T minus 1 week!

This is where the process starts getting fun. Stressful, but fun. Stressful as the adoption is becoming real after months of paperwork, raising funds, paperwork, raising funds, pap..... you get the idea! Fun, because we can finally tell these two kids that we will be there soon, and it's real. No more nebulous we're planning on doing it, now we can say that we'll be there in the coming weeks. Jodi and Alyssa got to Skype with them on Saturday. They were bundled up and looked pretty chilly. Temperatures in Ukraine have been crazy cold, it will be like 2 degrees there today and well below zero tonight! The kids are excited that we will be there soon for them, it was cool to finally get a good Skype session and see Andriy talk and smile. We miss Masha a lot and can't wait to finally get to meet Andriy in person. That will be an amazing day that is not far off now :)

The Waiting Is The Hardest Part

OK, the Tom Petty song by this title is playing on the radio as I type, so..... Things are moving along well! We're all set with the dossier, attorney, facilitator, just waiting for February 7th when our application will be submitted to the Ukranian government :) Now it's a matter of waiting for that to happen and to get our SDA appointment date. In the meantime we are continuing to prepare our home for 5 teenagers. Still trying to figure out what to pack, living the past 10 years in Texas leaves us ill prepared for a trip to Ukrain in the winter! I keep my eye on the 10 day forecast and am not sure how my heat worshipping body is going to handle all those days and nights with the "minus" in front of the temperature number. Brrr!!!

And I shall call thee....

One of the common things in international adoptions is that the kids want new names to go with their new families. This is certainly not an across the board rule, but from the families we've come across in our adoption journey, it happens a lot. So we talked with Masha before she left last summer and she does want a new name. We don't know about Andriy yet, but since it took us 8 months to pick Dylan's name (we chose Dylan by the way), we figured we'd better be prepared! Not set in stone as we want to ensure that 1) they want new names with our family and 2) they like the ones we've picked, but the frontrunners as of now are Lexi Hope Tansey, and Dalton Michael Tansey :)

The Connected Child

The Connected Child is the book that pretty much everyone recommends you read when preparing to adopt, covering a wide range of topics in regards to bringing an adopted child into your home, working through the issues that they may bring with them to connect them into your family. When we hosted Masha this past summer we were really surprised at how easily she seemed to blend in with our family. At the end of the five week trip, she simply seemed to be one of us. After reading the book I had to laugh, as the recommendations in the book are already how we parent!

For anyone who knows our family it is easy to see what a great family we already have, and no question how awesome our 3 kids are, and they know that they have a solid family where they are unquestionably and unconditinoally loved, protected and safe, and cared for each and every day. Now, our kids haven't had to go through what they have, but we feel well equipped as a family to help them move past their past and into our love. We are very much looking forward to sharing this with Masha and Andriy and making them one of us. We're getting closer, T-minus 17 days to dossier submission :)

T minus 19....

19 days until our adoption dossier is submitted to the Ukranian government. It's funny that, no matter how much preparation you've done, how unprepared as this point gets closer! Lots to do getting our home ready for five teenagers (need more bathrooms :). Andriy is back from his holiday trip to Italy, so they're ready and waiting for our arrival! Please pray that there are no complications in paperwork, et al as the submission date approaches and we make our final preparations!

Hey, only 1,763 things left to do...

Wow, time flies! Seems like so long ago (5 1/2 months) when Masha flew back to Ukraine from her hosting trip with us this past summer and our adoption of her and her brother began in earnest. Now we're looking at the calendar, and our dossier is scheduled to be submitted in 3 weeks! Now our focus turns to getting our home ready for two more teenagers, trip preparations to travel to the other side of the world (literally!), and the realization of how many small yet significant details there are to handle prior to our adoption trip (we think early March) and finally bring Masha and Andriy home (guessing April).

The coming weeks are going to be a whirlwind of cleaning, organizing, reorganizing, re-reorganizing, packing, unpacking, packing again (man, I own 1 sweater!), houses, cars, dogs, kids, activities, real life that isn't stopping for all of this.... whew! We had the privilege of meeting a family on Saturday at the airport as they brought their new daughter home, we will be so glad when that is us, and we can start being a family of "Super 7"!

A cool adoption day

Today was a cool day for the network of adoptive families that we've been getting to know. We went to a birthday party for Yana for her 15th birthday. She has been in her new home for maybe a month or so now. It was the 1st birthday party she's ever had! Afterward a bunch of families went to the airport to welcome back another family as they arrived from Ukraine with their new daughter Lauren! It is very special to see lives that you know will be forever changed through adoption. We are gearing up for our turn which will be in the coming weeks ahead!

Friday the 13th? Not!

This was a very good week in our journey, with big pieces falling into place as we prepare for our adoption. Our family has been blessed with a lot of support in general, this week we got confirmation our paperwork is all set for submission to the Ukrainian government on February 7th, and some big pieces of the financial puzzle came together in a really big way! It has been truly amazing to watch Him put this whole thing together, often through people or organizations we didn't know well or at all when we decided to adopt back in July. It is a great story in the making, and the reality Masha and Andriy will be with us for good soon is quite wonderful. I had dreams this week, picturing what it would be like when we get to see them at the orphanage when we get there, getting to talk to them about their new home, getting in the plane in Kiev for their journey to America. And, McDonalds (go figure....). We are opening up our family to two kids who would have no family or future, and are often simply blown away at the support and generosity of others that will make that a reality.

Happy New Year, Merry Christmas!

For our family, Christmas is on December 25th. In Ukraine, their Christmas is in January. We were fortunate enought to be able to talk to Masha that weekend and at least wish her a Merry Christmas. Not the same as having her and Andriy here by then, but always such a joy to be able to let her know she's on our heart and that we are working to get there soon! It's also really nice to hear that she's thinking of us and looking forward to being part of our family as well! Andriy is in Italy and should be back this week, for what we believe will be his last hosting trip. Next time on a plane will be to America and his "Forever Family"!