Happy New Year!

Happy New Year to each and every one of you! We were hoping we would be ushering in 2012 with our two new kids, but as is often the case in adoption, there is far less you can truly control than you'd like. OK, so later will still be better than never! At this point it looks like spring 2012 for us, so perhaps Easter will be the first major holiday we all celebrate together. In the meantime, we still get to start the year with the 3 best kids in the world, with our eyes still focused on finishing the adoption process, and welcoming Masha and Andriy into our family :)

Brothers and Sisters

We talk a lot about Jodi and I adopting Masha and Andriy and how they will soon have parents who want, love, protect and care for them. For our family, it's much more. They are also getting the absolute bestest brothers and sisters. Our three "biological" kids are really incredible people, and frankly have worked just as hard as us to prepare for this adoption. Watching how they cared for Masha this summer and how quickly she was embraced and nurtured into our family was an amazing experience, and a testimony to the truly wonderful people our kids are. These two orphans aren't just getting new parents, they're getting a whole new family!

It's The Simple Things

The Christmas season is crazy in America. Lots and lots of presents, coffee maker, iPads, you name it. We've been continually blessed as two families have gone before us in adopting a couple of Masha's friends from the same orphanage, so we've been able to send cards, pictures and gifts.

Perspective is an amazing thing. They wanted, or rather, needed, coats and gloves. So they could be warm. A sobering reminder that for so many, it's the simple things we take for granted that can mean so much. It will be cool to show Andriy how to use the Keurig though... :)

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to all! Today is the day I start working on my 2012 goals for the year. 2012 is kinda fuzzy at this point as our world will be changing quite a bit this coming spring as we add two more children to our family with Masha and Andriy. We got to talk to Masha on Christmas which we were so grateful for (Andriy got to go to Italy to visit the family there that has hosted him for visits before). The time is rapidly approaching when we will get to travel to Ukraine to do our court dates and bring our new family members home! As of now, our dossier will be submitted on February 7th, which would probably have us traveling in March for our court dates. Thanks to all for your support and prayers, keep praying as we finish all of our preparations for adoption and family expansion, and to keep Masha and Andriy safe and sound until we can complete the adoption process!

Recalculating!

Just like the insurance commercial running nowadays with the GPS constantly changing directions, it's much like that in adoption. We've already lost count of how many times things change in what we're finding to be much more of a constantly fluid process! Sometimes however this is a good thing! Early this week we were told that the orphanage our two kids are in would be closing in January, and they would be moved to another orphanage. Odds are this would be bad vs. good. A big praise that this has now been changed, and it's back to the May closing date, so our kids will be staying put where we know where they are :) Continued thanks as well as we have been able to stay in contact with them, currently another family is over in Ukraine with their adoption so they have been able to spend time with Masha and Andriy and give them the messages and items we had sent over. We are grateful to pass along our words to them, hear what wonderful kids they are, and feel the peace knowing these two kids were meant to be ours!

Marco...Polo...Marco...Polo...

Well alrighty! Our adoption paperwork is on its way to Ukraine! The facilitator should have it shortly and it could be filed this coming week :) Our sincere thanks to everyone who helped guide us through getting it all ready to go, and for your continued prayers and support! More prayers are needed as we continue to get ready financially to do this, and special prayers for Masha and Andriy. For our adoption, the clock has been ticking for a couple reasons in that 1) Masha is 15 and close to aging out of the Ukrainian adoption system and 2) the orphanage they are in was scheduled to be closed this coming May. Well, one of those hit midnight early in that we have just heard that their orphanage will be closing the beginning of January. So please pray for their peace of mind in that, that they dont get separated for some reason, and that the new orphanage they end up in will be favorable for adoption!

S..k.....y.p....e....

Last weekend we got to Skype to Ukraine for the first time. Often the tranlsators computer wasn't working, and as we found this time, the internet service over there is, well, iffy! I think we had to reconnect like 9 times and the volume didnt work! So we're all bunched on the couch with video (sometimes) on the laptop and talking via the cell phone (which ironically works better calling halfway around the world better than locally). Masha wasn't there as she was in the hospital (for a routine check up we found out later), but we got to "see" Andriy for the first time.

Masha smiles a lot. Andriy, I think I've seen one picture with a smile and he was typically stoic on the video. While I think Masha is going to gel very fast, I also think Andriy may be a tougher nut to crack. Typically the boys get less attention there than girls to begin with, so I can already see that he will be a special mission given to Dylan and I to love on him and bring him out of his shell. His restoration will be very special to our family!

Dot the T's, Cross the I's...

We haven't posted for awhile, which means we're just chugging on through what I would define as the 1000 points of detail phase of adoption! One one hand, we really want to bring these orphans to their new home as quickly as possible. On the other hand, the adoption process is generally not designed to brng them home quickly! Lots of documents and forms, applications, notaries, appostilles, questions, revisions, etc. We are very close to knowing if we're ready to move forward as we put the finishing touches on our dossier and have the attorney review to ensure everything is ok to submit our dossier. The other part is finances, we're still awaiting word from the organization who would help out with the financial side of things. Feels like a roller coaster ride where you're at the peak of the uphill climb and just about to crest and then whoosh! down the other side you go. Thanks to all for your prayers and support, please keep praying for a positive response from the financial people and finishing up our papers, so we can go get Masha and Andriy!