Ready When We Are!

Paperwork is flowing and fundraising is going. However, it's always important that the orphans you want to adopt, are there for you to adopt. In Ukraine, orphans have to be available for domestic adoptions for 14 months before you can adopt them internationally. Got confirmation this morning that Masha and Andriy are available for international adoption and ready to go when we are, which is great news. It is what we had been told but nice to get the official word. Thanks to all for your continual prayers and support that all the paperwork and finances line up as fast as possible, so we can bring these children home soon!

"Wow" is the word of the day

The past couple days have been really good. Paperwork is chugging along, and over the past week we've been sending out our adoption support letter. For those who know me, I'm not a big fan of paperwork, but can tolerate it for a good cause such as this. The biggest chunk of work in the adoption will be the financial side of it. Not that I'm really worried, because if God wants this to happen, it'll happen, and there's peace of mind in that. However, bread crumbs on the trail are nice. Both yesterday and today good things happened on the financial side of things that were really encouraging. So far this adoption thing has been humbling on both edges of the proverbial sword, in that 1) we have the opportunity to literally change these orphans lives, and 2) how blessed we are with so many wonderful and supportive people!

Back in the Shack

We had a great time with Masha while she was here on our hosting trip this summer. When she returned to Ukraine, she went to summer camp right after her arrival at the orphanage and will be returning there on August 27th. We have truly hoped she is well and miss her a lot. Since she left for camp right after getting back, we have not been able to talk to her since she left Austin. So, we haven't been able to say how much we enjoyed her being here, or how much we want her back for good. She hasn't been able to share her trip with Andriy or that we want to adopt them. So, it's like a time warp in that there's been this month gap between our asking her to come be a part of our family (she said yes :), wanting to hear that she's safe, that she has shared her summer here with her brother, and that he wants to come as well. We are so looking forward to reconnecting!

Happy Anniversary!

Friday marked the 21st anniversary for Jodi and I. I am very fortunate to have found a person who has changed my life for the better! I am also hoping this will be our last anniversary with 3 kids, and that we will celebrate our 22nd with our 5 kids. For those that know our family, you know how important our family and children are to us, how much we invest into their lives to build amazing people. For those that know our children, you know how that has paid off, we are incredibly blessed with the 3 most incredible kids on the planet. We are so excited to have the opportunity to welcome Masha and Andriy into our family, to give them the same love, guidance and encouragement, and to see the new lives that will flourish. In just the five short weeks Masha was with us this summer, it was so cool to see her blossom, imagine what can happen when they are ours forever!

It Takes A Village

Sitting here over the laptop evenings this week as we hit the ground running on our fundraising and reflecting on all the awesome support we've received, it's a great feeling! Our family has always had a large and eclectic group of friends, but we're being reminded every day of the wonderful people we've come to know over the years. We are very blessed!

Welcome to our blog!

Adoption has been on our hearts probably about as long as we've been married. We have been pretty occupied raising our three children for some time now, but it's clear that the time is now for us to turn the vision of adoption into reality! That door opened in the form of the opportunity to host an orphan from the Ukraine, a 14 year old girl named Masha. She spent five weeks with us this summer and it was a truly wonderful time. It was simply amazing how she came from the other side of the world but so naturally intended to be a part of our family!

It was very hard to put her on the plane to return to the orphanage once her trip was over, but also so very easy to see that we wanted to make her a permanent part of our family. So, we are moving forward with the process of adopting her and her 12 year old brother Andriy. We can't wait to adopt these orphans and give them a new "forever" home!