On our way!

Today we went sightseeing around Kyiv with Eugene and the Carlins. We saw lots of old, beautiful churches, walked down cobblestone streets, and enjoyed some sunshine. And then we picked up our referrals for both kids with their full names on them. We asked Eugene to translate for us.

Sasha's real name is Alexander Igor, and Anna's name is Hanna Alexandria! We knew Sasha was a form of Alexander, but we had no idea that his birth certificate would say Alexander! For Anna, we will drop an N and spell her name Ana, which is much closer to how it is pronounced here. For Sasha, we are thinking we will keep Alexander on his BC, but call him Sasha. It's what he knows :)

Anyway, we are going to try to take a nap and hop on a midnight train to go MEET OUR CHILDREN!!!!!

Paka!

Crazy days in Kyiv!

We aren't really experiencing culture shock, but we have seen and experienced some VERY interesting things in the last two days.

Sunday: Our day to rest and relax, we decided to walk around Kyiv and "sightsee". Here are some of the things we saw...

We found an indoor market with TONS of fresh produce, flowers, caviar, nuts, canned goods...

Even fresh chicken...at least I hope they are fresh!

We saw some old babushka ladies dancing in the park to Ukrainian music.

A statue in the park across from the university (and yes, that is a pony next to Gary!) You can rent ponies and power wheels to ride around this little town square :)

And apparently there is only one rule for parking in the city of Kyiv...there are no rules! Yes, this is the sidewalk where these cars are so awkwardly parked.

Monday: The day of our big SDA appointment, we were told to expect a driver to pick us up around 9:20 for our 10am appointment. "Don't worry, we will call first, " says Niko. We are awakened from a dead sleep at 7:00am when the phone rings! "Hello, this is Eugene. I am your driver for today. Are you ready for your appointment?" Um, NO WE ARE NOT READY!!! We scramble to get dressed as Eugene waits patiently for us. We run downstairs, hop in the car, and head off to pick up the Carlin family, whose appointment is right after ours. On the way, we discover THERE WAS A TIME CHANGE THAT WE KNEW NOTHING ABOUT THIS WEEKEND!!! At any rate, we were on our way to the SDA. Serge tells us it's time to go up. We head up the stairs, sit down in an office and are asked, "you are only adopting one child, correct?" "No. Actually, we are adopting two." We give them Anna's name and they search for her file. Now the Social Worker must get permission to show us two children. She comes back, and then we are told, "There is a problem with Sasha's papers. His parents signed off on their rights to him at 1 month, but it must be done only after 3 months to be legal". We explain that the situation was already worked out. Serge gets on the phone with Marina (our in-region facilitator) and asks her about this. She assures him it has been taken care of. But then, there is a problem with Anna's paperwork! We are told, "Her parents have never signed a letter of abandonment." Serge gets back on the phone with Marina. He hangs up and says, "Marina is calling the orphanage to see if they have it." Five seconds later, Marina is calling to say that the orphanage has it. We said about 10 words through the whole appointment, and Serge did the rest. We went from 3 potential problems (only one child, Sasha not having proper paperwork, and Anna not having proper paperwork) to ZERO! Serge knew what he was doing, and we just sat back and watched him work. Afterward we went to grab coffee with Serge, Yulia, Eugene, and our new friends, The Carlins. Then on to the train station to purchase tickets for an overnight train to Dnep tomorrow. We got to the train station and were told there were no tickets available for either families. Eugene gets on the phone with Serge, passes the phone through the tiny window to the woman sitting at the desk, and we sit back and watch as Serge does his thing. And *POOF* a minute later, the Carlins are purchasing their tickets, and we are promised that ours will be waiting for us tomorrow. By Wednesday, we should be locked in embraces with our babies :) Speaking of our babies, want to see their infant pics? Of course you do! We were not allowed to take them because they were glued to the documents, but they let us take pictures of the pictures. Also, we now know Anna's new middle name. She will be Anna Victoria. Victoria is her biological mother's name, and we feel it is important for her to always have that part of her mother.

Sasha

Anna

Waiting patiently.

Coffee with Yulia and Serge

Beautiful church right next to SDA

2 things have been weighing heavy on my heart lately: Baby Carrington and the Davis family. On the very same day that we committed to bring Anna home, two tragedies were realized in the Reece's Rainbow Family.

The first was the horrific condition of a dear, sweet little girl named Carrington. Carrington was brought home by her forever family weighing only 11 lbs at 3 years of age! She is hospitalized right now as doctors attempt to help her keep fluids down in an effort to nourish her tiny body. I would encourage all of you to read more about Carrington here, but don't stop by reading about her challenges, be enraged and traumatized enough to do something! Pray for her, donate to a waiting child's grant fund in her name, act!

The other tragedy was that the Davis family was denied the right to adopt their little boy Kirill. After making several trips to EE, and summiting mountains of paperwork, it seemed as if the Davis family had made it to the happy ending. But this was not to be the case. Read more about the Davis Family's journey here, and pray for them. They have the opportunity to appeal the judges ruling, and are going to do so. This is not the end, but the beginning of a new fight for them.

I trust that God is going to use both of these things to glorify His name. These stories WILL have their happy endings, but not in the way either family had dreamed they would. Pray that God would make them even more miraculous than they could have imagined.

Love and prayers to the Burman and Davis families! On our knees for you!!!

Live from Kyiv!

Hey all,

We made it safe and sound. Our travels were as smooth as they could possibly be. One LOOOOONG delay in B'ham, but not enough to keep us from boarding our second flight. The bathroom was leaking "fluids".

When we arrived in Kyiv, we got off the plane by way of movable stairs (no jetway) and hopped on the bus that was waiting to take us to the terminal. We pretty much waltzed through customs to find our bags waiting on the other side for us. Through some doors, and we were met by our new friend, Nico. He is so nice. He helped us change some money, gave us a cell phone loaded with minutes and all of our important contacts, drove us to the grocery store where he helped us do some shopping (the grand total for groceries was $213...gryvna :) (about $26). And took us to our apartment. He continually gave us directions to T.G.I.Fridays...guess he thinks we can't survive on moldy pizza (see below) :) We'll show him a thing or two...until we get a food-borne illness.

At any rate, we are here. I know you all want to know what Kyiv is like, so let me let you in on our night. Gary is currently watching sports center on ESPN, and I am typing this from the comfort of our bedroom. We had frozen pizza for dinner (with some strange green cheese on it). And now we are sipping our coffee before heading to bed. Feels like we never left the US :) Except for having to communicate with our boys through Skype (BTW Thank GOD for Skype!)

Please continue to pray, because whatever y'all are doing is working! Our travels thus far have gone off without a hitch...including making a 35 minute layover at the worlds largest airport (okay, so it's not, but it felt like it was when I was running through it with an 80lb backpack). We always ask you to pray God's will, which is perfect. But, if it pleases Him, we would be so grateful to only have 1 SDA appointment, instead of needing 2 separate ones. Thank you!!! Love you all bunches! We will leave you with some pictures of our apartment.

Dinner!

Boarding a plane tomorrow!!!

My "Come to Jesus" Moment

I spent a lot of time last night crying at the thought of leaving my boys for such a long, unknown amount of time. My eyes are pretty swollen today :) It seems like that would be a crappy way to spend a night, but in those dark moments late at night, something wonderful happened. I started really contemplating this journey. If we back up less than a year, I can assure you this is not what I pictured for my life. Please understand that I am not complaining. But when my sister-in-law told me that her friends were adopting a little boy from Ukraine with DS, my thought was, "wow, that's great! That's not for me, but that's great." But then God asked us to adopt that very same little boy. And then a little girl. I started to think about everything I would have missed out on if we had not answered the call. I have friends now that I never would have met otherwise: friends who will type me a novel on their phone just because they know what I'm going through and what I need. There are people on their knees in prayer for our family on a daily basis. I have witnessed the power of God to provide for His purpose through the most unlikely of circumstances. I have been awakened to a purpose, and my eyes have been opened to see the heart of Jesus.

My life is not my own. I have offered it freely to the one I love. And I trust that He loves me more than I can ever know in this life. He is doing something beautiful in our lives, and I don't want to miss it. Am I scared. No. Terrified, might be a better word :) The fear is human, but the peace is spiritual. I desire to keep my eyes fixed on Jesus. And I know there is a cost to following Him. He desires everything.

HE IS MY GOD AND I LONG TO SERVE HIM OUT OF MY LOVE FOR HIM!!!

Almost there!

We are less than 3 days away from boarding a plane headed for Ukraine (okay we are making a few stops before we land in Ukraine, but let's not get picky about the details)!!!

This journey has been a lot like pregnancy for me. The beginning was marked by excitement and joy, but it was quickly followed by the painful process of paperwork that kept my mind from the truly beautiful thing that was happening (in real pregnancy, this would be the several months that I vomit continuously). Once the paperwork was completed (or the neasuea subsided), then came the nervous excitement. This included nesting, and pondering what life would be like with our growing brood. Now comes the labor. I have to confess that I think real labor might be easier than what we are about to go through. My labors were fast (4 hours a piece), nothing like the weeks this is about to take. I know it will be so worth it, and Gary and I are both dreaming about the day we get to hold our children for real, not just stare at a picture and wonder how they have changed in the last year or imagine what their personalities are like. But I also know there are struggles ahead. In these struggles, we seek God's will. Nothing more, nothing less. Please pray and seek His will for us as well.

Oh, and as a side note, nothing like getting to the 38 week mark in your pregnancy and discovering you're having twins! :)

Happy World Down Syndrome Day!!!!!

To all of my friends who have a triple copy of the 21st chromosome,

and to all those who love them for who they are.

Looking forward to 3/21 next year when we can celebrate with our very own children blessed with a little something extra from God!

It's all part of the plan...

...HIS PLAN!!!

Twice before we have considered bringing home a second child with Sasha. But God never gave us peace about it, so here we were trucking along, preparing to leave in 1 WEEK to get our baby, when we were presented with yet a third child for consideration! God knew all along that this was the plan. We didn't.

Sweet Anna lost her family a few days ago. I don't know what happened, and I hope that they are trusting in God for whatever they are going through or feeling right now. But we were approached by Andrea about her and asked to consider bringing her home. God had been preparing us all along. Here was the peace we had desired with the previous children! And when God works, He WORKS! Her and Sasha have basically grown-up together in the orphanage. They know each other well, what a blessing! And, she has enough money in her grant to cover the cost of adding her as a second adoption!

Can't wait to meet our sweet, beautiful Anna!

Crying...

...like a baby! I actually stopped for a minute to think about all of this. We are leaving in like 10 and 1/2 days!!! My emotions are everywhere. I am so excited, and so scared, and so heartbroken all at the same time. I'm excited beyond belief to meet our son. I'm scared of all that awaits us, and I am heartbroken about leaving my precious boys. I have spent almost every waking minute with them up until this point in their lives. And I truly enjoy it. I can't wait to get Sasha here share in all of his life moments, too. And to add another emotion to all of this, I'm now angry that I am wiping mascara all over my laptop :) Here is a little peek into what awaits us as we meet our sweet boy.

"Sasha was up to his usual antics and was as charming as ever. It's definitely Sasha that makes himself known in the groupa, that boy loves attention and knows how to get it." June 9, 2010

Wow!!! What a day!!!

Let me just give you a (brief) rundown of today's events...

...We awoke to find Trey dressed in superhero garb in preparation for his birthday party today. We went to the park to celebrate with a few friends when I received a phone call from Gary.

The call went like this:

Me: Hello

Gary: March 28th, 10 am!

Me: (Frantically screaming and jumping up and down, crying) I'M GOING TO THE UKRAINE!!!

I'm certain the ENTIRE park knows that I am going to Ukraine!

We had a great birthday celebration for our sweet (almost) 5 year old (cannot believe this, by the way!)

We came home a put Luke down for his nap, and then the doorbell rang. And what to my wondering eyes should appear, but a UPS man bringing more cheer. Our new bounce-house arrived (thanks, Grandma :) Luke "magically" woke up a short time later, and the boys bounced the night away.

You know, I had been waiting for almost a week for that travel date. I was expecting it last Tuesday (March 8th), and it never came. I prayed, and asked God for patience until His perfect timing. He knew what He was doing. I was surrounded by friends who cried with me, jumped up and down with me, and who were genuinely as excited as I was. If that e-mail had come last Tuesday like I wanted, I wouldn't have had any of that. Thank you, Lord!

Happy (way early) Birthday, Trey!

Trey has somehow lucked out every year so far, and his birthday has turned into a month long celebration. This year is no exception. Sasha's country seems to be issuing travel dates very quickly, and we are anticipating traveling in about 3 weeks!!! With Trey's birthday being in April and us unsure of when we will be leaving or coming back, we didn't want him to have to wait to celebrate. He has been talking about turning 5 since January! There are a ton of kids in his class with birthdays in March, and with spring break approaching, we were left with only 2 days to choose from for his school party. We did it yesterday. Here are some pics of the action :)

Setting up

Little Helper

Even daddy got to come!

Birthday hugs from Ms. Leah

Johnny Appleseed Blessing

Yummy!

"Cheese" from the Train Engineer

"Paging Dr. Hagler"