Hope

Last Sunday was Adoption Sunday at church. It was such a blessing to me! Then on Wednesday night we got confirmation that our dossier was submitted successfully in Ukraine! We got word that we now have to wire $2500 to Ukraine on Tuesday which will completely drain our account and then some. As an aside Addie just gave me a dollar, and said "put this in the adoption account. I just wanna meet those boys!". I am struggling to stay faithful to the committment we made with each other and with the Lord that we wouldn't go into debt to complete this adoption. I know that He is faithful. He will provide in His time. I just have to let Him!

Prayer requests at this time:

1) that God will provide the money. If you feel led to contribute anything, even if it's just a dollar, please do so! You can do it through the button to the right!

2) That God would continue to replace our will with His. That our hearts and those of our children would be prepared according to His will.

3) that we can figure out this travel thing... Who's going and when and for how long.

Thank you so much for your prayers. I keep thinking of the words that Kenneth Bruce said last week "Jesus purchased us at a great price. We purchase our children at a great price"... This is what happens when He calls us to adoption. We have to go out into the world to rescue our children just as Jesus did for us. We're all called to the care of orphans. This is a great way to do that!

And then...

We got confirmation today that Lifesong for Orphans received our application for fundraising help. Please be in prayer that they will be able to help us in some way. I know the work they do is very important, and it so pleases me that there are organizations out there like them!

In other news I was able to eat lunch today with an adoptive mother of 3! It was so refreshing to be able to talk to someone who's been there and sees the other side so clearly. It's great to see the way the Lord works in the lives of the parents and children who have been united through adoption!

Dossier Info

So we had our super quick and efficient (Thanks Jana) dossier materials sign-a-thon today. I thought about how I felt like I was signing my life away when I signed all of our mortgage papers, but this feeling was quite the opposite! Prayer requests at this time:

1) that our Immigration fingerprints would be accepted and returned quickly (being a nurse I have TERRIBLE fingerprints. They tell me it's because I wash my hands so much. And they say it like that's a bad thing).

2) that our paperwork would be accepted and processed in Ukraine without incident.

3) that God would continue to prepare our hearts and those of our kids in Ukraine for the day we meet and get to bring them home.

4) that God would miraculously provide monetarily for this adoption. Dave and I went into this with the thought that the Lord would provide the money without having us go into debt. We know He's good for it. We sent off our first grant application (since you can't apply until you have an approved home study)... Pray that we would be able to get some help in this way.

Thanks so much!

November 23rd!

This year on Thanksgiving, I will have an extra thing to be thankful for. The liaison in Ukraine got us a court date for our dossier submission on November 23rd, the day before Thanksgiving! Our social worker here thinks that he is trying to have us approved in Ukraine by the end of the year. While we still have a long way to go, I have felt so blessed in recent days by the people I have "run into" and by our church. This has happened so much faster than we thought it would given that it took about 6 months to complete the home study portion of our process.

Prayers that we need:

1) That the Lord would prepare the hearts and minds of the children He has waiting for us.
2) That the Lord would prepare our hearts (Dave, the kids, and I) to be open and loving to our children.
3) That God's will would ultimately be done. That the glory would be His.
4) That God will provide the finances needed to see this adoption to completion.
5) That we would make the right decision regarding what to do with Zoë and Addie during our time in Ukraine. Given how fast this is moving, we may travel before the summer, and they will still be in school. We want to do what is right by them, whether we un-enroll and home school them for a month or have them stay here for at least a portion of the time.

Thanks so much for your prayers during this time!