One week... Little Brother... and a look at Mother's Day

Well, I wasn't able to blog yesterday because I didn't have my laptop with me, so I missed out on saying "One Week!".  But we are now LESS THAN ONE WEEK away from submission. Yep, just 6 days until one of our facilitators will go and submit our dossier to the SDA!!!!

In the meantime, we're enjoying a visit from Cheryl and Sasha. Sasha is William's biological brother. Cheryl adopted him 2 years before we adopted William. They are about 19 months apart, Sasha is 6 years old. You can read older posts about Sasha HERE, HERE, and HERE.

I haven't uploaded any pictures from the camera yet, but I will soon. Sasha spent the night with us last night while Cheryl had an event to attend in Atlanta. We had lots of fun playing outside, going out for mexican food, and going to the park. 

Today, William will "skip school" so he can spend the day with Cheryl & Sasha - swimming at their hotel's pool, and going to the Georgia Aquarium.

Once their visit is over, I'll blog more about it and share some pictures of our 2 beautiful boys. It's so special to watch them together!

While you wait on that, I thought I'd share one of my articles. This one is about Mother's Day, and about my dream of being a mom.  Hope you'll take the time to read it. I pray it opens your eyes to the struggles some women deal with, particularly at this time of year, as well as how God made my dream come true.  You can click HERE to read the article.

Passion Kyiv WT2010

I read a super cool tweet from Louie Giglio this morning...

13 days to Passion Kyiv. Believing for miraculous provision, generation-shaping influence. Please Pray+Invest! http://bit.ly/a6cQYV

How exciting that Louie, Chris Tomlin, Matt Redman, Christy Nockels, and Kristian Stanfill will be in Ukraine, speaking and ministering to the hearts of students!  Oh, how I wish the timing would have worked so that we could have snuck in (I know, we're too old to fit the typical Passion target) and been a part of it :)  I will definitely be praying for the ministry that happens there on May 10th!

If you or someone you know will be in Kyiv on May 10, you can order your tickets HERE (only 30 UAH/$3.76 US).

Single Digits!

We're just 9 days away from our dossier submission date!  Can't wait to have another milestone behind us.

We had a great weekend. I got home from work Friday and we went walking - walked somewhere between 2 & 3 miles. I love the new park we go to now - lots of shady un-paved trails to enjoy!

Got back to the house and had dinner. Zack mentioned that he'd been thinking about driving down to our lake place.  We looked at the weather report, and it looked certain that rain would be canceling Saturday's soccer game, so we quickly packed bags & headed out.

It rained a lot Saturday.  But we had fun anyway. Slept in, watched some old VHS tapes (yeah, try explaining the word REWIND to your 7-year-old), had lunch at KFC (William's new fave, we now refer to it as "the old man with the chicken wings"), walked through the mall (takes all of about 10 minutes, since it is a very small mall that is only half occupied), and relaxed a lot.  Then out to dinner with Mom, Tommy & my baby brother at Pickle Barrel - yum! William was thrilled to finish off the day in the hot tub. He's so easy to please!

Sunday was filled with rest, cleaning up the lake house, packing up, visiting with Mom & Tommy, lots of time in the car, lots of laundry, and grocery shopping.

Zack & William accompanied me to the grocery store. While their presence always causes our spending to increase a bit, I so enjoy them going with me. Don't ask me why, but it's just fun to stroll the aisles and be together.

Now we're back into another week, packed full once again. Soccer tonight, church tomorrow night. And we have some very special visitors arriving on Thursday. If you've followed our blog for at least a year, you've likely read about them before. Will post more about that later this week :)

Chernobyl

I meant to post this yesterday, but had a VERY busy day.  Yesterday was the 24th anniversary of the chernobyl disaster.

Here is a story published yesterday.

And here is a blog post I wrote 3 years ago.

Post-adoption: don't be afraid to ask for help!

My part 2 article was published yesterday.  It addresses getting help if you experience struggles once you bring your child(ren) home. You can read the article HERE.

I also want to clarify that contrary to many reports (and despite what I said in a previous post), Russia has not suspended U.S. adoptions. They may very well halt things if the U.S. and Russia cannot create a bi-lateral adoption agreement. Things have slowed down in some respects, and as is always the case in Russia, situations vary by region. Bu things are still moving.

A high-ranking U.S. delegation was scheduled to meet with officials in Moscow this week in an attempt to create a bi-lateral agreement regarding U.S/Russian adoptions.  Due to the ash clouds from the volcano, that trip has been postponed until next week.  Please pray that these negotiations go well. From all I've read, the delegation we're sending is not only powerful, but also well-connected in the area of adoption. The outcome of this meeting will be significant, but there seems to be a lot of confidence around the fact that they're meeting.

We don't know all of the story about the boy on the airplane.  It is very possible that the 7-year-old did make threats and exhibit the behaviors that Torry Hansen claimed in her letter. It is also possible that Torry went into it knowing about the 'bad adoption stories' but thinking it would never happen to her. There are many possibilities.

But Hansen had other options.  I read an article yesterday that said Hansen spoke with psychologists about her son's behavior, but never actually took him for any therapy or counseling. I can't help but wonder if the outcome would have been different if she'd tried to get him (and herself) some professional help.

Okay, off my soap box.  The Joint Council's site (HERE) gives the latest information on the status of Russian adoptions.

I'm so thankful that I've been given the opportunity to write about adoption topics. I pray that my words will help people understand what adoption is - and isn't, what's really involved, and give them a dose of reality that often isn't portrayed correctly by the media in general. And I pray that some who read my articles might even consider expanding their own families through adoption!

And in our adoption news, we are less than 2 weeks away from our scheduled submission date. Please continue to pray for our process, our last few pieces of paperwork (on its way to Ukraine this weekend, it was also delayed by the ash cloud), and our little one.

Continued Prayers for Chrissie

Please keep praying for 4-year-old Chrissie. She took a turn for the worse, and the medical staff is working to try and save her.

Here is their blog: http://allarepreciousinhissight.blogspot.com/

Chalkboard Paint

The first scripture that we wrote on the new chalkboard paint was one that was of particular comfort to us when we were waiting to travel to meet William.  The idea of God Himself actually going before us and preparing the way made us feel alot better.  We are praying the same prayer this time as we are waiting to meet "Elvis" (the nickname William is calling his brother).  The second one is one that Jennifer and alot of mothers pray.  The third one was a passage that I read yesterday.  I read it first in the Message translation and it reads "May God our Father himself and our Master Jesus clear the road to you". 

Good stuff

Prayers for Chrissie

Please stop right now and pray for Chrissie, a precious little 4-year-old girl adopted last year who went in for major open heart surgery yesterday.  Things went well at first, but then her heart stopped. They were finally able to revive her, and she is in PICU, but no one really knows right now what to expect.

Click here to keep updated on Chrissie's progress.

Father God, You are the Healer, the Great Physician. You hold Chrissie in Your hands, and we know that through all of this, Your will is to be done. I pray that her lungs will clear, and that her organs will once again be able to function on their own. She was a miracle child going into this surgery, and I pray that she will walk away from this  with an even greater testimony that both she and her family can share.  I pray for Your peace and comfort to envelope her parents, Matt & Lorraine, and the rest of the family. Wrap them in Your love and give them a peace that surpasses all understanding. Please restore Chrissie's body and make her whole again on this earth. I pray this in the name of the One who makes all things new,
Amen.

What to Expect When You're... Adopting

With all of the press about the little boy sent back to Russia by his mother, I thought it might be a good opportunity to write about setting expectations when adopting.

The first article in a 2-part series talks about education prior to adopting.

Click HERE to read it.

Paperwork Pregnant! What's next?

Now that we have our paperwork completed, we wait.  17 days. Yeah, just 2 1/2 weeks until our dossier submission date! 

A number of people have recently asked "what does that mean?" and "what's next?"

So as we await our submission date, I thought I'd explain the next little bit of the process...

We have a facilitator in Ukraine (well, actually 2, but one of them will be handling this step of the process) who works on our behalf.  She has our dossier (except for 3 documents that will be hand-delivered to her on Wednesday).  She translates all of the documents and has them authenticated. 

On May 6, she will go the SDA (The State Department of Adoption in Ukraine). She will take our dossier and hand it over to them. 

The SDA will then take some time (right now it's usually 10 - 14 days) to review our dossier, to determine if it meets their requirements. If it does, they will assign us a date to come in for our appointment.

Our facilitator will return to the SDA and will receive notice of our assigned appointment date.  At that time, we'll begin making travel plans!

If you have other questions about the process, post them here and we'll be glad to answer!

Cool Fundraiser

Just a friendly reminder - don't forget to check out my friend Shay's Auction blog. They are raising money to bring their daughter from China.  She has some great items up for auction, and is continually adding new items as well!



And if you haven't already done so, be sure to read the blog post below this one!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I've Got a Golden Ticket!

First, I want to apologize to my neighbors. Hopefully I didn't scare anyone as I went jumping through our yard, screaming & shouting this afternoon :)

Three weeks from today, our facilitator is scheduled to submit our dossier to the SDA (state dept of adoption in Ukraine). And as of 4:30 this afternoon, we were still missing our U.S. approval, the I-171H. We had left voice mails and sent emails, and were hopeful [desperate] for a response.

At 7 AM this morning, I received a one-word response from our local office: Approved.

It was great news, don't get me wrong. But I wasn't going to feel total relief until I saw the document in the mailbox.

All three of us were in the backyard doing some yard work this afternoon, when we heard the mailman. I really didn't expect it today, but proceeded to the mailbox. Two pieces of junk mail... and an envelope from the Dept of Homeland Security. Could this really be it?!?!

As we neared zero hour (we needed it by the end of this week), we finally received our last document!

Thanks to everyone that prayed us through this step of the process. We've already thanked God about a million times today for this wonderful news. Praise Him for taking care of this detail!

Solnyshko, the papers are on their way, and soon we'll be there with you!

We Are The Truth – an adoption blogger day

Today has been designated We Are The Truth Day, and adoptive families are encouraged to share their positive adoption stories.

Tragically, on this same day, Russia has announced that it is suspending U.S. adoptions (click here for more info).  They have not stopped them altogether - we must continue to be vocal about the good stories! We also need to pray that the U.S. delegation traveling to Russia next week will find a way to come to a mutually beneficial agreement with Russia, one that protects the children involved.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The adoption process is emotional and full of uncertainties and risks. But then again, how is that different from pretty much anything in life? Life doesn't come with any guarantees either.

Our adoption story began in 2002 when we decided to start a family. Little did we know, a precious blonde hair blue eyed baby boy was just a few weeks old at the time.

After a few years of no luck on the baby front, doctors began wanting to do extensive testing and start procedures that would help us get pregnant. We prayed about it, and God clearly showed us that His plan was for us to adopt. (That was His plan all along, it just took us a while to listen and realize it!)

On February 7, 2007 we officially committed to adopt a child from Ukraine, a country we knew virtually nothing about, but a country God clearly laid on our hearts.

Exactly 9 months later, we were sitting at Ukraine's State Department of Adoption, and were shown the picture of the most beautiful boy I'd ever seen. And two days after that (Nov 9, 2007), we met our son.

On December 7, 2007, we arrived at the Atlanta airport to the welcoming cheers of 6 grandparents, an uncle, and a sweet friend. Our journey was complete, but our adventure was just beginning.

I feel like we went into the adoption well informed. We knew that there were negative stories out there. We knew there was the possibility that our child would come to us with deep emotional and psychological scars.

We were blessed with a smooth transition. Sure, there were rough times. For instance, there were times at the beginning where punishment of standing in the corner resulted in "William nee like Mommy. William nee like Amelica" (William not like Mommy, William not like America). And he always had to be with one of us, no matter what. That meant if I walked into the kitchen to get a drink, he was right behind me. If I went the bathroom, he was at the door.

But all in all, he did remarkably well. Our attachment process went smoothly. We explained to friends and family that Zack & I needed to be the ones to provide for all of his needs - EVERYTHING - even things as small as tying a shoe or walking him to the bathroom. And we needed to be the ones to provide comfort as well.

Almost 2 1/2 years later, our little Ukrainian-American is - well, not so little anymore!  He's grown by leaps and bounds, but not just physically. He loves school. He enjoys playing soccer and basketball. He is a great runner. He is a good friend, and a valuable member of our family.  On December 6, 2009 we rejoiced as he made his public profession of faith, telling everyone that He believes in Jesus and accepts Him as His Savior and Lord, and followed that with believers baptism.

We love him more than we could have imagined, and we can't imagine life without him. He truly is our gift from God.

William knows where he came from. He was 5 1/2 when he came home, so he remembers a little, but not much. We are open about how our family came to be, and we talk about things on an age-appropriate level. We know more questions will come as he gets older. For now, he is content knowing that he was born in Ukraine, but his home is with Mommy & Daddy, in America.

We are thankful that Ukraine allowed us to come to their country for our adoption. We are thankful for the caregivers that watched over William at the orphanage. We are thankful for the kind director at the orphanage. We are thankful for the birth mother that chose life. And we anxiously and excitedly look forward to returning to Ukraine in the coming months to bring another child into our family through adoption.

Adoption 101: What is a dossier?

The next chapter of my Adoption 101 articles attempts to answer the question...

What is a Dossier?

Click HERE to check it out - and while you're there, click on the Subscribe button towards the top to receive email updates anytime my articles are published!

Speak Up - We Are the Truth!

By now you've most likely heard of the Tennessee woman who put her Russian-born son on a plane and sent him back to Russia, after only 6 months at home. 

To say I'm disgusted would be an understatement. But rather than preach to the choir, I want to encourage you to take action.

The Joint Council on International Children's Services has created several ways to do so...

1. Sign THIS PETITION to encourage Russian & US officials to come to an agreement that will NOT stop adoptions, but will seek to protect children from abuse. (As of 4/13/10 at 8:30 AM ET there are just over 4,700 signatures)
2. Participate in We Are the Truth blogger day. "To ensure the world knows about every successful adoption, on Thursday, April 15, 2010 blog about yor adoption or the adoption of someone you know. It doesn't matter if your adoption is with Russia, domestic or otherwise international. Let the world know your truth!"
3. Make sure the world sees, hears and feels the thousands of successful adoptions from Russia by sending your successful Russian adoption video via email to alexa.m@jcics.org (video should be maximum 3 minutes, and a release must accompany the video - click HERE for release). Joint Council will translate the video into Russian and post it on their YouTube channel.
4. Send Joint Council your successful Russian adoption story via email to alexa.m@jcics.org. You can include up to 10 pictures, essay of up to 500 words, and must also include a release (click HERE for release). Joint Council will compile the stories & pictures, translate them, and post them on their site or blog.
5. Joint Countil will post, forward, adn share your stories via Facebook, Twitter, and blogs. Follow them on YouTube, Twitter, or Facebook.
6. Post your stories via Facebook, Twitter, etc. to get the word out!
7. Share this post via fb, Twitter, or your blog.

Help the Land family!

There is a family I know only through the blog world, a family that is trying to raise funds to adopt 3 precious children.

This family wants to officially commit to these children, but still needs to raise more money in order to do so. Because they have not yet officially committed to the children, I can't share with you the specific reason why they're so special to me. But if you've followed my blog for more than a few months, you can probably put 2 and 2 together.

I pray for this family often. I want so badly for the funds to be raised so they can rescue these children. This is a good family, a Christian family with good values and with a heart for God's will, a heart to help the fatherless.

If you have a few dollars to spare, would you please help the Land family?

You can donate via their blog HERE.

You can support them by purchasing t-shirts HERE.

You can support them by purchasing REALLY GOOD coffee HERE.

You can mail a donation to them (details HERE).

Or you can contribute $5 to their puzzle fundraiser HERE.

Any of these will help get the Land family another step closer to their children! Please prayerfully consider helping this family, and helping some very special children in Eastern Europe.

The Countdown!

Check out the countdown clock...

ONE MONTH FROM TODAY!!

Praying & believing that this is the week our INS approval will arrive.

What is a home study?

Have you ever considered adopting?

Does all the terminology leave you a bit confused?

I just published a new article that begins what will be a fairly regular series called Adoption 101. This series will answer adoption questions that those exploring adoption might ask.

The first article is Adoption 101: What is a homestudy?, and you can read it HERE.

If you have ideas for the Adoption 101, I'd love to hear them. What terminology is confusing? What are some questions that could be answered to help those looking into adoption? Leave a comment and let me know!

The Cross

(two posts in one day - be sure to read the one below this one)

And as I awoke this morning, I was also reminded that today is Good Friday.

The day we remember our Savior's death. He took all of our sins - all of MY sins - onto Himself on the cross. That includes my sin of selfishness, self-pity, fear, anxiety. He took them all upon Himself.

And He died.

He didn't use His power to get down off the cross. He didn't use it to take His physical pain away. He endured an agonizingly painful and humiliating death. He hung there, and He died.

He did this for love. He loved us so much that He died for us. And not just for us collectively - for each of us individually. He did this for me, and He did this for you.

This is how much God loved the world:

He gave his Son, his one and only Son.

And this is why: so that no one need be destroyed; by believing in him, anyone can have a whole and lasting life.

God didn't go to all the trouble of sending his Son merely to point an accusing finger, telling the world how bad it was.

He came to help, to put the world right again.

Anyone who trusts in him is acquitted; anyone who refuses to trust him has long since been under the death sentence without knowing it.

And why?

Because of that person's failure to believe in the one-of-a-kind Son of God when introduced to him.

John 3:16 - 18

What's even better is the story doesn't end at the cross.  He didn't stay on the cross, and He didn't remain in the tomb.

He endured so much for you and for me. His battle and suffering makes our adoption struggles seem so minor and trivial. But His battle reminds me that I have victory in Him.

And as we seek to raise the children HE chooses for us, we must continually enstill in them the truth of who He is. Who He was. Who He always has been and always will be. Circumstances may change, but God remains the same!

"I tell you the truth," Jesus answered, "before Abraham was born, I am."
John 8: 58

This Sunday, we celebrate our risen Savior!  Death could not conquer the King!

Do you know for SURE where you will spend eternity? If you have questions, you can visit THIS SITE.

I'm also here, and if you have questions about this gift, or would like to learn more about what this all means, please email me here.

Honest

When I look back at posts on our blog, I realize that I don't often get really honest with you guys. But I will today. 

Yesterday was a low point for me. I was whiney, mopey, and feeling defeated. I got home from work to find out that the mail had already run, and once again, no paperwork. And I was so frustrated. When will it ever arrive?

Today, I still don't know where our paperwork is, or when it will arrive. But I woke up this morning and God spoke to me. He reminded me that once again, I'm not giving it over to Him. I'm trying to handle everything myself, on my time table.

My plan might not be His plan. Whatever happens, I should praise Him. It's easy to praise Him when things are going well and I feel like I've got things together.

But I need to praise Him always. When that paper doesn't come, I can praise Him that I have another day to prepare our home and our hearts. Another day to pray for our child. Another day to be an example of what it means to praise Him in all things. 

I have not been a good example of that. But I want to be. I want to change that now.

My moping and pouting only bring me down, and possibly those around me as well. I should rejoice in all things. Praise God for the beautiful weather we have right now. Thank Him for the amazing husband and son I have, the beautiful home we live in, the abundance of all things that we enjoy.

I will praise God in all things.

Hallelujah! Praise God in his holy house of worship, praise him under the open skies;

Praise him for his acts of power, praise him for his magnificent greatness;

Praise with a blast on the trumpet, praise by strumming soft strings;

Praise him with castanets and dance, praise him with banjo and flute;

Praise him with cymbals and a big bass drum, praise him with fiddles and mandolin.

Let every living, breathing creature praise God!

Hallelujah!

Psalm 150