Marathon For Adoption

This past Saturday was the Marathon for Adoption. It's a wonderful event set up to help financially support families in the adoption process. Team Tansey had a great team of super duper people to register and run, or financially support our adoption of Masha and Andrei, a brother and sister set of orphans in Ukraine. Our son Dylan ran the half marathon and had a great run. We have been incredibly blessed with a great group of supporters, there are so many people who are helping us to bring these kids to their new permanent home! We're well down the road in the process, but there is still much to be done. Keep praying!

Connecting

We are so very thankful for being able to keep in touch with Masha and Andrei while we go through all the preparation for adoption. Since they are like on the other side of the world and don't speak English, this could be a challenge one would think, but we've been blessed by having a contact here and a contact there to help us communicate with them. First we've been able to talk to them on the phone with the translator, Alla, who visits them at the orphanage. Second, there are other families that have started making their trips over for their adoptions who have been able to pass along messages, take a warmer coat, etc. For us, it is so important that they know that they have not been forgotten, that we are still here working and praying hard for them, and are 111% on board in fulfilling our promise to bring them home soon to their new family!

Courageous

Our family went to see the movie "Courageous" on Saturday night. Without leaking too much of the plot for those who haven't seen it yet, one of the messages was the introspection of how much we invest in those we love, specifically our kids. If Jodi and I have done anything right with our kids, it's been to really invest into them so that there is never any question how much we love them, or how important they are to us. We've got the miles on the cars and bleacher backs to prove it! I can honestly say that if a tragedy occurred (not interested at all in testing this by the way...) I would feel like I didn't miss the mark on this with them. It naturally got me to thinking about the two orphans we want to bring home, who have probably gone without this, and how much we want to bring them home, be their parents, and give them (albeit a late start...) a childhood with parents who would love them, fight for them, provide for them and protect them, no different than we do for the three we have at home. I'm so excited for the, love, time home and future we will be able to give them!

Adoption Fundraiser

The friendship bracelets are $3.00 and the car/home/bag scents are $6.00. All proceeds benefit the Tansey adoption. Email ctansey@austin.rr.com to purchase. Thank you for your generous support.

15

Yesterday was Masha's 15th birthday. We will be so glad to have her here for her Sweet 16th next year! We couldn't be there or talk to her on her actual birthday, but we do have someone who is gracious enough to do something for her over there, and are hoping to get to talk to her and Andrei on the phone again very soon! It's the odd adoption conundrum of having two children who are already becoming an integral part of our lives, yet are still on the other side of the world! At least we have the peace of mind knowing there is someone who cares over there who can translate for us and tell them how much they are on our hearts and minds!

ZZZ... zzz...

This is the phase of the adoption process that probably drives most people nuts. We know what God wants us to get done. We want to get it done. There are a lot of man-made moving pieces in the process in the middle! Honestly, things are moving along probably pretty well. Home studies, immigration approvals, fundraising, attorneys, etc, passports, preparing our home for teenagers #4 and 5! It's not all done yet but we're chugging along through the process. We would love for it to be done as quickly as possible so we can bring these kids home!

Can You Hear Me Now?

We are very thankful for technology. It amazes me that we can pick up our cell phone and call the other side of the world ~ and that the connection is usually better than calling a friend down the road! Masha is back from summer camp, Andrei is back from Italy, and Alla (translator and amazing person in general) was able to make it to the orphanage for a visit, so we got to talk to the kids this morning. It was the first time we got to do that since Masha left Texas a month ago from the hosting trip. It was so great to be able to connect with them and be able to tell them that they are in our hearts and prayers every day, and most importantly, not forgotten. Masha still gets a laugh out of our family sense of humor, silly nicknames and our general craziness. The wheels are turning to bring them to their forever home as quickly as possible. For us, it can't be soon enough!

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!