned.  We were told we could travel the beginning of September but Brandon’s job is unable to let us travel until the end of September.  Our new timeline is: we will travel around the last week of September for our required 23 day stay in Ukraine then come back for our 10 day wait then return to Ukraine for our final adoption the end of October or beginning of November.  We have not told Vitaliy yet about the delay and I am not sure how we will.  Please pray with us that he doesn’t lose hope, but that this will show him that God is his savior and not us.  

Thoughts for today

I found out this morning that my cousins Matt and Tara Risser created a FaceBook event called "$50 for Vitali". We are so thankful for all of you who have already helped so much and those we are helping now.

 I would like to share with you a few paragraphs from the book "Adopted for Life" by Russell D. Moore.
"It's true that adoption isn't 'Natural'. We have adoptions because we live in a world groaning under... the curse of sin and death. Fathers abandon mothers. Mothers get pregnant without marriage. Parents are killed. Diseases ravage villages. It was not so from the beginning. The hard questions about adoption-and the easy ones too-are only with us because something's gone wrong with the world.
Adoption is modeled after a natural family. But the biological family is also modeled after something-the kingdom of God in Christ. King Jesus tells us his reign is hidden from 'the wise and understanding' but is revealed to 'little children' Matthew 11:25.
The childlike kingdom we've come into is filled with transracial adoptees like you and me. It's made up of 'special needs' orphans. Sometimes adoptions turn out with families that look remarkable similar-almost 'natural', you might say. But let's not fall for the carnality that values boys over girls, that pits ethnicities against one another, or that is replused by physical or emotional weakness. Let's be the people of Christ, and, like him, let's teach ourselves to welcome children into our homes, even those our culture tells us we're not supposed to want."

Many of you may not understand why Brandon and I would choose to make our lives uncomfortable by bringing this child into our home.  We do not feel that God has called us to live a comfortable life, after all Jesus didn't and we are commanded to reflect him.  We love Vitaliy like we love Grace and Hanna, we long to have him in our home as we longed for Grace and Hanna to be born, we miss this child we have never met.  God has given us a parent's heart for him and we are so grateful for those of you who support us.  Your encouragement is a blessing in our lives. 

Vova needs a family too!

This is a plea from our family to all of you. Vova is Vitaliy's buddy from the same orphanage.  He was hosted last summer in the US along with Vitaliy.  Unfortunately, no one has made a decision to adopt this precious boy.  The RedLine United group has decided to bring him to the USA again in hopes that someone will decide to adopt him.  Right now there is no family that is willing to host him for a few weeks yet.  The hosting family must be Christians and can live ANYwhere in the USA.  PLEASE, if you can host him or know someone who might be able to please let me know.  It would be wonderful if the hosting family was open to the idea of adopting too.  Will you help Vitaliy's friend find his Forever Family?

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.