God's Promise-Anya Elizabeth

More pics of the holidays

2012-01-01T11:52:00.000-08:00

holiday pics 2011

Listening to the Christmas story

All their cousins and Grandma Jean

Our Whole Family Together for Christmas 2011

Abby decorated a birthday cake for Jesus

Clara decorating a birthday cake for Jesus

Catching up! and Happy New Year!

2012-01-01T11:30:00.000-08:00

January 1, 2012
There has been lots going on over the past serveral months but suffice it to say all is going well. The girls have settled right in at home and at school. They have enjoyed Thanksgiving and Christmas. They love being a part of our family and we love them too. We have celebrated with good friends and family and have been so blessed in so many ways. We are looking forward to 2012. Enjoy the pictures!
All 9 of our treasures together in one place!

All done decorating the tree

Abby and Clara strutting their stuff!

Abby decorating her first Christmas tree

Clara decorating her first Christmas tree

More pics!

2011-10-27T11:45:00.001-07:00

October 27th,2011

Our Girls!

What We've been up to!

2011-10-27T11:32:00.000-07:00

October 27,2011

We have been very busy with life at home with 9 children. I wanted to post some pics of what we have been doing. The girls are great. They are picking up some English and yet maintaining their Russian/Ukrainian. They are very happy and doing great in school. Clara can count to 5 and knows most colors, can write her name and is learning her alphabet. Abby is trying very hard to write. She is picking up English and is always happy. They both still love to sing and dance and love their baby dolls. We continue to have many appointments for them as well as the other children so we are so busy but we are making it work. Here are some pics:

Living Each Day one hour at a time.

2011-08-20T11:28:00.000-07:00

August 20,2011

Sorry for my lack of posts but as you can imagine I am very busy. With all the appointments, doctor's appointments, school starting and working I don't have much free time. I literally am just functioning to get through each day as I need to minute by minutes. The girls are adjusting well. They have been sick with bad colds and coughs but otherwise fine. They love school. Nothing seems to bother them. We are working on routine and adjustment. Other than school, church and doctor's appointments we havent taken them anywhere. We are dealing with a lot right now and just learning how to get used to our new normal. Right now I am kind of numb from all that happened in the Ukraine and then getting home to all the chaos without a minute to rest. I literally got home that Sunday at 10pm and was at work at 5am Monday morning. I haven't stopped yet so I really haven't had a chance to process any of it. I have a lot to work through in my head right now and just need time. I will be posting pictures soon. Thanks for your patience.

We're Home!

2011-08-06T20:14:00.000-07:00

August 6, 2011

The Girls and I made it home but it was quite the amazing journey. But what did we expect after the month we had in the Ukraine!

I will be posting all about our trip home soon, I promise. We are settling in and the girls are doing great!

More Thank you's

2011-07-29T03:41:00.000-07:00

July 29th 2011
I wanted to give a very big thank you to all my financial supporters whom without I could not be here. My biggest contributer and sister in Christ Marcie thank you so much. One day we will meet and I will give you a huge hug. To all those in bloggy land who have commented, prayed and supported me thank you. I loved reading all the comments and feeling the support and prayers coming from all over. To my whole church family and community you are the best!
I love you all.

IT IS FINISHED!

2011-07-29T01:41:00.000-07:00

The first time we met the girls back on May 27th

july 29,2011

Today is a day that will definately live in infamy! My long journey is coming to an end. I have my daughters' visas in my hands and all of their paperwork to give to immigration when I finally land in the good ol USA! I am sitting here crying like a baby, all alone. The Lord has done as he had promised. It was the most difficult thing I have ever done. There were so many mountains and obstacles along the way but our God destroyed them all just as he said he would. This process has taken over 14 months. From the day Tim and I knew we wanted our sweet Anya to tomorrow has been a major rollercoaster ride. No we don't have Anya but Anya is home with her mama--her mama has decided to keep her and not send her back to the orphanage. Anya will go to a regular school--Anya is where she was meant to be all along. Her mama just needed to realize that she loved her daughter so much and seeing that she was going to be adopted and taken far away made her realize that she did not want to lose her daughter. I am so glad the Lord used me to make her realize she could not live without her daughter. Because of that our sweet Vika now has a mama too. So Anya, Vika and Marina are all moving on to new lives with their mamas. God had this planned from the beginning and I was just one of his instruments to help make it happen. I feel privileged to have been able to assist God in this.

So today I am finally realizing that this part of the journey is coming to an end. As I said before my emotions are all over the place. I have been here for so long and have come to love and hate this country. The bureacracy and politics are so very difficult to deal with here but oh the people I have come to love. As I look back over this long journey and think of all I have encountered here and been through. It is very hard to leave this place and the wonderful people who were placed in my life. I have made lifelong friends here. I still have a mission ahead of me and can't wait to get started on that. I will talk more about that later. Anatoly, Irina and Igor have worked so hard to help make all of this a reality. They have gone way beyond the call of duty. I cannot thank them enough. I thank God that these wonderful people were the ones selected to accompany me on my journey. Irina's family welcomed me into their home and treated me like a member of the family for 6 days. From Kristina and Katya their precious daughters to Irina's parents. I felt loved and taken care of. I was able to experience what it was truly like to live daily in the Ukraine. I have gained so much perspective and once again it all leaves me feeling ashamed of all that we have in the USA. We are definately a spoiled country. I will try never to complain about not having something. Just to walk into a house with air conditioning, then to a car with air conditioning and any building with air conditioning is such a privilege. It is a privilege that they just do not have. Riding the crowded buses and smelling the awful smells from the live chickens to the body odor did not discust me it made me respect them even more. They work so hard and their lives are not easy but they go on and they can smile.

While here I had the privilege of worshiping in the Hillsong church. The presence of the Holy Spirit all around. I had the privilege of taking my sweet friend Irina to this church-who knows maybe a seed was planted- I was able to visit one of her churches here in Kiev and she is so respectful-she will not enter if not properly dressed with a head dress on her head. She bows and prays so respectfully. Though she admits she does not have the kind of relationship with Christ that we have-maybe one day. I will keep praying for that.

What is ahead of me--well first and foremost getting the girls out of the orphanage for the last time and all of the way home to the USA. There are many things that scare me about this. First they do not understand me when I talk most of the time and therefore do not obey as they should. They like to run off and I do not have enough hands to hold tightly to both of them and the luggage. I have to occupy them in Germany for 4 hours. Then getting through customs, immigration, claiming luggage, rechecking luggage, going through security and getting to our next flight in less than 2 hours time without losing the girls in New York!

Irina will be with me tonight when I bring the girls back to the apartment. She will help me bathe them and feed them and get them into bed for a few hours. She will be with me at the airport in Kiev and then I am on my own. Well I know that the Lord will be with me every step of the way--and I hope he will be holding onto the girls hands too so they do not run off.

Once home oh the adjustments! I simply cannot wait to get my hands on my children at home. I have missed them so much! I know they have missed me terribly too. Oh when I see all of their faces and Tim's at the airport I know I will lose it! There will be jealousy I'm sure between the girls and the other kids but I pray they will all come to love each other deeply. We will have many appointments to get to. And with 6 little ones now it will not be easy. The work will be constant and I know I will literally collapse each night. Oh but seeing all of my children securely tucked into their beds at night and sleeping soundly will be the best present this mama could have. All of my treasures together at last! Look out Jordan if you think the house is chaos now wait until these precious girls arrive and are let loose. Jordan I know you will be a great big brother to your new sisters just as you are to all the others. I love you so much. Danielle and Christopher I love you too and can't thank you enough for helping me and supporting me even when you didn't think this was the best idea. Please don't ever doubt how much I love you both. You have both grown up into beautiful young adults and I am so proud of you both!

Well I need to clean the apartment and finish packing to begin the next leg of this journey. I need to stop crying and get working. I just want to thank the Lord once again for choosing me to be the mother to these very special little girls--they were fearfully and wonderfully made just as all my other children were. It was no mistake that they were made with an extra chromosome. They are loved and treasured by our Lord and he has a plan for their wonderful lives and I am privileged to play a part in that.

I may not get a chance to post anything until I am home. I will be packing the computer in the checked luggage so I don't have to take it out going through security. I promise to post pictures of the girls and their journey to the USA as soon as I can.

Thank you to all of my family and friends who have made this all possible. There are so many that have stood by me along the way--First and foremost my dear sweet friend Dianne-you were my angel sent by God to help me get through this. Thank you for being here with me-just seeing your face come through those doors at the airport in Kiev gave me such peace. We laughed, we cried together and we even had some times of tension but I will forever treasure our friendship. Know that I love you so much and you will always be a part of the girls life.

My mom--what can I say--I love you and appreciate you and I know I don't say that enough. I could not have done this without you. You have taken such good care of the kids and Tim for me and for that I consider you a saint. I love you and treasure you.

Tim-my soulmate and companion-who puts up with me and always stands by me and joins me on every journey-I love you and miss you.

Cindy, Terrie, Jenny, Connie, Margie, Trisha, and all my dear friends-Thank you for supporting me and helping me in oh so many ways, from cleaning my house to helping with the kids and loving on them while I am gone. You have all been a huge part of making all of this possible. I love you all.

To my family-Paula, Jim, Toni, Geoff, Joy and Kelly and Lou and Rose-thank you for all you have done-you will always be loved and treasured by me.

Now I must thank my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ for taking me on the most amazing journey of my life. I cannot even imagine what lays ahead. I am feeling so blessed.

More of Getting The Runaround!

2011-07-28T12:35:00.000-07:00

July 28th, 2011
The day began at 3:30 am when I woke Dianne to get ready to leave for the airport. The cab arrived as scheduled at 4am. It was very sad to see her go. We had come so far together and now to say goodbye before it was over just didn't seem right. We hugged and off she went. I went back up to the apartment alone. It felt so weird. I felt so alone. I had a big day ahead of me so I tried to lay back down. I did finally fall asleep. The alarm went off about 7am. I woke and got ready for the big day. My appointment was at 930. It was very crowded outside with hundreds of people waiting to get in for visas. I was allowed to go right in as an American citizen. Tola and Igor had to wait outside. I took everything in and a Kind lady named Lilia went through all of the paperwork with me. She helped me fill in the places I wasn't sure of. We then discovered that Tola had forgotten to give me pictures of the girls. So I still needed to bring these back as well as the medicals and passports. She tole me to return at 2pm with the girls. So we left there and went to the passport place to pick up the passports. But guess what - they were not ready. So we left there after nearly an hour and went to the orphanage to get the girls and take them to their medicals. When we arrived at the orphanage at approx 1145 they came running out in the same pretty dresses from yesterday. They were very excited to go in the "beep beep" again. We got in the car and headed out. They were very excited as you can see by the pictures below.

So we arrive for the medicals and have to wait in a waiting room with several other people. They are so excited and try talking to everyone. Then Marina needs to use the "tualet". So I take Marina to the bathroom and discover she has a diaper on. This was a first. But I take it off and she goes like a big girl. I put the diaper back on just in case and pull her panties back up. Vika then comes in but says she can't go. We go back out and they weigh them and measure them. Back out to the waiting room. They are acting out very badly and will not listen to Igor or myself. Then a woman in the waiting room(another family's facilitator) started talking to Marina in Ukranian and Marina obeyed. Vika continued to do just what she wanted. She can be very stubborn. We are finally called in to see the Doctor. At first Vika did not want to take her dress down for the doctor to listen to her chest. Marina jumped right up and he listened to her lungs and heart. Then used a flashlight to look at their eyes, and mouth and ears-no otoscope-it was really a joke. Vika then allowed him to do the same to her. We walked out and it cost me $120 a piece. But they won't give us the paperwork until we bring back the passports. So we leave there and head to the passport place. But it is now lunch time. So we wait there in the parking lot for them to return. We wait over a half an hour and Tola finally goes in. We wait some more. The girls and I sing songs-The itsy bitsy spider, Twinkle twinkle little star and Head and shoulders knees and toes over and over. Tola finally returns and gets in the car. He talks to Igor in Ukranian and neither say anything to me but I can tell there are no passports therefore no medical papers. We head back to the embassy for our 2:00 appt for which we are late. But we still need their pictures--I thought Tola already had them but no we have to go get their pictures taken and wait for them to print. We wait and wait and finally Tola comes back. Now I need to go inside the embassy. Igor will ask if he can go in with me to help with the girls. We asked the guards and they saw how active the girls were and allowed him to go in with me. They took Marina's toy phone from her and she was not happy about it. Anyway upstairs we go. We turn in the paperwork and explain that we still don't have the passports or medicals. Again the girls caused chaos in the waiting room. One of the same families from the medicals was again with us. They were very nice to the girls. We finally meet with the counselor and I am sworn in and I sign some papers and they tell us to come back first thing in the morning with the passports and medicals. We leave there and try once again for the passports but no such luck. We finally take the girls back to the orphanage and it is after 4pm. They have not had lunch and missed their naps. They are hot and tired and hungry. I kissed them both and promised to be back tomorrow to take them home. Now once again I am in the dark about the passports but once in the car one of the caretakers from the orphanage joins us and Igor explains that in order to get the passports the orphanage needs to sign some paper releasing them. It is just another crazy step. We go to some office which is crowded and hot. We wait and wait and wait again. After an hour of waiting I am realizing we are not going to get the passports and medicals before 6pm. Finally Tola comes out and tells us to go ahead and leave on the subway and he will finish there and go get passports. On the subway Tola calls and says he got the passports but we will have to pick the medicals up in the morning on the way to the Embassy.

That is the way this journey has gone all along. Nothing has been easy. Something that should take a minutes takes days. Oh and by the way I had to pay extra to get the passports expedited--Well I finally did get them today--But if we don't get to the Embassy early they will leave--they are actually closed and are only coming in to pass out Visas and then they are leaving. Please pray we don't have any trouble getting the medicals. Pray that the final embassy appt is good and we get the visas. Pray as I take the girls out of the orphanage for the last time and take them to the apartment to get cleaned up and eat and sleep. Pray as we wake them at 3am and take them to the airport. Pray that they obey me and don't try to run away from me during the trip home. Pray that I have some control over them. Pray they don't get sick on the plane. Pray they sleep. Pray that when I finally make it to New york that I can get through customs, immigration, claim luggage, recheck luggage and go through security and not lose the girls in less than 2 hrs before out next flight leaves. Please just pray, pray, pray!

A Day of Disappointments

2011-07-27T13:03:00.000-07:00

July 27th 2011

Today I awoke to an email from our travel agent stating that there was a problem with Dianne's ticket. He said that when he went to confirm our reservations he noticed that Dianne's ticket reservation had been cancelled by United Airlines for no apparent reason. When he tried to rebook it the flight was full and he couldn't get her on. The only options were for her to fly out on another flight alone and me to stay on Saturday and fly alone with the girls or to reschedule all of us together for next Tuesday. Well, waiting to leave next Tuesday just was not an option. Number 1 if I had to change my tickets again for Tuesday it would cost me anothe $175 to change my ticket (though they said they wouldn't charge to change the girls' tickets), there would be 3 extra nights of apartment costs and then food and whatever else I may spend for transportation etc. Also I am scheduled to work on Monday, Tim is going crazy and the kids miss me like mad so really Tuesday was the last option. I will see Dianne off at 4am here-her flight leaves at 6:07 then tomorrow I have my Embassy appointment at 9:30, we go pick up the passports then pick up the girls and take them for their physicals. We will take them back to the orphanage tonight. Tomorrow morning we pick up their visas and we will pick up the girls for the last time on Friday afternoon-they will walk through those big gates for the last time and walk toward a new life. They will walk away from the only home they can remember and walk into a loving family. It is all so bittersweet. I have been here for nearly 1 month and I have grown to love this country in so many ways. I have made some dear friends and have adapted to a whole different lifestyle and culture. It will be very difficult saying goodbye to all of this though I am so ready to go home and hug all those I have missed so much. My emotions are very raw right now. Only by the strength of the Lord will I get through these next few days. Please be in prayer for Dianne as she travels home tomorrow and be in prayer for me over the next few days and especially as I travel home with the girls on Saturday. I know the Lord is with me and he will never leave me or forsake me. I will be home on Saturday night! God is Good.

(no new pics today, I didn't get to spend any time with the girls today-spent most of the day trying to resolve the ticket issue, signing the final papers at the orphanage and getting my paperwork ready for the appointment tomorrow and getting Tim's paperwork from him through email--it has been an extremely stressful day!)

More pics from passport day!

2011-07-26T11:52:00.000-07:00

Dianne and Marina playing train

Vika waiting almost patiently

Marina not so patiently waiting

Marina asking for her "Hello"

Passport pictures today!

2011-07-26T11:13:00.000-07:00

July 26th, 2011
Well today Dianne and I braved the subway (metro) alone. I had been riding it long enough-nearly a month to know the stops now and we did fine. We met Anatoly at the gate to the orphanage and walked to the building. When we walked in we were met by the girls greetings-"mama, mama!" They came running but today they were all dressed up for their pictures in pretty little dresses and the big Ukranian hair bow. They looked absolutely precious. They were so excited to be going for a ride in the machina (car), beep beep.

Once in the car with Dianne in the front and the girls and I in the back we were off. Vika was a little nervous but Marina just thought it was fun. Well they were all hands. Puling everything out of the pockets of the seats-newspapers, empty water bottles, a toy etc. Marina asked for the hellos (toy phones) so I got them out and they each had one. They talked and talked and tried to continuously get into everything.

Well we made it there without too much damage to the car. We got the girls out--carefully, again vika was afraid to step out. Once in the building Marina was very anxious and just wanted to leave. She would go up to total strangers and pull on them and say things. I'm not sure if she was asking to leave or what. They took us to a room or rather 2 connecting rooms where once we were alone in there they calmed down but once again were trying to get into everything. We had to correct them a few times and they knew we meant it. Marina needed to go to the tualet (toilet) of course. We waited and waited and were told that the government men were getting their pictures taken so it would still be a few minutes. We are here with Anatoly and no Irina so no interpreter. Luckily one of the ladies spoke a little English. Both of the ladies were very nice. I went into the picture taking room with Vika first and Dianne took Marina to the bathroom again. They had to t0 put several thick books on a chair to get Vika high enough and she was afraid to sit up there. She would only let "mama" lift her up and I had to hold her hand the whole time. She cooperated nicely and they took 2 pictures and we picked the best one. I then signed papers and told them their names. Next Vika went out and Marina came in. Once again Marina was nervous and would only let "mama" lift her up to the chair and I had to hold her hand. They took a couple pictures but asked if I wanted them to try again. So one last time and they actually got a smile. We were finally done and off we went back to the car. We had to wait a while in the sun for Anatoly but we were finally on our way. We were driving along and Irina called so I had to talk with her. While I was talking to her I suddenly heard the door and looked over and Marina had opened the door. I grabbed onto her and screamed that the door was open and then I told Marina "no No!" I scared her and she grabbed on to me and cried. She does not like it when I am angry with her. We pulled over and Dianne got out and shut the door and then Anatoly locked it. A little scary. We got the girls back to the orphanage and took them in to get their clothes changed and then outside we went to play. We played for almost 1 1/2 hrs and were sure to hand them right over to the caregivers. (they claimed we hadn't done this the day before but we had). Anatoly said not to worry about it.

Anyway we made it back on the subway without any problems. Once back at the apartment we cooled off and decided to go to lunch. We went to Fridays and had appetizers. We then went to the store for a few things and back to the apartment. I called the embassy to ask about how to fill out some of the paperwork and found out we were missing one of the forms for each girl. So they said they would email it and Tim needed to fill it out and sign it and email it back. I skyped with Tim and the kids. They are getting bigger I'm sure. They are so excited that I will be home on Saturday. Talked with Irina again about paperwork and discussed that her husband Igor will be here tomorrow to translate when we sign the papers to take the kids out of the orphanage. He will also be with us Thursday for our embassy appointment. He will also help with some of the paperwork.

So I think everything is falling into place. Just a few more days and we will be on a plane with 2 precious little girls who can't keep their hands off anything and can't sit still for 2 minutes. Please pray that they are not anxious, that they stay calm, that they don't try to run off and that they sleep. Pray for the embassy appointment to go without any problems.

Pray for Irina's safe return on Friday. It is almost over--I have so many emotions and feelings and I will talk about them in another post.

More running around

2011-07-25T11:39:00.000-07:00

Irina teeter tottering with one of the other orphans

Sweet Vika

mischievous Marina

Dianne doing stickers with Vika while Marina amuses herself

oh that sweet angelic face

July 25,2011

We started the day off by visiting with the girls. They were in rare form again today. Marina was as active and as happy as ever as long as I was spending time with her but when I give attention to Vika she acts out to get attention. At one point she picked up Dianne's bag and threw it and laughed and ran away. I yelled at her and Irina told her in Ukranian to apologize and ask for forgiveness. She went to Dianne and bowed in front of her and hugged her then came to me and did the same and the same to Irina but then she took Dianne by the arm and pulled her up to the wall and pushed her to turn her to face the wall and pulled her arms up-she now wanted to punish Dianne by making her stand against the wall. Irina again scolded her in ukranian and once again Marina apologized but just not so sure how sincere she was. I did spend some quality time with Vika singing songs. She now loves Head and Shoulders Knees and Toes too. We looked at pictures on the camera of Papa and she kissed him on the camera and waved to him. She misses him so.

After our visit we headed to lunch and had coffee and walked around a mall and sat and people watched while we waited for Anatoly to call. The plan was to go pick up the ID numbers and then pick up the girls and go get their passport pictures taken --well that was the plan but you know how the saying goes about best layed plans. It took too long to get the ID numbers to apply for the passports today but they did say as long as we arrived early tomorrow morning that the passports would be ready Thursday afternoon--. So now we needed to contact the embassy to see if they were open on Friday and if so can we do everything we need to do on Thursday before getting the passports. I called the embassy and got the recording and left a message. We then decided to go there directly and for me to go in and talk to them so that's what we did. I talked to a very nice person in the adoption department at the embassy who did inform me that they were indeed closed this Friday but we could come early Thursday for our appointment and have the girls medical exams and then bring the passports in when we get them later in the day. The Visas will not be ready until Friday and they will come in Friday morning to issue the visas to us! We can leave on Saturday! Now flights have been scheduled and we will be home Saturday evening around 6pm! I just can't wait to unite my family together and hug them all! praising the Lord for his Goodness.

Silly faces!

2011-07-24T11:29:00.001-07:00

Marina trying not to be outdone by Vika

Vika has an amazingly long tongue

So Proud of her new trick!

Worship, Cruising, Time with the Girls and Skyping with Family

2011-07-24T11:00:00.000-07:00

July 24, 2011
We started our day by Worshiping at Hillsong Kiev Church. Irina came with us to interpret for us. We were so excited to have her there with us. Dianne and I took a cab and Irina met us there. Well we started with worship music which is always in English and Russian on the screen so we are able to sing along and worship. It was absolutely wonderful to be in church praising the Lord. When the speaking started Irina interpreted for us but then they introduced the guest pastor named Kyle somebody from "the USA". He spoke English it was great and he was awesome. He preached in English and someone interpreted in Russian for everyone else there. Anyway he talked about Esther being called for "such a time as this" and how we have to be like Esther and not miss the "Now" moment. When you are called to do something or you have the opportunity to tell someone about Jesus don't miss it or you and everyone involved will miss the blessing. Well Esther was the study we were doing when I was in the paperwork process and facing a lot of negativity from some people but I knew that I was being called for such a time as this and here I am in Kiev Ukraine for such a time as this. To bring my daughters home to a better life, where they will know the love of a family and the love of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. I have already been blessed immensely and oh how these girls are going to be a blessing to everyone they meet. I am so thankful I have been obedient to his calling, that I didnt miss out on the now moment. He never said it would be an easy journey but then it usually isn't. But if we trust in his promises he is faithful to fullfill them.

Ok anyway after worship we went on a one hour riverboat cruise. It was a beautiful day, high only in the high 70's low 80's and breezy. It was quiet and enjoyable. We then did a cable car ride up th hill and had lunch then it was off to play with the girls. We had another great visit. They were so funny. We played with plastic dishes, kicked the beach ball and again sang songs and did hand motions. We had Vika touching her nose with her tongue-she has the longest tongue. Marina tried but she didn't quite do it. We were laughing so hard. Soon it was time to go. They helped clean up their mess and they wanted to be carried. But let me tell you they are not light. Vika is very heavy. Anyway we said our goodbyes and Marina instructed us to be sure to come back tomorrow and we promised we would.

Tomorrow we are going to play with them in the morning then get something to eat and go back to take them for a car ride to the passport place for pictures and to apply. We will know Monday when the passports will be ready and therefore be able to determine when we can come home. We know it won't be Wednesday and will have to change our return tickets but not sure if it will be Saturday or the following Tuesday. Too hard to explain right now. But just pray it is sooner rather than later. Skyped with the kids and tim today and all the kids seem so sad. They miss me so much and I miss them. I just want to get this finished and get my girls home to join our family. I want to cuddle up with all of my babies and just hold them all day long! Pray we are home quickly please. We serve an amazing awesome God and I am trusting in his perfect timing.

A Day of Sightseeing

2011-07-23T13:50:00.001-07:00

More of our time with the Girls

2011-07-23T13:39:00.000-07:00

Mama and Vika blowing bubbles and Marina being Marina

Vika Loves playing with the stickers now

Alittle of Mama and Vika Bonding time

Vika making Mama beautiful

Mama and Marina time

Pics of Morning with the Girls

2011-07-23T11:47:00.000-07:00

July 23, 2011

We had an enjoyable morning with the girls. It was a beautiful cool morning and the girls were just precious. We sang and danced with the girls and they loved it. They just love singing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and doing the hand motions. We played and played with the beach ball and had so much fun. Dianne is a real sport and hangs in there with us. Marina was particularly silly today. She loves to kick the ball hard and laughs so hard if it hits someone or hits herself. She giggled and giggled all day. Vika is more quiet and enjoys playing quietly with the bubbles or the sticker books. Marina will be the bigger challenge on the plane. Do you think they will mind if we kick the beach ball to each other in the aisles or sing Twinkle Twinkle Little star and do the motions. We'll have to think of something. Anyway after our visit with the girls we had a vacation day. Dianne, Irina and myself had a great lunch and went sightseeing. We visited a beautiful church which Irina attends and then walked in a beautiful park where we saw so many brides and grooms having photos taken. We walked and walked and saw the summer home the Queen of Russia had built but never lived to move into it. We saw the view over the river and walked across a very scary bridge-for me-Dianne and Irina didn't think so. We soon headed home and stayed put. We relaxed, did some ironing and did some wash and just took it easy watching some tv. Enjoy the pictures. Tomorrow is Worship at Hillsong Church and a riverboat cruise-only costs $5. We will visit with the girls later tomorrow around 4pm. They will wonder where we are in the morning. Looking forward to tomorrow. Feeling Blessed to be here with my girls but missing my treasures at home so very much!

Still Running!

2011-07-22T13:43:00.000-07:00

Our laundry hanging on the deck for all to see!

A convent we visited

The picture I got in trouble for taking -no pics allowed!

Train terminal in Kiev

Irina and Dianne on the bus tour

July 22,2011

We're still running and running. Well today I had to leave the apartment with wrinkled clothes, bad hair doo and a wet bra. The apartment was supposed to have a hair dryer and an iron and when it didn't the owner promised to bring these items yesterday but she didn't. As far as the wet bra, well Dianne and I wrestled with the washing machine until 4am when we finally got to hang the clothes out to dry. So I didn't feel too well put together when we left. Today we got the birth certificates notarized then went to the officer to apply for their ID numbers. We then drove to the orphanage which took over an hour and got the girls. I only had a few minutes with them when Irina found me and said we needed to go close the girls accounts out. So Irina, myself, Anatoly and the orphanage lawyer headed to the "post office" to close their accounts. The money in the child's account is usually donated back to the orphanage because of the care they have given them. We got this all taken care of and Dianne stayed at the orphanage to play with the girls. She looked a little tired when we returned. After that Irina, Dianne and myself had lunch and then did a little sightseeing. We had a nice afternoon. Once back at the apartment the owner finally showed up to bring the hair dryer, iron and fix the TV and show us how to use the washer correctly. All things accomplished! yea. Tomorrow I will feel more put together. Tonight after a trip to the store we dined on cheese, crackers and tomatoes for dinner. It hit the spot! We also found out today that both of the girls fathers wrote letters stating they had terminated their rights to the girls! We still don't have a date of return. We will know something positive on Monday. It looks like leaving on Saturday the 30th or Tuesday the 2nd. It all depends if the US Embassy is open on the last Friday of the month or not. We will find out Monday. I only have pics of our outing today, none of the girls, sorry!

You've Got To Be Kidding!

2011-07-21T11:38:00.000-07:00

July 21,2011
We got up this mornng with high hopes and headed to the subway to meet Irina as planned at 8:20am. We rode the subway to the bridge where we met Anatoly and off we went to the court house. Irina, Anatoly and I went in and Dianne sat outside praying. So we get upstairs and the judge isn't even there yet but arrives shortly after 9:00 and has to walk right past us. He goes into his office, opens windows and shuffles things around and then I look in and he is primping himself in the mirror, fixing his hair and putting on after shave. Finally he calls us in and he has what looks like the court decrees and says he is giving us 2 copies to start with. We then need to take these to the 2 birth certificate places, the local SDA, the orphanage and one other place to have them sign off on them and then return with a letter from them saying they are ok. Then we apply to the councilry for the "official decrees". He was not giving us the decrees he was giving us the drafts. After we go to all those places and return with the letters and after he and the jury then decide to sign off on the decrees we may get them around 2pm-You Have Got To BE Kidding! So off we go on the "amazing race". We had to go to the orphanage to get them to sign off so we visited with the girls while we were there and had a great time, but once again when we left we felt like we had been through a major workout! But off we go to get it all done. So we finally head back to the court house, Dianne waited in the car and we headed in with the copies. We waited and waited, once again in the hot court house once again. Irina was so hot she was wiping her face and arms with a wet wipe. A very large man was standing there and his shirt was just soaking wet. But anyway then he calls us in and says that the head of the court was supposed to sign the copies but she has left for the day and we can't get them signed. We were trying to find a way to track her down and find out. We later found out that she did not have to sign them that our judge could indeed sign them and he just needed to add the official stamp. Finally he was ready to sign them and it took him 10 minutes to do this. Then they had to be sealed. Anyway after an hour and a half we were out of there and on our way to a place to get another letter that was needed to take with us to the birth certificate places. Then they said no we had to get it from the judge. So back we go to the court house. Finally with letter in hand we head to the first birth certificate place for Marina. In we go and take everything in. Suddenly Irina hears talking going on and stands behind the door to eves drop. She hears them discussing how this can't be done--anyway there was a problem with who to list as the father on the birth certificate. The judge ordered in the decree to leave it blank since I was adopting as a single and Tim would readopt in US and have his name added. They said this can't be done. They all argued-Anatoly, Irina and the representative at the birth certificate place for over an hour. Finally they did it the way they wanted. This was to list the natural father. So now we may not be able to get past passport control at the airport to take them out of the country. So now they need to obtain a letter from the natural father stating he had given up all rights to the child. Anyway all the time in the birth certificate place Dianne and I are trying to make light of it all and making jokes about the judge being the AntiChrist etc. Anyway Dianne starts yelling in Ukranian like she was yelling at the people there, anyway we got to laughing so hard. We realized now that we had not used the bathroom, or eaten or had a drink all day. Dianne says I didn't know when I signed up that I wouldn't be allowed to pee, drink or eat all day! We were laughing so hard. So we told Irina who told Tola so he found us a bathroom. So Dianne goes first and then me. Well I go in and there is no toilet paper, no soap to wash with and no towel. I come out and say to Irina who is next-no tissue, no soap no nothing. She comes out laughing and says no tissue, no soap no anything, not nothing. She was Ukranian and correcting my English grammar. We were all so slap happy at this point. We finally get the birth certificate done their way. We leave there and race to the next district to get Vika's birth certificate. We don't know what will happen there. But we give them the request and papers and they said great, come back at 6pm to pick it up. No questions? Could this be. We left before they could throw a fit. We went to get a bite to eat finally--we had only had a piece of fruit around 7am. We had a nice meal and headed back to the birth certificate place. We go in and it is ready but they stated that this is not the way it should be done and they explained again that the judge is wrong but we will give it to you anyway. We took it and ran! So finally at 6:30 pm we had accomplished getting the court decrees, and both birth certificates and we should never have to deal with that judge again! We headed home with plans to get started at 9am by going to the notary to get the birth certificates notarized then to get both of their ID numbers and God willing then to finally apply for their passports! Dianne and I got to the apartment and collapsed, But we realized we needed to go to the store for water, and toilet paper. When we finally headed out it looked like a big storm was brewing so our leisurely walk turned into a footrace again--poor Dianne, I think I am killing her. We made it home from the store just before the storm broke loose. God is so Good! Praising the Lord for all that was accomplished today. Once we apply for passports we will know what day we will be returning home! Get ready Alexandria for 2 more precious little treasures!

Pictures of our time with the girls:

We Need Prayers!

2011-07-20T14:31:00.000-07:00

July 20,2011
Today was very difficult because the judge did not give us our court decree-he just couldn't get to it again! So Anatoly tried to convince him to get it done and he said he would have it tomorrow. But we wanted to be sure so I went in to see the judge with Irina translating. It was very intense. We waited in a hot hallway for over an hour with many other upset people waiting their turn to see the judge. He finally called us in and I expressed my concerns about why I needed the court decree, and all the things I need to get back to at home etc. Anyway he said, as I told your representative this morning that I will have it ready tomorrow. I asked him if he could assure me that it would be ready tomorrow at 9 and he said that I should show up myself at 9am and come in and sign for it myself. So that's what we are going to do. Now he has been saying since monday come back tomorrow. So please pray that he will really have it ready tomorrow for us. Then we can start the journey to obtain their birth certificates in 2 different districts, get their ID numbers, close their bank accounts and finally apply for their passports. The passports will not be ready for 5 days after we apply. Anyway everything depends on us getting the court decree because we can't do anything else until we have that. once we have passports we have our embassy appointment to apply for their visas and their physical exams. So we still have a lot to do. At this point we will be here until at least next Saturday the 30th. So again please pray the decree is done tomorrow.
We had a great visit with girls today. Dianne loved them immediately and hugs and kisses. Many of the other girls in the orphanage began to hang out with us today and soon we had a huge crowd of them. They played ball with us, puzzles and we gave them snacks. They wanted kisses and hugs from all of us. Now some of these girls are older and let's just say hygeine is not a priority so the smells were not really pleasant but boy did they have a great time. Irina and I said Dianne had caused the chaos today. Really we had a lot of fun but Marina and Vika did not appreciate all the other girls butting in on their time. We probably won't be able to visit tomorrow since we plan on running all over Kiev doing paperwork.
Well again we feel amazingly blessed here but need some extra prayers to get us through and home to our families. God Bless from Kiev, ukraine.

Me and the Girls, No Court Decree and Dianne is here!

2011-07-19T10:58:00.000-07:00

July 19,2011
First I would just love to thank my couple of faithful readers who post comments, they mean so much to me in this faraway land. It is over 2 weeks now that I am here and I miss my husband and kids so much. I love the time I have here with my girls but just to be home with all of them seems so far off yet. So knowing there are friends out there praying for us and following along with us just helps to make me feel better-so thank you for your comments I love reading them.

Well today I met Irina and we headed to the orphanage. Tola called to say that the court decree was still not ready and he was going to take care of the citizenship papers while we were at the orphanage. So we stopped at the little store near the orphanage to buy the "2 juice boxes and a snack". We arrived and had to wait for the girls to be brought out. They came out very excited to see us. Irina had a phone call so I headed outside with the girls. We found our spot on the bench and I gave them their purses. They both immediately opened them to get out their necklaces and bracelets and sunglasses. We played for a while then they asked for their juice and snack. They enjoyed these as usual. I got out the punch ball balloons that Terrie gave me and Marina loved these. Vika not so much. Marina and I played with one of them for what seemed like an hour. Vika preferred to sit on the bench and blow bubbles and color. She is so

much calmer. After playing ball we had another juice box and then told them it was time to clean up. Neither one of the wanted to get ready to go back in but we needed to leave an head to the airport to get Dianne. Today Marina was very jealous of any time I spent with Vika but I tried to explain that mama loves them both. I had to carry Marina into the orphanage. Vika wanted to be carried too but did not want to help pick up the garbage and toys. She can be very stubborn but she finally gave in and helped. I gave them both kisses and hugs which they returned then in they went to lunch (it still smelled awful).

At this point I was very hot and sweaty so we headed to the store to get us a drink and a snack before heading to the airport. There was not going to be a court decree again today-the judge just hasn't had time to get it ready. Anyway I was excited to be at the airport when Dianne arrived. Out she came. She was very happy to see a familiar face. We got to the car and Anatoly needed to take me to the notary to sign more paperwork and then he took us to the apartment. He left and Dianne, myself and Irina headed out on foot to get something to eat, exchange money and go to the store. Well Dianne didn't know what she was in for. When you head out on foot it is a long walk. Poor thing she had a blister on her toe from all the walking and she was fading fast--It was over 90 degrees today and she was very tired. We ate at the Ukranian kitchen and shopped then headed up the hill=a very long steep hill in the 90 degree heat. I thought Dianne was going to have a heart attack but she plugged along. So we get to the apartment which is hot as blazes. She took a cold shower and talked for a while but she couldn't stay awake so off to bed she went before 8pm.
Anyway the plan is to pack up in the morning and have all our luggage downstairs by 10am and wait for Irina and the taxi. We then take everything to the apartment with air conditioning, yea! Then off to the orphanage for a quick visit and then Tola picks us up for the long day of getting the birth certificates for each girl in their birth cities-expecting another long hot day.

Please pray we get the court decree in the morning and are able to successfully get both birth certificates. Then on Thursday it is ID numbers and closing their bank accounts and Friday applying for passports. Pray it all goes smoothly. It not lookning good to be able to head home on the 27th. Irina thinks more like the 29th or 30th. It is all in God's hands=pray for his perfect timing.
It feels good to have a dear friend sleeping in the next room. Thank you Jesus!

A Very Long Day But Finally The Girls Are Together Again!

2011-07-18T11:23:00.000-07:00

July 18,2011
Well after a night of virtually no sleep fighting the mosquitos I got ready to go. I met Irina for cappucinos and then we walked up to the SDA to meet Tola. We drove to the court house to see if the court decree was ready because today was day 10 of the 10 day wait. But as things have been going the judge said he hadn't had time to get it ready yet and to come back tomorrow to get it. So we headed to the orphanage and visited with Marina for a while-she is as sweet as ever. The plan was to take little Yve to the summer camp in exchange for Vika so we headed off with Tola, Irina, the orphanage lawyer Yve and myself for the 1 1/2 hour drive to the summer camp. Yve is a precious little girl also with Down Syndrome. We had actually considered her when we were reviewing files after they told us about Anya. She is high functioning like Vika but a little younger. Anyway when they told her she was going she ran out and saw me waiting with Irina and she got all excited and yelled "my mama, my mama". She ran to me and jumped into my arms hugging and kissing me. Irina explained to her that she was going to camp and we would try to find her a mama of her own soon. So very very sad. She wants a mama so badly. Maybe one of you could be her mama. She is so precious. Unfortuately I forgot my camera today so I don't have a picture of her but I think she is listed with About a Child. Once at the summer camp Vika saw us and came running. She was excited and yelled "mama" but was actually looking for Tim. She loves her Papa. Irina explained it was just mama and she would see Papa soon. Once in the car we discovered that Vika is very afraid of the car. She clung to Irina and I for a while but soon settled down. She was very good. She talked on the "hello" and colored and looked at books. She loved her purse and jewelry. She said right away that she wanted to give one of her necklaces to Marina. This was without at suggestions from us. Once back at the orphanage another 1 1/2 hrs later she was very excited and gave all the caregivers big hugs and showed them all of her special things that mama had given her. They then brought out Marina and Vika and Marina ran into each others arms and hugged very excited and right away Vika gave Marina the necklace, so very sweet. They were given a snack and then we went outside. This was a challenge trying to keep up with both of them by myself. Irina helped but they both wanted my attention. Soon they had a cookie and shared a juice box so cute, taking turns as I instructed. Marina still loves to hug me and lay her head on me while she drinks/. I think she remembers being cuddled while taking a bottle or something. Very Very sweet, really. They blew bubbles and just ran and played. I was worn out by the end of our visit. We instructed them to clean up and get ready to see us out. They gave us a hug and kiss and said Paka Paka (good bye). As we were walking away Vika screamed "mama mama" and came running to me and clung to me crying mama mama with that Marina came running and she too cried "mama Mama". The caregivers came and took them and said I would be back in the morning. Marina instructed us to bring a snack and 2 juice boxes. We promised we would. Then Irina and I headed to the Metro. Next stop was to pick up a plug in mosquito repellent for the apartment. I then picked up so frozed raviolis for my supper and headed up the hill to my apartment. Talked with Tim on line and took a cold shower and now plan to relax with an episode of Grey's Anatomy on line. Please pray I can get some sleep tonight, pray we get the court decree tomorrow and can get their birth certificates so we can apply for passports on Wednesday. Pray for safe travel for Dianne-she arrives tomorrow at 1:15 Ukraine time. I can't wait. Sorry I forgot the camera today so I will post some old pics. Good night from Kiev!

more pics

2011-07-17T16:10:00.000-07:00

Isn't she just beautiful!

Looking spiffy in iner jewelry and purse!

Me and my girl

She loves the shades and purse

Very hot and Tired

2011-07-17T15:46:00.000-07:00

July 17,2011

Sorry about not blogging lately. I have been spending my days with Marina (Abby) and having a great time. It has been very hot here and humid. My apartment does not have air conditioning so it has been pretty miserable. I leave the windows and door to the patio open to let in any breeze I can get but that lets in the mosquitos and now I am eaten up with bites. Not only that there are some crazy bugs that make terrible buzzing noises right in my ear when I lay down and try to go to sleep. Needless to say I am getting no sleep. It is right now almost 2 in the morning and I am hot and itchy. I will be able to move to a different apartment on Wednesday that has air conditioning. Praise the Lord! Anyway Vika has still been away at the summer camp but tomorrow we can pick up the court decree and go get her and bring her back to the orphanage. I can't wait to see her again. Marina really knows and loves her mama. Today when I walked up on the grounds she saw me coming and ran toward me. She was yelling "mama, mama!" and jumped into my arms and gave me a big hug and kiss and then kept saying mama mama. She is very protective of her time with me. When any of the other girls come around she tells them to go away. I am a little worried about when Vika is back and she has to share her time with me. It will all work out. I have been bringing her a juice box and coookies when I come. The first time I brought the juice box it was so funny. She didn't know how to drink from a straw but soon figured it out. She loved the juice and drank and drank. She was so happy with the juice she hugged me while she drank it. Her favorite thing is the "hello" or toy phone. Vika's too. I only have one because they lost one so I need to get another one tomorrow. Marina loves the toy jewelry and little purse too. other than that she doesn't really play much with toys. It is kind of sad how all the kids here are outside but no toys. Mostly they just walk and walk around the grounds. There is a radio and sometimes they dance to the music. They love when we talk to them and touch them. They are starving for love and attachment. I have so many things to talk about. But I will save it for another post. I am emotionally drained right now. I have tried to post pictures but they won't download for some reason. I will try again tomorrow. Please continue to pray for us here. There is still so much to do to get the girls home. Thank you all for your prayers and thoughts. They are carrying me through this long time here. I miss my kids so much. I have been here 2 weeks and have almost 2 weeks to go. It is getting harder and harder. Good night and God bless!

Back in Kiev

2011-07-15T13:38:00.000-07:00

July 15,2011
I am back here in Kiev after a very long 8 hour train ride in a very hot, unairconditioned train. I have showered and am settling in to my new apartment. I will post more tomorrow after I have seen the girls. I will also tell you a little about my trip to Lutsk with Irinna. I had a great time but I just want to finish everything up and get home. I miss my kids so bad! Less than 2 weeks to go hopefully. I am trusting Jesus to get me through these next couple of weeks and get me home to my completed family! Dianne arrives on Tuesday! Looking forward to that. I am praising my Lord and Savior tonight and listening to K-love on the computer! Have a blessed Friday everyone!

Pics from today of our Clara (Vika)

2011-07-08T15:22:00.000-07:00

July 8,2011

Our precious Clara (Vika)

Court Today Was Intense!

2011-07-08T14:48:00.000-07:00

July 8,2011
Wow, what a day! We met up with Irinna at 930am and then met Anatoly and the orphanage lawyer for coffee. We all went to court together. We arrived before 11am. We all took our places in the courtroom in front of the microphones. The representative from the SDA arrived, the prosecutor, the 2 jurors and secretary and finally the judge. He began and proceeded to review our dossier-he read every page of the very thick dossier out loud in court and pointed out mistakes in translation many times and wanted to know how this got passed me. I explained that I never saw the translations. After going through the dossier he proceeded with debate-more questions. This went on and on. He then wanted to bring the girls to court to ask them if they wanted to be adopted and have their names changed. Everyone else in the courtroom argued that this was not a good idea due to their diagnosis of down syndrome. He finally conceded. We again had to state what we wanted from the court--"We would like the court to approve me to adopt these 2 girls, Victoria and Marina. I would like the mother's name changed to mine, Jacqueline Louise Egan, I would like the girls names changed to Clara Victoria Dianne Egan and Abigail Marina Jean Egan. I would like their birthdays to remain the same as well as their place of birth. I would like a positive decision as quickly as possible." He then had Tim repeat the request and promise to adopt the girls once back home in the US. He and the jurors left the court for 45 minutes and returned with their decision. He very solemnly read their decision to allow the adoption etc. We were jumping with excitement inside but remained subdued until he left the courtroom. The jurors congratulated us as well as the prosecutor, orphanage lawyer and SDA worker. They were all very much for the adoptions. We went to the orphanage to see Vika who we hadn't seen all week. She was very happy to see us and remembered us. She is still a Papa's girl. She loves him so. She loves me but very much loves her Papa-you'll see in the pics. They wanted to leave to take her back to camp until next week. Poor Vika did not want to go. She hid behind her papa. Tim had to take her to the van and put her on and walk away. I threw her kisses and told her we would be back to get her. She started yelling "Mama!" and reaching for me. It was so sad. The van pulled away with our girl. Later we found out the van was involved in an accident with a motorcycle and the motorcycle person was killed. We are told Vika is fine. I just want to get her back here and not let her leave again until I take her home. Hope to find out more in the morning. Thank you Jesus for protecting our girl today. We then had to race to the US consulate to have Tim sign paperwork before he left. By this time it was after 5pm so we didn't get to see Marina (Abby). We will see her in the morning.
Tim leaves early in the morning for home. I will be leaving tomorrow afternoon to go to Irinna's region for a few days. So I may not have internet access for a while. I will get back on as soon as I can. The pics are of our sweet Vika today.

It's Official!

2011-07-08T12:10:00.000-07:00

July 8, 2011
Intruducing Our Daughters:
Clara Victoria Dianne Egan and
Abigail Marina Jean Egan

Protests,Playtime,Paperchasing and Pee Eww!

2011-07-07T12:38:00.000-07:00

July 7,2011
Today started with Tim and I heading to our favorite place to eat , The Ukranian Kitchen. As we walked from the apartment there was a huge crowd in the square area with loud music, loud announcements about why they are protesting and police everywhere. There were also buses filled with more police ready to take action if it should get violent. We walked through the crowd to get to the restaurant and never really felt in danger. Irinna said it would not become violent but the protesting went on all day and into the early evening but it remained peaceful. After we ate we headed to the Metro station (subway) and rode the 10 stops to the orphanage. We arrived there around 10:30 ready to play. She greated us in the usual sweet way with a curtsy and then kisses. It was funny because the orphanage lawyer came out with her to be sure she saw us with Marina so she could tell the judge in court how much Marina already loves us. Can't wait until Vika gets back to be with us too. We took the stroller to see if she would sit in it and she loved it. She has definately been in a stroller and likes it. We walked her all around the orphanage grounds and she sat very content. We then took her out and got ready to play but then she had an accident and had to go in and get cleaned up. She finally came back out and we played, fed her a snack and just enjoyed being with her. She gave Papa several kisses today. She loves her toy cell phone and asks for it everytime we come. Our visit was over before we knew it and she gave us hugs and kisses before we left. Our job after that was to contact the US embassy here in country to ask them to draft a letter stating that Tim will be able to readopt the girls once we are back in the US. We talked with a very nice lady there who asked us to email the request to them and to please have our names in both American and their language. We contacted Irinna who emailed us our names in their language, I then copied and pasted this to my email and sent my request. I talked with the lady at the embassy who said she would call when it was ready to be picked up. At this time it was 4pm. They were open until six. In the meantime Tim and I began to smell gas here in the apartment. It was very strong. We went downstairs to let the lady at the desk know so we could get it fixed. Luckily there was a girl coming in with her family from the US who could speak English and their language. She told the woman for us and she called someone to come. We also called Irinna. Anyway almost 2 hours later someone arrives. By this time the whole apartment reeks with the smell of gas and we are waiting outside. No one else in the building seems to mind or think it's an emergency. The man that came could not speak English but he indicated to us that the smell was from the wooden windowsill from the varnish or something? We could not believe this because it was obviously a gas smell. We called Irinna to talk to him and he told her the same thing but then said that he also found some small leaks in the stove and will fix them while he is here. So for almost 2 hours he works on the stove and fixes the leaks. The embassy had our letter ready and Irinna picked it up and came to our apartment to make sure everything was ok. By then the owner of the apartment showed up as well. All was finally ok and about 830 pm Tim and I headed out to the store to get laundry detergent, and water. I also wanted a pastry and Tim wanted McDonalds. So we came back to do laundry and eat our snacks. My pastry was soo good with a cup of my international coffee. Getting relaxed and prepared for court in the morning. Praying still for the judges heart to be softened and for a positive decision. He requested this letter today and also says he will ask the people in court tomorrow if they want the girls brought in to the courtroom to be seen? We do not understand this but we are assured by Irinna that no one would want our girls dragged into court. Please pray that all goes well and we will officially be named the parents of these precious girls.

Morning protest

Sitting outside our stinky apartment

More Pics of our Girl!

2011-07-06T13:24:00.001-07:00

Isn't she just precious!

July 6,2011

First Court Hearing/Many emotions

2011-07-06T12:46:00.000-07:00

July 6,2011

Today had so many emotions. I woke up feeling a little anxious about the court hearing that was to take place today. But I knew that Our God would be with us through it all. He had given me peace last night and reassured me that this was all in his hands and" not to be afraid for I am with you. I will bring your children from the east and gather you from the west". He said ...I have revealed and saved and proclaimed-I and not some foreign god among you. you are my witnesses declares the lord, "that I am God. Yes and from ancient days I am he. No one can deliver out of my hand, When I act, who can reverse it?" I knew He would give the final decree in the end and no judge could change that. Anyway we spent the morning with our precious Marina. She is so full of joy. She played, sang and danced. We read books and blew bubbles. We received many kisses and hugs. When we left oh the precious hugs and kisses she gave me and did not want to let go. But go we did-off to lunch and then to court. It stormed quite a bit today and was cold out. But anyway a little before 2 we got in line to enter the court house. After having our passports checked we were allowed in. present in court were Tim and I, our facilitator Anatoly and our interpreter Irinna. There was a representative from the State Dept of Adopiton (SDA), the orphanage representative (their lawyer) and the prosecutor. Then there were 2 jurors, the secretary and the judge. We were questioned for hours. The court room was very stuffy/hot, we were nervous to say the least. The judge was very stern and had many questions. I had to tell who we were, about our family, my job, why we wanted to adopt these girls and what we could offer them. Tim was also questioned. After hours of being in the court room we were tired, hot, hungry and had to go to the bathroom. Tim was very nervous and was having a hard time answering the questions. the interpreter was interpreting all we said to the judge. Tim finally said "I'm so nervous, please apologize, I am shaking all over I 'm sorry. With that the interpreter began to laugh and try to interpret to the judge, the more Tim tried to talk and she tried to interpret the harder she laughed and she even snorted out loud. I was trying to encourage Tim but when she snorted I too began to laugh, the others present were also trying not to laugh. The judge did not find it funny and told Irinna to compose herself or leave the courtroom to compose herself. Well we all pulled it together and finished. Tim had to tell what the girls names were and what we were changing them to and he couldn't think. I finally had to tell him and he repeated it. The judge did not like this. anyway about 5:30 the judge said we will break until Friday at 11am and continue then. So no decision and a little silliness and a lot of tension. After court we were all very worried and nervous but couldnt help but laugh some more about what happened in court. Tim and I and Irinna laughed off and on all the way home. We were just so slap happy! Anyway it is still in God's hands. I know he is with us and all those in court supported us, except maybe the judge was still not convinced. So we go back on Friday. I know that God can soften the judge's heart and give us a positive decision. I know God wants our girls home with us and not here in an orphanage for the rest of their lives. God says: I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland". He is making a way, I know and I believe my God! It was a day of delight with our girl this morning, fear and tension in the court room and then silliness and more fear. Tonight I am feeling peace. My God is a mountain moving God and I know he is making a way!

Our precious girl who is so worth the fight!

Pictures

2011-07-05T12:57:00.000-07:00

July 5,2011

"I Love You!"

We Are Here!

2011-07-05T08:38:00.000-07:00

Tuesday July 5,2011\

We arrived safely yesterday afternoon and were greeted at the airport by Inna and Anatoly with hugs and kisses from both. We made it to our apartment. This place is much bigger than our last one. There is a separate bedroom, larger kitchen and living room. But there is no internet yet. The owner is supposed to bring us internet hookup today but has not come yet. So I am at an internet cafe posting this. Yesterday was just settling in and walking around a little Today we had paperwork to do in the morning and then it was off to the orphanage. We arrived and spoke with the lawyer there who will be at court with us on Wednesday. Then we were told that Vika was not there as she had been taken to a summer camp. This was not supposed to be allowed since she is being adopted but the director of the orphanage was not there and the others said they did not know. Anyway she will not be back until the 17th or 18th. We were not happy about this but it is not worth going into now. We did get to visit with Marina. She was very happy to see us and was just adorable. She still seems more taken with me than with Tim. We were able to play for about an hour. She even sang and danced for us. I did get it on vide and will try to share once we get internet hooked up in the apartment. She loves to lay on my lap or be held and hugged on. She is still very active and doesn't sit still for long. She did play with one toy for a while--the \noah's ark. It made animal sounds and played music and songs and she really liked this. She remembered the toy telephones from last time and asked for them. I gave her one and she played with this but mostly held on to this. We read books together too. We had a very nice visit and once again it was hard to leave her there. We will go back in the morning and then have lunch and our court hearing is at 2pm our time. It will be 7am at home. Please set your alarms and pray that the judge will have a softened heart and give us a positive decision tomorrow. Pray that I say the right things to make him understand that we love these girls and can offer them so much more in the US. Pray that the Lord guides me and directs me in what to say and that the judge has opened ears and a softened heart. God willing we could have a decision tomorrow and not have to go back on Friday.

We are very happy to be back here where our girls are but miss the kids at home so much. Please everyone pray for them as well-for their health and safety and for my mom's health and safety as well Anyone that has time to spend time with them please stop in, I'm sure the kids and mom would appreciate any help.

I would love to post pictures but that will have to wait until we have internet in the apartment. Oh and they did cut Marina's hair as I thought they would but she is still precious. I can feel God's hands wrapped around us here and I know he will not leave us. He is my protector and I know he will be with us tomorrow. Please all who are reading be with us in spirit at 7am.

STICKER SHOCK

2011-06-23T19:21:00.000-07:00

June 2 3, 2011

So we are looking at $1844 for each of my and Tim's tickets and $1000 a piece for the girls. More than we were hoping for. Our length of time in country is also unsure so not sure how much an apartment will cost. Money will be very close. But we can eat toast and bananas every morning in the apartment and have ramen noodles for dinner if need be. So we are scheduled to leave Sunday afternoon and will arrive late Monday in country. I hope this is enough time to correct the paperwork problems. I am a bit nervous about the preliminary hearing and subsequent final court appearance. The judge could question us for hours. We will prepare for the questioning before hand. Discussing answers to possible questions and having things prepared from Children's hospital and from the school. Please pray for everything to go smoothly with no delays. Any delays could change our return date which means additional costs of $175 a piece to change these dates on our tickets. We are still so glad we decided to follow the Lord's calling. We can't wait to reap the blessings with these new treasures when we return home.

WE HAVE A DATE!

2011-06-22T14:24:00.000-07:00

June 22,2011
What a whilrwind the last few days have been. We have had a very difficult time getting a court date and I can't go into all the reasons on our blog because they are kind of sensitive and political. But we finally have a date--after our facilitator has tried many times he was finally successful today but there is some problems with some of our paperwork so we have to start working on that. We have 2 court hearings for some reason. We have a preliminary hearing on July 6th and hopefully a final hearing on July 8th. We will need to be working on the paperwork on July 4th. Please pray we get all the paperwork done to the judge's satisfaction, and that the court hearings go well. We will keep you posted on everything. Please pray for good prices on the flights and good prices on our apartment since we will probably be there longer than we had planned. Pray for our girls-their health, safety and that their hearts are ready to accept us back as their parents and that they transition easily into our family. Pray for our kids we are leaving here again that we are able to line up adequate help to care for them while we are gone. Again we know that this is all in God's hands and we are trusting him to carry us through.

God's Word says it All!

2011-06-18T07:32:00.000-07:00

June 18,2011
Today's devotion started with this scripture today, "Wait for the Lord, be strong and let your heart take courage." Ps 27:14. So that is what we are doing as we wait until Monday to hear. We wait but we take courage in our Lord. We know everything will be perfect because our Lord is in control. I have said from the beginning that I trust him and am believing in the promise he gave me back in June. It may not be playing out exactly as I thought it should but I am still BELIEVING GOD! I know he will not leave me nor forsake me. So today and tomorrow I am treasuring my time I have here at home with my children. We will make them good days to remember and enjoy because God has given us these days just for that. I am so blessed and I will not forget that. Thank you Lord for all you have blessed me with and all the blessings I will have in the future. You are still my awe inspiring, gasp causing, mountain moving, awesome God!

The Power of 3

2011-06-16T07:54:00.000-07:00

June 16,2011 I was feeling kind of down this morning as we still don't have a date to go back and get our girls who may have forgotten who we are by now. I was reading my daily devotion on line today and it was about Paul. All throughout the book of acts there were 3 main elements in his life. No matter what the situation, or what he was going through at the time he prayed. This was #1. He always talked to the Lord or cried out to him. He never lost hope. He knew his God was in control and would never let him down. #2 was the Holy Spirit. After prayer the Holy Spirit would show up, sometimes in a big way sometimes in a little way but He would always show up. #3 He would tell others-He preached God's word to others. He never tired of telling others about his God! So sometimes God puts you or allows you to be put in a spot where there is nothing in your humanness that you can do about the situation. What should you do? PRAY! and PRAY! again. Cry out to HIM! He will hear you. Wait for Him and the Holy Spirit will show up in a big way. Then shout from the mountain tops what the Lord has done. I have been placed in situations lately where there is nothing I can do but pray. Maybe I haven't seen all the results of the Holy Spirit yet but I have felt comfort. Comfort in His presence as He holds me throughout the situation. Comfort in knowing He is in control! My human impatience wants a resolution now but I know His timing is perfect! I am trusting and believing Him. So in the meantime I get on my face and I cry out to my Lord! Lord thank you for assigning a judge to our case. I know you have a plan. I am asking you to please give us a quick date to get our girls home as soon as possible. Please let all the timing be perfect for childcare, our jobs, and getting the girls home. Please prepare their hearts for their new family. Please let them remember us and let them transition back into our lives without problems. Also Lord let there be enough money to cover all the expenses especially air fare. Let the delay give us better prices on the airfare. Oh Lord give me a peace and comfort during this wait. Give me the strenght to shout your praises through this wait.

UPdate!

2011-06-15T19:24:00.000-07:00

June 15,2011
Ok so we finally got an email tonight. We have been assigned a judge but he wants to take 3 days to review the case and won't give us a court date until Monday, so more waiting. I don't know if this means we should plan on a court date next week or not. Need to talk to our facilitator in Eastern Europe tomorrow to find out more. At least this is one step closer. God is still in control!

No News!

2011-06-11T11:56:00.001-07:00

June 11,2011

Another day of missing my girls so much without any real news. Tim talked with Irinna today. And basically she said with the holiday tomorrow and Monday there that we wouldn't hear anything until Tues orWednesday. So we won't be traveling until the end of next week, at the earliest. I know that God knows what he is doing but it sure is hard when we don't know what His plans are. First the disappointment or should I say heart crushing news that we would not be bringing Anya home and now waitint and waiting to get our girls home. It is so hard. I am trying to trust him but it is so hard right now. I keep looking at the pictures we have of our time with the girls and they seem like so few. They attached to us so quickly and now they are wondering when we are coming back. All I can do is resort to scripture, "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding: in all your ways acknowledge him and he will make your paths straight." Also, " Do not be afraid for I am with you; I will bring your children from the east and gather you from the west. Isa 43:5. "forget the former things, do not dwell on the past. See, i am doing a new thing! Now it springs up, do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland. " Isa 43 18-19. Ok I am believing you. I am not afraid. I know you will bring my children home from the east and I need to be patient. You are making a way for this to happen. It will all be so magnificent when it all comes together and all the glory will go to you my Lord! I just need this aching in my heart to stop. Give me a comfort Lord. Sing to me a new song! " For I know the plans I have for you declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you. plans to give you a hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me and I will listen to you. you will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you, declares the Lord and will bring you back from captivity. " Jer 29: 11-13. Thank you Lord for your word. It is a comfort to me as I wait. You are my God who has promised me these things. I am believing you for all of it! These daughters of mine are worth waiting for!

Waiting for a Court Date!

2011-06-09T19:25:00.001-07:00

June 9,2011

We are still at home and missing these 2 so much. We thought we would be back there with them by now with court date. But here we are. We are enjoying our time here with our other kids but can't help missing our girls on the other side of the world. The hold up is waiting for a judge to be assigned to our case. There has been a few issues in this area as far as judges go so as soon as we get a judge we will get a date. So please pray with us that we get one tomorrow so we can then get a court date for next week and be back with our girls and working on bringing them home.

I'm sure they are wondering what happened to their mama and

papa. It has been 9 days since they have seen us. Pray they
remember us and are not mad at us for being away for so long.
Also pray for a great deal on plane tickets. Right now we are

looking at at least $1650 a piece. This is more than we had been

planning on. We know the Lord has it all under control but

we just want to get these precious treasures home so we can get

back to being a family. I know the blessings that lie ahead will be

amazing. We just want to get on with it! We will try to be patient and wait on our Lord. We know he has perfect timing. He

hasn't let us down yet!

Last Day with Our Girls-For Now

2011-05-31T10:16:00.000-07:00

May 31, 2011
We started our morning off meeting Inna at another office to apply for the girls birth certificates. After that Tim wanted to go back to the apartment and Inna and I were going to go walking and shopping. We had cappucinos and pastries then sent Tim back to the apartment and Inna and I shopped. We found lots of good buys for the girls when I come back. While we were sho opping Tim called and he was lost. Inna and I had a good laugh and went to find him. A few Metro stops later we found him and got him on his way to the apartment. We went back to shopping. We had a nice afternoon and then went to eat lunch. We talked a lot and really got to know each other better. I really like Inna, she is easy to spend time with. We met up with Tim and then we were off to meet Anatoly for more paperwork. The local office wanted some paper that Anatoly could not obtain. There was much discussion and it was decided the orphanage would have to apply for this paper. There is a lot of technical stuff and we cannot apply for court until everything is in place, including our Interpol clearance-which we are still waiting for. They assured us it will all be ready to apply for court this week. We then went to the orphanage. When they brought the girls out they ran to us with their usual greetings and then Victoria took hold of papa and Marina grabbed on to me. We went outside and played in the shade. We tried to sit quietly with small magna doodles. This did not last too long. We ended up in the back again with them running around the building and yelling c'mere to get us to chase them. I forgot to mention yesterday that Tim had them acting like monsters and chasing each other yesterday as they growled. They wanted to play this again. Victoria liked collecting rocks and laying them out and counting. We sang songs with them and used hand movements and they loved this and tried to sing along and do the motions. They were so sweet. We had a great time playing with them. Marina was full of hugs and loves to be rubbed on. They both let us pick them up and carry them today too. When it was time for us to leave they were not very happy. Marina cried and threw a fit. It was so sad. We gave them hugs and kisses and told them we would be back in a week. It was very hard to leave them like that. We took the Metro back to the apartment and told Inna goodbye. Anatoly will be picking us up for the airport at 3am. our flight leaves at 5:30am here but 1130pm at home. We will get home on Wed night at 8:50pm USA time. Looking forward to seeing our treasures waiting for us at home, just not looking forward to the long flights. We have been so blessed this week. We have suffered some big heartbreaks but we are still blessed. We did not get to see Anya this week. Maybe next week when we return. Maybe not seeing her is for the best. These girls are our daughters and we are so happy and blessed to be their Mama and Papa.

Mama c'mere, Papa C'mere

2011-05-31T09:53:00.000-07:00

May 30,2011
The afternoon visit the girls were very excited to see us back. They always greet us very happily and kind of curtsy and say their names. They are so cute. Victoria went right to papa and Miranda went right to mama. Victoria pointed to papa and said "my mama" and pointed to mama and said "Marinka's mama". Marinka is Victoria's nickname for Miranda. They pulled us both up by the hands and said C'mere Mama and C'mere papa. Off we went hand in hand with our girls outside. We went to a kind of gazebo to play. We got the bubbles out and they loved them but once they got their hands on them they dumped them pretty quickly. Need to get the spillless kind of bubbles. We got out balls and kicked them around for a while But they never stopped for very long. They went in for a snack and we went for a drink. When we came back they were just coming outside and they ran to us yelling "mama, Papa". We played for another hour in the back area. They ran around yelling c'mere mama, cmere papa. We did not sit down very much. We got many hugs and kisses. Marina loves to be loved on more than Victoria but when Victoria sees Marina getting loving she wants loving too. They bot kissed us goodbye before we left. We promised to be back tomorrow. We went back to the apartment on the Metro-quite a long ride. We ate at the Italian place again. It was pretty good. We picked up laundry detergent and spent the evening doing laundry. We have an early morning to do paperwork then back to the orphanage.

Unstoppable Energy

2011-05-31T09:41:00.000-07:00

Victoria trying to take the camera

Papa wouldn't give her the camera

The bubbles lasted about 2 minutes then allgone

They couldn't understand not to dump them over

Concentrating hard on the bubbles

More of our Treasures

2011-05-30T11:15:00.000-07:00

Miranda got ahold of my glasses, very silly

Victoria playing with Papa

Mama and Miranda hanging out

More pics from our morning visit

2011-05-30T09:50:00.000-07:00

Papas hug from Miranda

Miranda telling Mama something

Victoria has booboos-that's medicine on knees

What a Day with the Girls!

2011-05-30T09:38:00.000-07:00

May 30, 2011
Oh my goodness, what a day we have had. We were able to spend about an hour with the girls in a playroom this morning. It was very warm in there and the girls were very active. There were toys all over this room and they didn't know what to grab first. Victoria and Tim played with a game at first and Miranda pulled me around and sat on me, grabbed my glasses, hit me a few times and stole my shoes. We gave them toy phones which they liked a lot. When they saw the real camera well let's just say Victoria got her hands on it and took about 20 pictures. When we left there we felt like we had just been through a wrestling match. We spent some time talking with the orphanage doctor and the teacher and learned a lot about the girls. A lot of it we observed ourselves already. Victoria is the smarter one, has a larger vocabulary and she is a leader. She likes to organize games with the other girls and has a great imagination. She is much calmer and follows direction better. Miranda well she is not as far as Victoria. She is just started talking, mostly short phrases or single words. She is a little aggressive and bossy at times. She does not tend to play with the other children. She likes one on one attention or plays alone. I have added some of the pictures from the morning visit and I will post some more. Later I will tell you about our afternoon visit.

Worhshipping and Staying Occupied

2011-05-29T10:58:00.001-07:00

May 29,2011
We started our day off taking a taxicab to Kiev Hillsong Church. I had heard about it from another blog when they were here. She gave me directions to get there and Inna helped us find it yesterday and called a cab "today to take us. We arrived after it started but the praise and worship was awesome. The words were on the screen in both English and their language so we were able to sing along. They were singing popular praise songs we are familiar with. The main song we heard was Our God is Greater, Our God is Higher than any other. Some of the words wore if our God is for us who can be against us. It was so powerful. There was a female preacher and she was so passionate. Unfortunately there was no English interpretation but I got the gist of it due to videos. One Video showed someon in a race trying to jump the hurdles and then they just pushed them out of the way and kept running. Another video showed a runner fall while she was running and she got up and finished the race. Basically when we have obstacles or mountains in our way we can let them stop us or we can keep on going and push those mountains out of the way. We need to pick ourselves up and focus on Him to get us through. During one of the videos the song b Miley Cyrus played, "The Climb ". The words were just what I needed to remind me. "Theres always going to be another mountain--It's all about the climb. Everything the speaker talked about was in their language. But she had one phrase to say in English and she repeated several times. "The Best Is Yet To Come". For me today even though I couldn't understand the speaker, I heard her passion and her heart. It was like she spoke to me. That no matter what has been happening-no matter what mountain I have had to get through or over, I need to keep my eyes on him to get me through and to remember, "The Best is Yet to Come!" As I wait for tomorrow when I can see my girls and get the process rolling to get them home I know that "The Best is Yet to come!" And I can't wait to see what God has in store for us!
After Church we ate at a sweet little Italian restaurant. We had salad and pizza and it was very good. We rested for while at the apartment then met Inna for more walking and a riverboat cruise and then more walking and sightseeing. Tim and I finished the evening at our usual place to eat up the street from our apartment and now we are home relaxing. We can't wait until tomorrow when we can be with our girls tomorrow and Tuesday. I am holding on to the message "The Best is Yet to Come!"

A Day of Sightseeing

2011-05-28T12:45:00.000-07:00

May 28,2011
Today we spent the day sightseeing. We rode the Metro, went to the zoo and to other parts of the city. We walked and walked and walked. My hips and legs are so sore. The day was beutiful in the high 70's. Clear skies. It has been that way for the past couple of days. We enjoy spending time with Inna and she is an excellent guide. She really cares about making sure we have a good time. Last night we walked to Independence square for the "last bell" celebration. Bands performed and there were fireworks but we didn't stay long enough to see them. Today was "Kiev Day". Again lots of celebrating going on on Independence square again today. We heard fireworks again tonight. We are going to Kiev Hillsong Church tomorrow. Really looking forward to that. We are taking a taxi. Should be interesting. We will have the afternoon free and then are doing a riverboat cruise in the late afternoon/evening. Just really looking forward toMonday when we can see the girls again. We are still praying about a name for Victoria but we will let you know soon what we have decided on. We are going to bed soon, have to get up early for church. Can't wait to be home again.

A Day of Dissapointments and Triumphs

2011-05-27T09:48:00.000-07:00

May 27,2011

The plan today was to go sight seeing with our translator Inna and meet up with our facilitator at 2 to go get our refferals at the SDA and get our signed permission to visit the orphanage from some government official. So we spent the early part of our day at museums, a monk monestary,the World War II memorials and a house that the queen built here. It was all very interesting and kept our minds off of things. We walked many miles and also rode the metro (like our subways). We finally met up with Anatoly at the SDA office and got our referrals. We had to drive a ways in bumper to bumper traffic to this other office to get the permission stamped. It took over an hour to get there in traffic. The orphanage said we had to be there by 4 or they wouldn't let us visit. So it was a race against time. We get to the government office and led inside. A woman is talking with our translator and we are finally told that the government official who signs the permission left already. You see today is "last bell" or the last day of school and they had to get home to their families. Our facilitator and translator tried to get them to allow us to visit without this so we could at least meet our girls and not have to wait until Monday. They called the orphanage and talked with the principal who said that they have been going through inspections and the inspector may come back so they don't want to do anything that may not look legal. After much discussion with our facilitator and translator and the people in the office we left in defeat. I couldn't believe I wasn't going to meet my girls until Monday. I was so disappointed. But once we got to the car our facilitator made phone calls and said we were going to the orphanage. He had contacted the orphanage lawyer and she met us there. Then she and Anatoly ( our facilitator) went in to talk with the director and principal once again. About 10 minutes later he came out and said come on. We were going in. We entered through the iron gates and into a yard where there were several children. We were taken into the office and met with the director, the principal and another woman who may have been a teacher or something. They asked us questions and told us how much these kids mean to them and that they will miss them terribly. They asked us questions about our family and how we will have time with so many children. We explained that the 3 older children are not there as much and that we have plenty of love and time for all our children. Then in through the door came 2 amazing little girls. The first one was Miranda (her name on Reeces Rainbow's site) we will tell her real name later. She was so happy and bouncy. She went right up to Tim and was greeting him and talking to him. She even gave him a big hug. Our next little girl (Victoria on Reeces'Rainbow site) was a little more shy. But they both were doing dances for us, showing off their shoes and talking quite a bit. I then gave them each a toy cameral which they loved and quickly learned how to use them. I then got out the real camera and took their pictures. Miranda was so excited when she saw herself on the camera. Let me tell you Miranda is a bundle of energy and she never stops. Victoria is quieter and more shy. They say Victoria speaks clearer but since we don't understand them at all we couldn't tell. They were saying each others names and trying to say ours. They were both very happy and loving. They threw kisses when we left. Unfortunately since this was not an official visit we cannot go back until Monday to visit again. But let me tell you. My hear is filled with a peace today after getting to meet them and hearing their stories. I will still miss my Anya and hold her in my heart always, but these other 2 girls need a mama and dadda too. I will love them just as much but my heart still aches. I may get to meet Anya on Monday, I don't know. I am still praying for my sweet girl, but for now she is not to come home with us. So today was hard but in the end triumphant. We know we will be giving a forever family to 2 very precious little girls. So I will show you some pictures. They wouldn't stop moving for any decent pictures but here is what we were able to get. Miranda(Abby) is in pink and Victoria is in blue.

My Help Comes From The Lord

2011-05-27T00:18:00.000-07:00

May 27,2011
This Morning as I sit here thinking about my sweet Anya (Emily), I am praying she will be happy and have every opportunity in life she would have had in the USA. I want her to be happy. And if the Lord wants her to be with her natural family then I have to accept that. But I keep singing over and over in my head and out loud: "I lift my eyes unto the hills where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, maker of heaven and earth." I am crying out to him to do what is right for all the girls here. I want to do his will but my heart still says Anya is mine. I just do not understand why he would have me fall head over heals in love with this precious child only to take her away. Maybe one day I will know and understand. For now I am trying to get a grip on things and focus on what lies ahead today. I am trusting him and believing him for this, though I am still heartbroken. I will accept what happens today and I will still love my 2 daughters with all my heart. Anya will always be a part of me no matter what happens today. So Lord I am calling on you for help today. Help us to accept what you have planned for us and give us a peace and let us know that all of our girls are getting what is best for them. I know my help comes from you so please help us today.

Putting it in God's Hands

2011-05-26T07:28:00.000-07:00

May 26th, 2011
We had our SDA appointment today. We went in feeling pretty good and ready to hear about our girls. The lady there told our translator something and I could tell it wasn't something we wanted to hear. It was something I never expected to hear. Although I had heard it had happened to other families I just never dreamed it would be what we would hear. But we were told that our Emily(her name on Reeces Rainbow site) was not available for adoption. We won't go into details but we will not be able to bring our little girl home. Miranda is available and we will be bringing her home as planned. Though we are devastated by this news we know we are meant to bring home 2 little girls so they allowed us to look at some other files. We are trying for one little girl in particular but if unable to get her we will be getting another one. This was very difficult to look at these precious faces and have to pick one. We will be able to give more information tomorrow once we know for sure which one. We will find out at 2:00pm our time and then go immediately to the orphanage to visit the girls. We are in shock and very sad right now but we are leaving it in God's hands. I guess this was his plan all along. His way of getting us here, we just don't know. We know His ways are best and we have to trust him to make this all work out for his good. We will post pictures of the girls once we know. Please pray for Emily that what has happened is for her good that she is going where she is supposed to go and that she will have a good life wherever that is. It is not for us to question why, we are believing God for his plan in all of this even though it is difficult. Pray for us tomorrow as we meet our girls and that God gives us a peace about the whole situation.

We Are Here!

2011-05-25T08:42:00.000-07:00

May 25,2011

We made it. Despite the weather-thunderstorms and tornados on Monday that prevented us from leaving until Tuesday. Then despite the Volcano that delayed on Tuesday, and despite more thunderstorms in K+++ when we were landing-2 attempts- we are here. We have settled into our apartment and gotten something to eat down the street at a U+++++++ cafeteria. It was pretty good. We exchanged money and got water. We are now trying to figure out how to get hot water. But we have our SDA appt tomorrow at 12 noon so we will get up and walk down the street for breakfast and meet our facilitator and translator to take us to the SDA building. Then we are praying for everything to be ready on Friday for us to begin seeing the girls. If it is not we won't begin seeing them until Monday. So please pray hard for everything to be ready on Friday. Our apartment is fine. Nothing fancy but adequate and within walking distance to the places we would need. The orphanage isn't too far by car and our translator says it is not hard to get to on the Metro. She will help us get there. She said we will not be on our own much. She is super nice. I will post more after our appointment tomorrow. Praising the one who asked us to follow him. We are so close to our blessings.

Delayed !

2011-05-24T09:43:00.000-07:00

May 24,2011
Yesterday was not quite the day we had expected. We were supposed to leave Cincinnati at 3:35 pm for Chicago. Well after many delays due to storms, being evacuated due to a tornado and finally going home around 9pm we were still in Cincinnati. We went home to put our kids to bed and were reschedule for today. So here I sit now in Chicago waiting for our flight to Dusseldorf which doesn't leave until after 4pm and it is only 11:46 Chicago time. We will go from Dusseldorf to k+++ . We should arrive there at 2:50 pm on 5/25. We have our SDA appt on 5/26 and hopefully meet the girls on Fri 5/27. Please continue to pray for our travels and that our trip goes without incident. Pray for all of our paperwork to be good and again pray for our girls. We can't wait to get our hands around them. Also pray for all our kids at home. It was very hard on Gideon this morning to say good-bye again. We know the Lord is going before us and he will do what he says he will do! He will bring our girls home.

Next Leg of our Journey Begins!

2011-05-22T19:25:00.001-07:00

May 22,2011
Tomorrow we get on the plane that will take us to our girls' country. It is so surreal. We have worked so long and hard for this day to get here and here it is! We spent the weekend getting last minute things done but also with our other kids. Friday night we took the 4 little ones to Chuck E Cheeses. They had a great time and so did we. Saturday we attending the Cappies Awards: These are the high school equivilant of the Emmy's. The tristate high schools that performed plays all year were viewed by cappies critics and there was a big awards night at the Aronoff Center in Cincinnati Oh. Our son Jordan was nominated for best actor, best ensemble and the play was nominated for best play. We are so proud to say that our son is the "best Actor", won "Best Ensemble" and won "Best Play". We are very very proud. He graduates on June 3rd and we coming back home for that so we will have 2 trips. Today we worshipped with our church family and then spent the day with the kids and getting things done. We will be here to get the kids to school in the morning but will head to the airport before they come home. So they are a little sad tonight. It is going to be so hard to be away from them for so long. Please pray for their safety and comfort and their healty while we are gone. Pray that there are no problems while we are gone and that the time passes quickly for them. Pray we have safe travel and that our girls are ready to love and accept us. Pray for no glitches in paperwork or any problems getting home in time for graduation. Pray for a quick court date as well.
We want to thank everyone who has supported us emotionally, throughout this journey. Also a big thank you to those that have helped us financially to get our girls home too. Without all of you this would not be possible. We serve an awesome, awe inspiring, gasp causing, mountain moving God! Praise You!

5 more days!

2011-05-18T18:37:00.000-07:00

May 11,2011
In just 5 days we will be on a plane to Eastern Europe and oh so close to meeting our girls. All the last minute preparations are getting done. Making a schedule for the caregivers for our kids while we are gone. Getting hair done, getting all the shopping done, schoolstuff for the kids,getting Gideon to his appointments, and so much more. But we are still feeling so blessed and undeserving of all that the Lord has done for us. We are going to bring home 2 precious little girls who have lived their whole 8+ years of life in an orphanage. They will finally know what it is like to have a family who loves them. WE are praying that their hearts are ready for the love they will get. That they will readily accept our love and readily give it back. That their transition from the orphanage to living with us will go smoothly. We are praying for good flights and that the girls do well on the long flights. We are praying for a quick court date and that we get them home quickly We will be coming home before our court date because of our son Jordan's high school graduation and then returning for court. We know the Lord's timing will be perfect. Again we thank everyone that has contributed to get our girls home. Without you it would not be happening right now. Thank you for listening to the Lord and giving to our girls. We again are a little overwhelmed and still in shock. Our Lord is an amazing mountain moving God and we are so in awe of what he has done!

MY God is A Mountain Destoyer!

2011-05-11T18:43:00.000-07:00

May 11,2011
All I can say is WOW! When my God wants a mountain out of the way he moves it. Today we found out that we were given a large donation to our FSP account at Reeces Rainbow and we now have all we need to bring our girls home! I said it was just another mountain to our God and he was going to move it. I had no idea he was going to totally destroy it! We are shouting his praises over here. Words cannot describe what we are feeling. But we do know that we are so blessed and our girls will soon be home with their family. Thank You Jesus!

God's Word Speaks

2011-05-10T18:55:00.000-07:00

May 10, 2011
Some scriptures that I have seen today that speak to me today as we wait to see how the Lord will make this all happen. We are continuing to believe in the promise he gave us back in June. We want to see it now but it is all in the Lord's timing:
"Be still in the presence of the Lord and wait patiently for him to act." Ps. 37:7.
The next one reminds me that we are not alone in this journey. He will never leave us no matter what we are going through:
"When you go through deep waters I will be with you. When you go through the rivers of difficulty you will not drown., When you walk through the fires of oppression you wll not be burned up; the flames will not consume you." Isaiah 43:2.
And again words of encouragement:
"This is my command, be strong andf courageous. Do nt be afraid or discouraged. For the Lord your God is with you wherever you go." Joshua 1:9
Thank you for your word. Your word does not lie. I am claiming each of these as we prepare to go get our girls in less than 2 weeks! I will keep my eyes on you and keep taking in your word to fill me up and get me through.

Jamie Slocum - Just Another Mountain

2011-05-10T11:13:00.000-07:00

PRAISES!

2011-05-10T06:15:00.000-07:00

May 10,2011
The Lord is a Mountain Mover--or a Mountain Chipper! He is slowly chipping away at that mountain in our way, called Money! With Tim and I having to make 2 trips costing us an additional $3000 or so we were still $9000 short. Well today I saw $250 more dollars was added to our FSP account at Reeces Rainbow-thank you sweet person whoever you are and I have found a place to stay in K+++ for the last 4 days of our first trip for free! that will save us another $220. So we are getting there. Thank you Jesus! Also on Sunday we received a $1000 donation and a $50 donation. God you are so good! I so wish I could figure out how to put a song from youtube on the blog. It is called "Just Another Mountain". If anyone knows how please help me. I just love this song. Well just had to sing the praises of what our Lord is doing. I will continue to update as we get closer. Our flights are booked and we are set to leave on May 23 for our appt with the SDA on May 26th! We will be seeing our girls very soon!

Musings

2011-05-07T16:36:00.000-07:00

May 7,2011
I have had a cold wet day. Our car wash was today. The day started with a little sunshine and was in the 6o's. By the time we started the car wash it began to get windy and temp dropped all day. It became very overcast but we persisted. Signs were held and a few cars came through. We worked until 2:30. We had some very generous donors, thankfully because the cars were few. I guess people just didn't want to get their cars washed with the impending rain. We were all cold and wet and ready to quit. We made $130 dollars. Thank you to all who helped: Mallory, Jordan, Katie, Christina and the other youth from Pleasant Ridge. Every penny brings us closer to our girls. But I look at how far we still have to go. I put it all down on paper and we are very short. With Tim and I having to make 2 round trips : approx $6000 for those tickets alone we are still an additional $3000 short on top of that for a total of $9000. We are working so hard to make it happen. All I can do is turn it all over to God. I am believing Him for the rest. He is my mountain moving God. He can do it. Just today i saw on someone's blog that they received an anonymous donation to their Reeces Rainbow FSP fund for $5000. It can happen! We leave in a little over 2 weeks. I am very tired and now need to get the girls room ready and the house in order for when we leave. I need to make meals, pack and organize. It is suddenly upon us and I am trying not to worry. We are still trying to organize childcare as well. I could freak out and throw up my hands but instead I am turning it over to the only one who can get us through this. I am knocking on the door and asking: Lord you are our provider. You have called us to these girls and we have followed faithfully. We know you have it all under control and you have a plan. I am trusting and believing. I have seen what you can do and believing what you will do. Whether it be an anonymous donor or some other means for the funds to come in I know it will happen. Thank You Jesus!

Preparations and praises

2011-05-06T20:23:00.000-07:00

May 6,2011
Making flight resservations. Looks like we will leave on May 23 and have our SDA appt May 26. We should begin visiting the girls on May 27th. We will continue to visit and do paperwork for court through May 31. Our plan is to return on June 1st so we are home in time for graduation on June 3rd. We will stay home for a week or so and fly back for court which could be as early as June 16 or as late as the 23rd. Tim will be able to leave immediately after court and I will remain through the 10 day wait and then begin the process to bring them home.Could be home around July 1 or as late as July 8. The car wash is tomorrow and it looks like the weather will cooperate! Praying for a good turnout. Thank you to the youth of Pleasant Ridge for the help tomorrow! Praising also for the $300 that went into our FSP fund today. Thank you to all who have given. We may do another car wash on May 21st too.We are getting there! Our Lord is so amazing. The childcare will come together too.
Another praise today is that we received word that our precious Gideon who is physically handicapped will get his wheelchair! We found out today that it is approved and fully paid for and he should have it in about 2 weeks. Now to find a 12 passenger van with a wheelchair lift! Just another mountain! It's nothing for our God! Praising our Lord!

SDA appointment!

2011-05-04T18:53:00.000-07:00

May 4, 2011

We received word of our SDA appointment today! Our appointment is May 26, 2011 and we should be leaving on May 23rd. That is just a few weeks away. While we are very excited we still have many mountains to get over or moved our of our way. And though I shouldn't be I have been doing some worrying about them. I am trying to let go and believe. The funny thing is I am in the midst of the Beth Moore Bible study "Believing God". And I know and believe everything I am hearing: 1. God is who he says he is. 2. God can do what he says he can do. 3. I am who God says I am. 4. I can do all things through Christ and 5. God's word is alive and active in me. I'm believing God! God promised back in June that if we would follow him he would provide just what we needed. He has not let us down yet. He can still take care of everything. Our mountains remain -finances: We are still very short at least $6000. Tim and I will go to eastern europe and go to our SDA appt. Do paperwork and visit our girls but then we need to return home for our son's high school graduation on June 3rd, prior to our court date. Then we both fly back to eastern europe a few days later. This is 2 round trip tickets we had not planned on. 2nd our child care that was all planned for by a college student living with us and promised to be here all summer now has taken a summer internship and won't be here as of May 17th-leaving us in quite a spot. We know these are things that can be worked out-they are not bigger than our God, so I AM BELIEVING! I have said that the Lord can move any mountain and on Saturday I was reading someone's blog and they had put a video on there called "Just Another Mountain". It was just what I needed to remind me that no mountain is too big for our God. Then in church on Sunday the choir sang a song called "Our God is a Mountain Mover". I know this without a doubt. I have seen evidence of this in all of my previous adoptions and this will not be any different. So my Mountain Moving God is just waiting for the right moment to move these mountains! I just can't wait to see how he does it. We do still have a car wash planned and possibly a Zumba fundraiser. I will see what else the Lord reveals to us to do. We will continue to pray for the right child care while we are gone and pray for the finances. I will be praying without ceasing and I will be believing and thanking our Lord in advance for what he will be doing. Please join me in praying-because where 2 or more are gathered....well we know what can happen. Our bible study group prayed last night that we would get dates early enough in May to be able to return for the graduation and that was answered-so I am believing he will provide the way for this to happen! Anyone that feels called to give can click on the chip in or go to www.reecesrainbow.org/sponsoregan. Thank you to everyone who has supported us and helped to get us where we are. My dear friends, I love you and thank you so much especially Dianne, Cindy, and Terrie. Without these angels I know we would not be booking flights now to go get our precious girls. I will add a couple pics of our sweet girls who have spent far too long without a mama and daddy. We need to bring these precious girls home!

Submitted!

2011-04-21T11:45:00.000-07:00

April 21, 2011

We can finally say we are submitted! After many mountains getting in our way we are finally submitted! Now we are praying for a very quick SDA appt so we can get home in time for our son's graduation from high scool. It is all in the Lord's timing and we are trusting him just as we are trusting and believing for the remaining money that we need to get the girls home. We will be having a garage sale on April 30 and a car wash on May 7. We know it will happen. He has brought us through so many things include providing for Miranda to come home to us too. You can still give through our chip in or our fsp account at www.reecesrainbow.org/sponsoregan. Getting so excited to finally be able to see over those mountains! Praising that awesome God of ours that 2 precious children will finally be able to say they have a family after nearly 9 years in an orphanage!

Package has arrived again!

2011-04-08T19:39:00.000-07:00

April 8,2011 After only 8 days our priority package finally arrived to it's destination. Now hoping that they will submit us next week since they have the documents they requested. Tomorrow is our carwash-praying for good weather and a good turnout. Next Friday is our big 50's,60's dance. We are really looking forward to this one and praying again for a good turnout. We are trusting the mountain moving God to bring the results we need. We are so close to getting them home that it actually hurts thinking about them still being over there with no mama or daddy. I just can't wait to give them that first hug. Pray that the Lord is preparing their hearts to love us and accept us and that the transition will be smooth. Pray that we hear something on Monday about getting submitted next week! Trusting in the one with perfect timing!

Good news finally!

2011-04-06T19:04:00.000-07:00

April 6, 2011 Today was a bit frustrating to start with. I have been tracking my second package since it left and since April 2nd it left Paris and went to Algiers? I called Monday and again Tuesday and was assured it had left Algiers and was enroute to our daughters' country in Eastern Europe. I checked this am on line and it still said destination Algiers. I called again and was told it was actually in Paris and had never left there. It was stuck in customs since april 2nd. Which didn't make any sense. I asked to talk to a supervisor and they said someone would call back within 4 hours! Luckily it was only 1 hr ad the nice lady named Joyce said the package was being held along with thousands of other packages due to "civil unrest" in our daughters' country. She then admitted my package had mistakenly been sent to Algiers first and then it came back to Paris. She said once the package was delivered to our country that she would notify the billing dept to send us our $150+ dollars we had spent for priority delivery. She gave me her direct number to call her back tomorrow to be sure our package had been sent on. Well then tonight I just looked on line and it shows the correct destination and that it had left Paris at 3:25am Paris time! It should get there tomorrow. Also tonight I found out that our church had voted to pay for one of our airline tickets up t0 $1400. This is huge! Praising the one who is moving the mountains! We could still be submitted next week! Going to bed tonight feeling a little more at peace about this situation- it is in the Lord's hands and our girls will be home soon!

Delivered!

2011-03-28T11:56:00.000-07:00

March 28,2011 Our dossier has been delivered! Now hoping for very quick time to be submitted. We are praying for a miracle to be submitted this Thursday because our country where our girls are is taking the first 2 weeks of April off which means we wouldn't be submitted until mid April! We are praying for this miracle tohappen. We know he can make it happen if that is in his plans. He has made so many other things happen and we know he is all over this journey to our girls. We are also trusting in his timing but of course are a little impatient. We are still trying to raise the rest of the funds we need to make it all happen too. Car wash on the 9th, Big fundraiser==dance and raffles on April 15th, yard sale on April 16th. We of course still appreciate any donations that are given to help get our girls home. You can go right to our chip-in button in the margin or go to www.reecesrainbow.org/sponsoregan and donate there. We are so blessed to have the friends we have that have been working tirelessly to help make it all happen. The Lord has given us these angels just when needed them. Thank you to all our friends and family that love us and want to help bring these precious girls home. Thank you also to all those that have donated so generously to our FSP fund and chip-in. Our God is moving the mountains just as he promised!

Tracking the Package!

2011-03-26T13:21:00.000-07:00

March 26,2011

Well our package left Paris France early yesterday morning but it is not showing that it has arrived anywhere yet which doesn't make any sense! Please be in prayer with me that our package gets there on Monday so our facilitator can get it translated and submitted to the SDA by Thursday! After april 1st they are taking a 2 week break and our package would just sit there for 2 weeks. We need to leave by the end of April so we can get home end of May. Our Jordan graduates from highschool that first weekend in June! I know it is all in God's hands and he can make it all happen! Life is crazy around here. Our oldest Daughter Danielle gets married next Saturday so between that and running around with all the paperwork lately I am exhausted. But with Christ all things are possible and we will get through all this and be so blessed by all of it. Praying also for beautiful weather for next Saturday! Oh we are so blessed!

The Amazing Race!

2011-03-24T11:11:00.000-07:00

March 24, 2011

The past couple of days have been like running in the Amazing Race. We received our I-171H and have been in a flurry of getting papers certified and then Secretary of State Certified. We live in Northern Ky and it is a 2 hr drive to Frankfort to get this done. So Wednesday after getting some of the papers certified at our county court house we drove to Danville to get a notarized / certified copy of our homestudy agency's license and employment letter for our social worker. En route to there we found out through our adoption agency that one of my documents had issues and would have to be redone. We couldn't turn around at that point so we went on to Frankfort and got 22 documents sealed and headed home. The next day I worked from 5-8:30 am and it was oom off to get that one piece of paper done---the proof of home ownership paper. Who knew one piece of paper could cause so much turmoil. The first time a county clerk had filled it out but didn't put it on letter head. when we went back to have it redone we found out we actually needed to have it done at the Property Value Assessors office but he refused to do it without a letter from our agency stating why we needed it done and it needed to be on our agency letterhead. Unfortunately my agency rep was in Iowa and it was only 8am out there. I got her on the phone and she called the assessor who finally agreed to do our paper if she promised to fax the letter later in the day! Finally letter notarized and certified and we could head back down to Frankfort for the secretary of state seals. Got this done and everyone from the guard to the lady in the office remembered us from the day before. It was done lickety split and we headed by to Northern Ky. Arrived home at 3pm and made it to my conference at school at 3:30 for my daughter. I ran to make a copy of the dossier at 5pm and had it to the fedex office by 7pm to send it off to EE. Our dossier is on it's way! Praising the Lord! I can do all things through Christ! Now we just need to get through my daughters wedding and get on with more fundraising! We will be getting our girls home soon!

Bringing home our girls!

2011-03-17T11:00:00.000-07:00

March 17, 2011
We are the Egan family and we are close to bringing our 2 sweet girls home from Eastern Europe. God has led us on an amazing journey. First he led us to Emily (Anya) and then her best friend Miranda( we'll be calling her Abby). Though we have been blessed with our fundraising and some generous grant money we are still short on funds. We have our immigration approval and will be sending our dossier to their country very soon. It won't be long until travel. Maybe May! We are not worried. We know that the Lord has a plan and we will have our girls home very soon. We continue to fundraise and have several planned. We know that all will be provided in just the right time. We can't wait until these precious girls who are 8 years old and both are diagnosed with down syndrome, are home with our family. The other 7 kids in our family ranging in age from 4 to 27 can't wait either. We can't wait to be blessed once again simply by being obedient and following God's call to follow him.

New Blog Design and Still Waiting

2011-03-09T15:55:00.000-08:00

March 9, 2011
How do you like our new Blog design. Isn't beautiful? Thanks so much to Lu for all her wonderful work. We now have Chip in and Buttons you can click on to donate to our girls to bring them home. I think you can also add our buttons to your blogs. Any amount will help so much. As our Chip In shows we are still in need of about $8000. That does not include what we expect to make in our upcoming fundraisers. We are planning a Skyline Chili night, a garage sale, a carwash and finally a big 50's 60's dance on April 15th-We will have jitter bug contests, twists contests, slow dance and limbo contests. We are having an icecream soda bar, chili cookoff and more. We are also having a big raffle of a 32" flat screen TV. So with what we expect to make from these we will still need about $8000. We know God is in control so we are not worried. He has called us to something very important and we know he will provide a way for our girls to come home. I know I still owe the story of how we were led to Miranda and I will post that next. We are still waiting for USCIS approval. We received the preapproval letter over a week ago so expect the I171H any day!

Doubling our Blessings

2011-03-06T19:38:00.000-08:00

March 6, 2011
We have been very busy around here. Preparing for Danielle's wedding on April 2nd, having showers and still planning and having fundraisers as well as continuing with Gideon's therapies and planning our next trip to Delaware to see the specialists. In the midst of all of this the Lord managed to get our attention again. He has chosen us once again to follow him to something amazing though scary. We have prayed and talked and know in our hearts that we need to follow Him. Though it may not make sense to anyone else we will be doubling our blessings we bring home from Eastern Europe. He has chosen us to not only be the parents to our sweet Emily (Anya) but also to her best friend Miranda. He has made this abundantly clear to us and I will post the whole story tomorrow. We are working harder than every to raise the funding needed to get these precious girls home. Remember if you want to help make this possible you can go to www.reecesrainbow.org/sponsoregan and make a donation.

Waiting and Praising!

2011-03-01T04:12:00.000-08:00

March 1, 2011
We are still waiting for USCIS approval. That is ok I know it will come at just the right time. Meanwhile we are praising the Lord as we see our FSP account climb. We thank all those who have contributed to this account to help us with our adoption. So much has happened on this journey and we can't wait to tell the whole story of how the Lord has been working here. We continue with our usual days going to work, taking the kids to school, taking Gideon to therapy and Doctor's appointments. We are preparing for Danielle's wedding and preparing for a trip to Delaware to see Gideons doctor and therapists. So there is plenty to keep us busy while we wait. I am trying to focus on the one who makes it all possible-the Most High God. We are starting a bible study tonight and I so look forward to my time with the Lord. Praising and waiting, its a good place to be.

A Heart filled with Joy

2011-02-19T19:02:00.000-08:00

February 19,2011
My heart is filled with such joy today. We are anticipating the arrival of our wonderful blessing that the Lord has planned for us and today we had the privilege of helping a sweet friend with a fundraiser for her precious little boy who has CP. There was a great turnout today and it continues tomorrow. We are so blessed to be able to be there for these special friends. Thank you Lord for all these wonderful blessings!

God Is Good

2011-02-19T05:32:00.000-08:00

February 19, 2011
Have you seen our FSP account climbing. We are now up to $1842. Slowly but surely each day I see a little more go in. Whoever has been contributing may God bless you and we thank you from the bottom of our hearts. This journey has been amazing from the beginning. Our Lord fulfills his promises just as he says he would. When he says follow and I promise....you can be sure it will happen one way or the other. We have more fundraisers planned and will be letting you in on those as soon as we have it all together including some great giveaway prizes. Got to go help a friend with her fundraiser now but just had to post what the Lord has been up to.

That's What Faith Can Do

2011-02-14T15:58:00.000-08:00

February 14th 2011
Happy Valentine's Day. I have so much to celebrate today. Today I look back at 25 years ago when my beautiful daughter was born. We had a major snowstorm that day making it beautiful outside. Our daughter outshown the snow. The day we took her home was sunny and 65 degrees and again she outshown the sun. She is my first daughter and my friend. My daughter is getting married in just less than 2 months and moving to Iowa. Oh how I will miss her but today I celebrate the wonderful day that the Lord brought her into my life. I celebrate that I have a wonderful loving husband whom I have been married to for over 28 years. And today I looked at my FSP page on Reeces Rainbow and saw that we now have $1622 in there. Praise you Jesus! It has been growing a little more each day. Our Lord has big plans for this family and we just can't wait to see all the blessings he has planned for us. We are so privileged to be his servants in his big plan. We named our fundraiser a few weeks ago "That's What Faith Can Do" because he has shown us over and over just what He can do if we only have faith and believe. We know he has called us to follow him to Eastern Europe and he is going to provide just as he has said. Thank you Lord for my daughter Danielle who was born 25 years ago today, for my valentine my husband of 28 years and for providing more each day for us to follow you to Eastern Europe! You are an awesome, awe inspiring, mountain moving, gasp causing God!

Where You Go I'll Go!

2011-02-09T19:39:00.000-08:00

February 9, 2010
Can you say Where you go I'll go, I will follow? That's what we are doing. We will go wherever the Lord calls us. He is taking us on an amazing journey. We can't wait to see what all he has in store for us. We know the blessings will be amazing. Does it seem he is calling us to more than we are equipped for? Yes oh yes it does. But God doesn't call the equipped, he equips the called. So we are trusting Him. We know he will equip us for whatever he calls us to do. We just have to have faith enough to take that step and that is what we are doing. We are so excited and so blessed to be called to do his work. There will be more to our amazing journey so stay tuned!

Chris Tomlin - I Will Follow w/Lyrics

2011-02-06T10:54:00.000-08:00

BEST FRIENDS

2011-02-05T08:08:00.001-08:00

Pictures of our girl with her best friend at the orphanage. They are so cute together.

Update finally

2011-02-04T19:59:00.000-08:00

February 4, 2011

When I got home from work today there was still no update. I have asked repeatedly since January 14th. But finally around 6pm there was an email from my agency rep saying she finally had the pictures from her contact and here they were, but they were not attached. So I emailed her back to get her to attach them! After an hour of refreshing it finally came. See for yourself. She looks sad but healthy. She measures 113cm the same as Gracie in height. No weight was given. Her foot measures the same as Hannah's. I just can't wait to get my sweet girl. Fingerprints next week and hopefully I-171H soon after. Now we just need to get the money together. Praying for some donations to our sight www.reecesrainbow.org/sponsoregan.html. More fundraising and applying for grants. The Lord will provide!

Waiting and praying!

2011-02-01T07:53:00.000-08:00

Feb 1, 2011
We continue to wait-wait for new pictures of our girl, any word on how she is doing. I have asked and asked for an update and though our agency has asked for an update we continue to wait. I just want to see how she is changing and most of all that she is ok. It is so hard to be here and know she may sick or cold or not being loved. We received our fingerpring appointments-Feb 15th. We are going to try to go this week and see if they will take us. We'll see. Then we wait for approval. Once we have that our dossier gets ready to go to Eastern Europe. We could be looking at travel in April. That all sounds wonderful but we are still very short on the money needed to complete everything to get our girl home. Please pray and fast with me tomorrow as we pray for the funding we need to do this. We know the Lord has a plan and we can't wait to see how he works it out. We have some more fundraisers planned but we need a large amount still. We are estimating 3-4thousand for airfair and living expenses and then the large facilitator fee of almost $9000 and then the added expenses for visa, medicals etc. Please pray for this mountain to be chipped away. Pray for successful fundraising ideas and successful fundraisers. Pray for our girl to be safe and remain healthy. Pray that her heart is prepared to love and accept us. Pray for our paperwork to be done correctly. Also if anyone would like to donate to this cause you can go to www.reecesrainbow.org/sponsoregan.html. Our girl is called Emily on the reeces rainbow site. Thank you for your prayers. As soon as I get new pictures of Emily (Anya) I will post them. It is all in God's hands and I trust and believe in his promise to bring our girl home!

Fundraising

2011-01-20T10:31:00.000-08:00

January 20th

We have been fundraising since June to raise the money to bring our newest edition home and the Lord has blessed each thing we have done. We started with yard sales in June x2 then again in September and again in October. Each sale brought between and $350 and $425 totalling over $1000. We had a big picture fundraiser that brought $1100 also in June. I have sold candles which brought about $200. Our latest fundraiser was January 15th. We had a Women's Benefit Brunch entitled "That's What Faith Can Do." We provided a buffet brunch, drinks, door prizes, music and speakers. We had a bake sale, silent auction, sold pictures with scriptures on them and and a friend sold her angel collection. My dear friendShari and her daughter Calla were the guest speakers and singers. They are both awesome Christian singers and blessed us beyond measure with their message and talents. Calla even wrote a special song entitled "Little One" which told the story of our journey of faith. I talked as well about our faith journey we were once again embarking on. This blessed event brought over $2200. God is soooo Good!

Our Story

2011-01-20T10:00:00.001-08:00

January 20, 2011

I guess it's about time I posted our story on the blog. Our story of our faith journey to Anya (Emily) began when we saw her picture back in February of 2010. Tim and I have been married for 27 years and have 3 wonderful biological kids-Christopher 27, Danielle 24, and Jordan 17. We followed the call to adopt for the first time in 2004 when Hanna Fusong Faith joined our family from the Yunnan province of China. In 2005 we followed the call to our first special needs adoption of Caleb Adam YaBo from the Henan province of China. His special need was a heart defect called ventral septal defect. This was repaired and he is a healthy energetic 7 year old. In 2007 we brought home Gracie Yuhong Hope also special needs from the Hunan provice-our spicy girl. She was failure to thrive, developmental delay and had syndactyly of the hands and feet. After surgery and much Physical and Occupational therapy she is a thriving 7 year old too. Then in 2009 we were called to our precisous Gideon James Meng Niu in the Jiangxi province. He was physically handicapped with a condition called arthrogryposis multiplex congenita. He has had 2 surgeries since coming home, been casted more than he cares to and goes thru much physical and occupational therapy. He is our mighty warrior at a sweet age of 4. So now we are being called way out of our comfort zone. We are not going back to China. Our sweet girl is in Eastern Europe. She is 8 years old- the oldest we have adopted. She is also a little girl with a diagnosis of Down Syndrome. There have been those that question whether we are doing the right thing or not. They feel we have too many children already with too many needs and that they will suffer if we bring another child with special needs home. The expense-well we don't have the money this is true. We are too old. But God didn't ask us if everything was perfect for us to follow him. He just said follow. We are being obedient. We know he is calling us once again to a beautiful blessing and we don't want to miss out on what he has planned. So let me introduce you to our beautiful little blessing-Anya Elizabeth.

God's Promise-Anya Elizabeth

More pics of the holidays

Catching up! and Happy New Year!

More pics!

What We've been up to!

Living Each Day one hour at a time.

We're Home!

More Thank you's

IT IS FINISHED!

More of Getting The Runaround!

A Day of Disappointments

More pics from passport day!

Passport pictures today!

More running around

Silly faces!

Worship, Cruising, Time with the Girls and Skyping with Family

A Day of Sightseeing

More of our time with the Girls

Pics of Morning with the Girls

Still Running!

You've Got To Be Kidding!

We Need Prayers!

Me and the Girls, No Court Decree and Dianne is here!

A Very Long Day But Finally The Girls Are Together Again!

more pics

Very hot and Tired

Back in Kiev

Pics from today of our Clara (Vika)

Court Today Was Intense!

It's Official!

Protests,Playtime,Paperchasing and Pee Eww!

More Pics of our Girl!

First Court Hearing/Many emotions

Pictures

We Are Here!

STICKER SHOCK

WE HAVE A DATE!

God's Word says it All!

The Power of 3

UPdate!

No News!

Waiting for a Court Date!

Last Day with Our Girls-For Now

Mama c'mere, Papa C'mere

Unstoppable Energy

More of our Treasures

More pics from our morning visit

What a Day with the Girls!

Worhshipping and Staying Occupied

A Day of Sightseeing

A Day of Dissapointments and Triumphs

My Help Comes From The Lord

Putting it in God's Hands

We Are Here!

Delayed !

Next Leg of our Journey Begins!

5 more days!

MY God is A Mountain Destoyer!

God's Word Speaks

Jamie Slocum - Just Another Mountain

PRAISES!

Musings

Preparations and praises

SDA appointment!

Submitted!

Package has arrived again!

Good news finally!

More Documents Requested

Delivered!

Tracking the Package!

The Amazing Race!

Bringing home our girls!

New Blog Design and Still Waiting

Doubling our Blessings

Waiting and Praising!

A Heart filled with Joy

God Is Good

That's What Faith Can Do

Where You Go I'll Go!

Chris Tomlin - I Will Follow w/Lyrics