The End Of The Beginning

Back in March right before our departure for Ukraine, Dylan and I tested for our black belts in Tae Kwon Do.  Of the many wise things we learned in our 4 year journey from white to black belt, is that black belt is not a destination, but the true beginning of our martial arts journey.  Or, as I have dubbed it, the end of the beginning.  We are now at the end of the beginning in our adoption journey.  Today was the final day of our 10 day waiting period so our adoption should be finalized and a done deal.  Due to tomorrow being a weekend and holidays next week, we won't be able to get the piece of paper from the court until Thursday to go get Kayleigh and Michael's new birth certificates and officially check them out from the orphanage, but no one has called saying there's any problem and we're trusting that God will deliver these kids to us as we have always felt He intended to do.  The orphanage is allowing us to spend as much time with them as we desire in the meantime so tomorrow really marks the end of the "we are going to adopt you" phase of our journey, and the beginning of the "YOU ARE OURS!" phase of life.  We are so excited as a family to welcome Kayleigh and Michael to our family and to truly make them ours.  We spent a few hours with them at the orphanage today and get the distinct feeling they are ready to join our family for real as well.  We can tell it has been hard for them to wait since our arrival in Ukraine for us to be able to take them home and we can see many different emotions in them as they come to a truly huge change of their entire life.  Kayleigh once again (half jokingly) got in the car when we were leaving tonight, it will be so very nice to have her climb in, and be able to just close the door with her IN the car, surrounded by her and Michael's new forever family!