I just wanted to stop by and say "thank you" to each of you who have been so supportive, sent us sweet notes and continue to pray for our family and Ruslana.
After a long 47 HOUR travel from Ukraine to our front door, we arrived home at 4am Wednesday morning. I don't think I've ever been so tired but to finally be home and greeted by my mom and kids....I don't have words for what I felt. Peace. Peace is what I felt. Is that wrong? I don't believe so because within hours of being home, we found out that R had a committed family.
There are many theories as to why we have been through what we have over the past year.
1. Would we have angel boy if it hadn't been for Ruslana? Ruslana captured our hearts and was the "one" who God used to get us involved in not only adoption but Down Syndrome adoption. Did God use R to ultimately lead us to angel boy? Would we be blessed to be able to call him our son without her?
2. Where would Ruslana be today had we not committed to her in May? Some say that God used us to help keep her in the baby house until her forever family could commit and travel to get her. She should have been transferred this past spring but because she had a committed family, the director allowed her to stay. The same director is also allowing her to stay until her forever family can travel in the spring.
3. We have seen first hand what God can do through a child with Downs. We have met several families who have committed or already brought their adopted children home because of Ruslana and her sweet face.
So you see, regardless of our hurt, God did and continues to use us. For now, I am tired and kinda hope that He'll give me a rest. Physically and emotionally I'm exhausted. We have been overwhelmed by support but there are always those few who feel as if they just must throw in their 2 cents.....their not so supportive 2 cents. And although I know that we have hundreds of prayers being said for our family daily, it's those 3 or 4 negative people who somehow seem to stick in my mind. Why is that?! Hubby said something very wise the other day. He said that to judge is human, but as soon as you choose to cast the stone (of judgement) the Devil has won. At that moment you have chosen to glorify Satan instead of the Lord. And some of those stones have been hitting us in the face. Not by anyone near and dear to us but by total strangers and some who have just heard about us. Six months ago I would have never guessed that I'd be sitting here typing these words, but God knew. And so, we will continue to press on and face the stones.
My prayer is that our story will even affect those who are judging us at this moment. Going to Ukraine was not something we did just because we thought it would be fun. We took that trip on total faith leaving all we loved behind. We were faced with many obstacles and still came home with empty arms.
In Him,
E
**And just for the record (because I know many people are talking), the man we met on the street was not drunk. He had had a drink or 2 but he was in NO way drunk- no staggering, no slurred words and he knew exactly what he was doing and saying. I realize crazy people are everywhere, but the hate we saw in his eyes I pray I'll never experience again.
Friday, December 11, 2009
Sunday, December 06, 2009
Empty Arms
Good afternoon (morning in the States)! We're coming home. We just sat down with Sasha to let her know. I feel as if a part of me has died. I now understand how Patti (baby boy's birthmom) must have felt. A piece of my heart will remain in Ukraine, but for now we are coming home with empty arms.
I cannot even begin to explain where we are in this journey. Why in the world did God put us in this place and what are His plans for us? This is not a decision that we have made lightly. We have been in deep prayer about Ruslana and her needs and we truly feel like God has answered. We cannot provide the level of care she needs without our other children suffering. In order for her to heal and progress, she needs constant care and that just isn't something we can provide without putting our other children's needs aside. She is extremely low functioning and disconnected.
We want nothing more than to scoop her up and run but we know that we have to practice discernment and distinguish God's plan from our own. We've had to put emotions aside and pray that He would reveal to us what we need to do. The Bible tells us that "he who does not care for his family is worse than being an unbeliever". Right now we have to consider how this is going to affect our family as a whole. She really needs more than we can give her in order to get better, and we can't go through with her adoption just because we feel like we have to or are afraid to let people down.
We feel as if we have failed her and the other children who are being left behind, but we must focus on our family right now and try to heal. Please understand that this decision was not one that was made in haste or lightly- we feel as if we have lost a daughter.
I don't know why God sent us here but I pray He'll use this journey in a mighty way. Why did God ask Abraham to sacrifice Isaac? Is He testing us in the same manner? Is it just to see if we will follow Him persistently in preparation for what He has next?
Our dreams for this angel have been torn to pieces and our hearts are shattered. Please, understand that we and our girls need this time to try to heal.
In Him,
E
I cannot even begin to explain where we are in this journey. Why in the world did God put us in this place and what are His plans for us? This is not a decision that we have made lightly. We have been in deep prayer about Ruslana and her needs and we truly feel like God has answered. We cannot provide the level of care she needs without our other children suffering. In order for her to heal and progress, she needs constant care and that just isn't something we can provide without putting our other children's needs aside. She is extremely low functioning and disconnected.
We want nothing more than to scoop her up and run but we know that we have to practice discernment and distinguish God's plan from our own. We've had to put emotions aside and pray that He would reveal to us what we need to do. The Bible tells us that "he who does not care for his family is worse than being an unbeliever". Right now we have to consider how this is going to affect our family as a whole. She really needs more than we can give her in order to get better, and we can't go through with her adoption just because we feel like we have to or are afraid to let people down.
We feel as if we have failed her and the other children who are being left behind, but we must focus on our family right now and try to heal. Please understand that this decision was not one that was made in haste or lightly- we feel as if we have lost a daughter.
I don't know why God sent us here but I pray He'll use this journey in a mighty way. Why did God ask Abraham to sacrifice Isaac? Is He testing us in the same manner? Is it just to see if we will follow Him persistently in preparation for what He has next?
Our dreams for this angel have been torn to pieces and our hearts are shattered. Please, understand that we and our girls need this time to try to heal.
In Him,
E
Saturday, December 05, 2009
The Streets of Sevastopol
I realize it is Saturday but here is a recount of what happened to us Thursday around 5:00pm on a sidewalk in Sevastopol, Ukraine. I wrote this the night of the attack.
We left our apartment with our facilitator to find coffee for her. It was busy on the streets. There were 40-50 people (including Navy officers) on the sidewalks outside our apartment. A man heard Sasha, our facilitator, speaking English to us. I can tell more details in person but basically he hit hubby in the back, hit his face and tried to push him to the ground. Sasha started screaming for my husband to just go...start walking away. The man was screaming, "I hate Americans! Go back to America!" Noone around us did anything...just looked the other way. Sasha immediately called the police but the man wouldn't leave us alone. He told us that he worked with the police and didn't care that she called them. He chased hubby trying to kick his legs out from under him. I was screaming at him to watch out! The man only spoke Russian (except his bit about America) and grabbed Sasha and told her she should thank God she was a woman. Otherwise, he would have done something to her. This went on for about a 1/2 mile or so until the man turned around and disappeared. We waited for the police...they never came. Noone on the street batted an eye. Noone tried to help. We were afraid to return to the apartment not knowing where he was. Did he see us come out of the apartment? Eventually, we returned.
We have been beyond scared. The facilitators tell us this never happens (it just did). Sasha's husband is come to be both our driver and escort. This man was crazy, but many people here don't like Americans. What next? The anger in his eyes...I'll never forget it. Truly, we were afraid for our lives.
There have been many, many tears tonight (from both hubby and I), but enough is enough. I cannot come home single. We have 4 amazing children at home we must think about. We are taking the night to pray. Tomorrow we may be on our way home. Please, don't make this harder than it already is. We feel like failures, but in the end this system fails it's children. This system fails it's people.
God brought us here for a reason and one day we will know what that is.
Thank you for your prayers without even knowing our situation. It has been a trying week in Ukraine to say the least and I'm afraid we are far from it being over. Please, continue to lift us up. We have visited R several times now, but I will update more about that later. I am physically and emotionally exhausted.
In Him,
E
We left our apartment with our facilitator to find coffee for her. It was busy on the streets. There were 40-50 people (including Navy officers) on the sidewalks outside our apartment. A man heard Sasha, our facilitator, speaking English to us. I can tell more details in person but basically he hit hubby in the back, hit his face and tried to push him to the ground. Sasha started screaming for my husband to just go...start walking away. The man was screaming, "I hate Americans! Go back to America!" Noone around us did anything...just looked the other way. Sasha immediately called the police but the man wouldn't leave us alone. He told us that he worked with the police and didn't care that she called them. He chased hubby trying to kick his legs out from under him. I was screaming at him to watch out! The man only spoke Russian (except his bit about America) and grabbed Sasha and told her she should thank God she was a woman. Otherwise, he would have done something to her. This went on for about a 1/2 mile or so until the man turned around and disappeared. We waited for the police...they never came. Noone on the street batted an eye. Noone tried to help. We were afraid to return to the apartment not knowing where he was. Did he see us come out of the apartment? Eventually, we returned.
We have been beyond scared. The facilitators tell us this never happens (it just did). Sasha's husband is come to be both our driver and escort. This man was crazy, but many people here don't like Americans. What next? The anger in his eyes...I'll never forget it. Truly, we were afraid for our lives.
There have been many, many tears tonight (from both hubby and I), but enough is enough. I cannot come home single. We have 4 amazing children at home we must think about. We are taking the night to pray. Tomorrow we may be on our way home. Please, don't make this harder than it already is. We feel like failures, but in the end this system fails it's children. This system fails it's people.
God brought us here for a reason and one day we will know what that is.
Thank you for your prayers without even knowing our situation. It has been a trying week in Ukraine to say the least and I'm afraid we are far from it being over. Please, continue to lift us up. We have visited R several times now, but I will update more about that later. I am physically and emotionally exhausted.
In Him,
E
Friday, December 04, 2009
Introducing....our girl
Oh boy, what a day! It was a day full of emotion-both amazing and not so. The "not so" will be shared at a much later date. The amazing .... well, see for yourself. 
She is beautiful and ROUND! R is quite little but so heavy. It only took her a few minutes to warm up to us and from that point on loved hanging out. Her director and "teachers" seem to love her very much. They wanted to show her off for us, so they brought in the speech therapist (yes, there is a speech therapist at this orphanage) to perform a song with her. She was very cute and followed directions quite well. We have several videos that I'd love to share but it will take some time for us to learn how to do that.
I'll be honest here- we had no idea what to expect. We didn't know how high or low functioning R would be. Is she "behind"? Yes. She is not walking unassisted and seems very much still like a toddler- she'll be 5 in January. But, at the same time, she is more advanced than we thought she'd be. After us showing her once, she tried to color alone on the magna doodle we brought.
She tried over and over to unzip and zip the zipper on the book I brought (with buttons, zippers, pockets). R loved the book with animals and fur to feel and kept flipping back to the cover to feel the chick. With the love of a family we have no doubt that the sky is the limit.
Here she is doing the famous Down syndrome split. She can go from her stomach to a sitting position without ever moving her legs....it's amazing and freaked our facilitator out a bit.
See what I mean about round!:)
We are URGENTLY seeking prayers. I cannot share the details at this moment but understand that we need prayers now. There is a spiritual battle occuring all around us and we are in the very midst of it. Satan has shown his ugly face time and time again. We cannot let him win.
I will share more later. For now, it's off to eat, look for a new apartment and go see our girl.
In Him,
E
Wednesday, December 02, 2009
Our journey so far...
First, thank you for covering our family in your prayers. I know that many of you are curious to know exactly what has happened to make our trip so rough up til now.
I'll just list things in order by which they happened-
1. Washington DC airport- I know sometimes there are security searches and they pull people at random. We had passed all check points, scanned our boarding passes and were literally about to turn down the long tunnel (I'm sure there's a name for it) that leads to the airplane when I was "chosen" to be searched. Lucky me, huh?!?
2. The German airport- what is it about Germans that makes me so uncomfortable? I was already a bit uneasy about having to be there in the first place. There were 2 security checkpoints. Hubby got through both....I was not so lucky. That's right- I was stopped both times. The first time they used the wand to make sure I was safe, felt me up and down, took off my shoes, etc. The second time, they used the wand, PULLED MY PANTS OUT AT THE WAIST, etc, etc. I was fuming and nervous beyond belief by the time it was over.
3. We arrived in Ukraine only to be greeted by a drive who hardly spoke any English- I mean HARDLY spoke any English (he was not the driver we were suppose to have). He sped away from the airport and immediately upped his speed to 190km/hr (118 miles/hr)!!! I didn't know if we'd make it alive to our apartment or not. He sped around town making several mysterious stops only to drop us at the door of our apartment with a "Welcome to Ukraine!" and off he sped. Hubby swears he thinks he was making some sort of drug deal. Who knows?
4. We were without a phone, internet, money, food, tv...nothing for about 8 hours. Call me a spoiled American if you want, but talk about being afraid. The phone in our apartment didn't even work making it impossible to call anyone!
5. At the airport we were told that our facilitator would be over very soon. Tick tock, tick tock-Late that evening we finally saw her. I believe she felt bad about leaving us and brought us food- bread, butter, cheese and water. Plenty to get us through the night.
6. The next day we ventured out in search of some place to exchange money as well as find groceries. Exchanging money was easy. Then came the groceries. We were minding our own business trying not to stand out. I'm not sure what happened but we were followed around the store by a security guard radioing someone on his walkie-talkie the entire time. Again...very intimidated. We couldn't get out of the store fast enough. On the way back to the apartment a policeman thought to take it upon himself to stare us down until he could see us no more.
7. We were promised phone calls from facilitators that didn't happen. We were promised internet connection that didn't happen...for days and days.
8. We had an elf bed. Really- hubby says he felt like Will Ferrell trying to sleep in that thing. It's funny now but at 2am it wasn't so humerous.:)
There is much more to the story that I just don't feel good about sharing on these pages. We've had a rough time. We have been left in "the dark" about many things and lines of communication have not been upheld. It wasn't until yesterday that we had internet and were able to get in touch with our families. YESTERDAY- TUESDAY!! We left FRIDAY!!
I had an extremely rough night Monday night and literally looked at my husband and said, "What are we doing?! Can't we just go home?!" I know that's not possible and it was probably Satan showing his ugly face, but that's how down I was at that point. Thankfully, we met up with Ellen and Andy Stumbo (adopting Nina- Reece's Rainbow) and Frank Garcia (adopting Kelsey, Reece's Rainbow- his wife, Renee, is already home) Tuesday and had a wonderful time. We were able to walk around Kiev a bit and have lunch together. I had no idea how much we needed those few hours- just to be able to talk with others who spoke our language.
Last night we spoke with our angels back home over Skype and oh how this momma needed that! I am still missing them more than I thought possible, but we are pressing onward. My sister is awesome and took our 4 and her 2 to get a Christmas tree yesterday....all by herself. Rock on, J!! Thank you so much for making this season special for our kids while we're away! They turned the webcam around to the tree last night so that we could see it and it is beautiful.
Yesterday we were able to meet with SDA and receive Ruslana's referral. There were 3 photos of her in the file and since they only needed one, they let us have the 2 youngest- one was taken when she was around 6-9 months and the other when she was around 18 months. I am so glad to have these as we have missed so much of her life already.
I am writing this from the train. We are headed to R's region and are about half way into the 18 hour train ride!! Hubby just fell asleep beside me and our facilitator is on her bunk reading. We have a new facilitator- one that I don't believe anyone from RR has ever used. We will arrive in Sevastopol at 6 am, get cleaned up and head over to begin paperwork around 8:30. Prayerfully, before lunch we will meet our girl. I can't believe we're really almost there.
I am tired and need to get some rest but will try to update tomorrow after meeting Ruslana. Thank you so much for your words of encouragement!
In Him,
E
I'll just list things in order by which they happened-
1. Washington DC airport- I know sometimes there are security searches and they pull people at random. We had passed all check points, scanned our boarding passes and were literally about to turn down the long tunnel (I'm sure there's a name for it) that leads to the airplane when I was "chosen" to be searched. Lucky me, huh?!?
2. The German airport- what is it about Germans that makes me so uncomfortable? I was already a bit uneasy about having to be there in the first place. There were 2 security checkpoints. Hubby got through both....I was not so lucky. That's right- I was stopped both times. The first time they used the wand to make sure I was safe, felt me up and down, took off my shoes, etc. The second time, they used the wand, PULLED MY PANTS OUT AT THE WAIST, etc, etc. I was fuming and nervous beyond belief by the time it was over.
3. We arrived in Ukraine only to be greeted by a drive who hardly spoke any English- I mean HARDLY spoke any English (he was not the driver we were suppose to have). He sped away from the airport and immediately upped his speed to 190km/hr (118 miles/hr)!!! I didn't know if we'd make it alive to our apartment or not. He sped around town making several mysterious stops only to drop us at the door of our apartment with a "Welcome to Ukraine!" and off he sped. Hubby swears he thinks he was making some sort of drug deal. Who knows?
4. We were without a phone, internet, money, food, tv...nothing for about 8 hours. Call me a spoiled American if you want, but talk about being afraid. The phone in our apartment didn't even work making it impossible to call anyone!
5. At the airport we were told that our facilitator would be over very soon. Tick tock, tick tock-Late that evening we finally saw her. I believe she felt bad about leaving us and brought us food- bread, butter, cheese and water. Plenty to get us through the night.
6. The next day we ventured out in search of some place to exchange money as well as find groceries. Exchanging money was easy. Then came the groceries. We were minding our own business trying not to stand out. I'm not sure what happened but we were followed around the store by a security guard radioing someone on his walkie-talkie the entire time. Again...very intimidated. We couldn't get out of the store fast enough. On the way back to the apartment a policeman thought to take it upon himself to stare us down until he could see us no more.
7. We were promised phone calls from facilitators that didn't happen. We were promised internet connection that didn't happen...for days and days.
8. We had an elf bed. Really- hubby says he felt like Will Ferrell trying to sleep in that thing. It's funny now but at 2am it wasn't so humerous.:)
There is much more to the story that I just don't feel good about sharing on these pages. We've had a rough time. We have been left in "the dark" about many things and lines of communication have not been upheld. It wasn't until yesterday that we had internet and were able to get in touch with our families. YESTERDAY- TUESDAY!! We left FRIDAY!!
I had an extremely rough night Monday night and literally looked at my husband and said, "What are we doing?! Can't we just go home?!" I know that's not possible and it was probably Satan showing his ugly face, but that's how down I was at that point. Thankfully, we met up with Ellen and Andy Stumbo (adopting Nina- Reece's Rainbow) and Frank Garcia (adopting Kelsey, Reece's Rainbow- his wife, Renee, is already home) Tuesday and had a wonderful time. We were able to walk around Kiev a bit and have lunch together. I had no idea how much we needed those few hours- just to be able to talk with others who spoke our language.
Last night we spoke with our angels back home over Skype and oh how this momma needed that! I am still missing them more than I thought possible, but we are pressing onward. My sister is awesome and took our 4 and her 2 to get a Christmas tree yesterday....all by herself. Rock on, J!! Thank you so much for making this season special for our kids while we're away! They turned the webcam around to the tree last night so that we could see it and it is beautiful.
Yesterday we were able to meet with SDA and receive Ruslana's referral. There were 3 photos of her in the file and since they only needed one, they let us have the 2 youngest- one was taken when she was around 6-9 months and the other when she was around 18 months. I am so glad to have these as we have missed so much of her life already.
I am writing this from the train. We are headed to R's region and are about half way into the 18 hour train ride!! Hubby just fell asleep beside me and our facilitator is on her bunk reading. We have a new facilitator- one that I don't believe anyone from RR has ever used. We will arrive in Sevastopol at 6 am, get cleaned up and head over to begin paperwork around 8:30. Prayerfully, before lunch we will meet our girl. I can't believe we're really almost there.
I am tired and need to get some rest but will try to update tomorrow after meeting Ruslana. Thank you so much for your words of encouragement!
In Him,
E
Tuesday, December 01, 2009
We're HERE!!
***This was written and saved on our computer Sunday. We just now have internet service and many, many things have happened. Truthfully, we've had a very rough time. I'll post more tomorrow (I hope) and fill you in a little. We are leaving for Ruslana's region around lunchtime tomorrow (Wednesday).
WE’RE HERE!! It’s Sunday here in Ukraine. We arrived yesterday to a very overcast, grey, cold day. I was searched a total of 3 times at 2 different airports. Hubby- not searched once! Let me tell you, it’s very nerve wracking being searched in a German airport. Twice. At 2 different security points. We’re thinking it may have been something in my boots. Just plain ‘ole black cowgirl-type boots. I ended up having to send them through the scanner alone and it seems they have some sort of metal piece in each of the soles. Who knew?! The 3rd search happened in Washington, DC. They were just pulling people aside randomly to search and guess who was chosen?!
When we arrived in Ukraine, a driver picked us up at the airport and drove 190km/hr down the highway. I was warned by several other adoptive moms about how fast and crazy people drive. They were right. I was sitting in the back seat sqeezing hubby’s hand for dear life. We finally made it to our apartment and crashed. We had been awake for around 24 hours and traveling for about 22. After a few hours of much needed rest, our facilitator stopped by to give us our cell phone and some food for the night.
We don’t have internet in our apartment yet so for now I will have to update somewhere that has WiFi. Hopefully, it will be up and running in the apartment soon.
I’m missing our kids terribly. I haven’t been able to talk to them yet, but will boot up Skype in just a few minutes. Leaving them Friday morning was hard. SO hard. I seem to cry at the drop of a hat anyway, but telling them good-bye for 2-3 weeks was crushing. I know they’ll be fine. They are being cared for by my mom and sister and will get much love while we’re gone. But it’s hard. We’re missing our middle’s 13th birthday. It’s Christmas time- our family’s favorite season. Our baby is only 3 ½ months old- I don’t want him to grow while I’m gone.
But, as sad as I am to be away from my children, I can’t believe we’re here. Prayerfully, just days away from meeting our angel, Ruslana. Oh, how we’ve waited for that day! And yet as eager as we are, she has no idea we even exist. We have prayed and prayed for her without her even knowing about us. No reason to be excited to see us. No reason to accept us and reach for us.
Today, I’m asking for prayers for our children at home, for our process here in Ukraine and especially for Ruslana.
In Him,
E
WE’RE HERE!! It’s Sunday here in Ukraine. We arrived yesterday to a very overcast, grey, cold day. I was searched a total of 3 times at 2 different airports. Hubby- not searched once! Let me tell you, it’s very nerve wracking being searched in a German airport. Twice. At 2 different security points. We’re thinking it may have been something in my boots. Just plain ‘ole black cowgirl-type boots. I ended up having to send them through the scanner alone and it seems they have some sort of metal piece in each of the soles. Who knew?! The 3rd search happened in Washington, DC. They were just pulling people aside randomly to search and guess who was chosen?!
When we arrived in Ukraine, a driver picked us up at the airport and drove 190km/hr down the highway. I was warned by several other adoptive moms about how fast and crazy people drive. They were right. I was sitting in the back seat sqeezing hubby’s hand for dear life. We finally made it to our apartment and crashed. We had been awake for around 24 hours and traveling for about 22. After a few hours of much needed rest, our facilitator stopped by to give us our cell phone and some food for the night.
We don’t have internet in our apartment yet so for now I will have to update somewhere that has WiFi. Hopefully, it will be up and running in the apartment soon.
I’m missing our kids terribly. I haven’t been able to talk to them yet, but will boot up Skype in just a few minutes. Leaving them Friday morning was hard. SO hard. I seem to cry at the drop of a hat anyway, but telling them good-bye for 2-3 weeks was crushing. I know they’ll be fine. They are being cared for by my mom and sister and will get much love while we’re gone. But it’s hard. We’re missing our middle’s 13th birthday. It’s Christmas time- our family’s favorite season. Our baby is only 3 ½ months old- I don’t want him to grow while I’m gone.
But, as sad as I am to be away from my children, I can’t believe we’re here. Prayerfully, just days away from meeting our angel, Ruslana. Oh, how we’ve waited for that day! And yet as eager as we are, she has no idea we even exist. We have prayed and prayed for her without her even knowing about us. No reason to be excited to see us. No reason to accept us and reach for us.
Today, I’m asking for prayers for our children at home, for our process here in Ukraine and especially for Ruslana.
In Him,
E
Monday, November 23, 2009
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
We're Leaving on a Jet Plane....
Can't you just hear the music? That's right...we got our travel date today!!! WOOHOO!! Now this crazy mama is freaking out a bit. You won't be hearing from me much around here for a while. The blog will go private this weekend so I can speak more freely about our journey. If you'd like an invitation to still be a reader, you MUST email me in the next few days (nogreatergiftmom@yahoo.com). There are a limited number of invitations and first dibs go to family, so first come first served.:) These pages will not take priority over spending some quality time with my angels the last few days we are home, so again- email me SOON!!! I will try to update as much as possible once we are in country.
Financially, we are still quite nervous. Several things happened this week that were unexpected and have us on edge a bit, but GOD IS GOOD and won't leave us now.
WOOHOO!! Ruslana, here we come. I can't believe this is really happening!
In Him,
E
Financially, we are still quite nervous. Several things happened this week that were unexpected and have us on edge a bit, but GOD IS GOOD and won't leave us now.
WOOHOO!! Ruslana, here we come. I can't believe this is really happening!
In Him,
E
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Look who is 3 months old today!!
Oh how I LOVE this little guy!! I can't believe it's already been 3 months.
In Him,
E
Monday, November 16, 2009
Almost There!!
I feel like I should update everyone on the status of Ruslana's adoption. We thought we would have received our travel date last week but because of the H1N1 virus outbreak in Ruslana's country, things are moving a little slower. PRAYERFULLY we'll receive news tomorrow or Wednesday, and yes, I'll let you know when we hear something.:) If my calculations are right (which I'm sure they're not:), we'll be traveling around the end of the first week in December.
I'll be honest- I am terribly excited and beside myself at the thought of FINALLY meeting our angel, but a part of me is very sad. We may miss Christmas. I know. I know. "Think about God's gift to us, E." "Think about what God is blessing you with this Christmas, E." "How could Christmas be any sweeter than meeting one of God's angels chosen just for you- one that He has chosen to share with you?!?" You see, I've heard it all, and I know. I really do and can't believe that He chose us. God is blessing us in the most undeserving way. We are so unworthy, yet, He continues to amaze us with His goodness over and over, and I'm still uneasy and sad. Sad that we may not be here to celebrate with our family. Sad that my kids may be waking up without us Christmas morning. I am praying for peace. I know our children will be surrounded with love during our entire absence.
I am also a bit uneasy about $. I feel like I keep coming back to this. Of course, it has turned out that we will be traveling during the busiest time of year and guess what that means? The most expensive time to fly. We thought our total flights would be around $4000 and that we would have some air miles or discounts through a friend, but I'm not sure that will work out. So, this is what it's looking like-
2 round trip tickets for 2 adults- around $2,200
2 round trip tickets for 2 adults for 2nd trip and 1 ticket home for Ruslana- $3400
Yikes! About $1600 more than we were hoping. And the more I sit here and type out my worries and complaints, the more I realized that we'll be fine. I KNOW without a shadow of a doubt that God has our entire trip planned. I know that financially we'll be okay. I know that Christmas will be a time of rejoicing and celebrating no matter which continent we're on. I know that God is Almighty and will have faith in Him forever!
I am so human.
In Him,
E
I'll be honest- I am terribly excited and beside myself at the thought of FINALLY meeting our angel, but a part of me is very sad. We may miss Christmas. I know. I know. "Think about God's gift to us, E." "Think about what God is blessing you with this Christmas, E." "How could Christmas be any sweeter than meeting one of God's angels chosen just for you- one that He has chosen to share with you?!?" You see, I've heard it all, and I know. I really do and can't believe that He chose us. God is blessing us in the most undeserving way. We are so unworthy, yet, He continues to amaze us with His goodness over and over, and I'm still uneasy and sad. Sad that we may not be here to celebrate with our family. Sad that my kids may be waking up without us Christmas morning. I am praying for peace. I know our children will be surrounded with love during our entire absence.
I am also a bit uneasy about $. I feel like I keep coming back to this. Of course, it has turned out that we will be traveling during the busiest time of year and guess what that means? The most expensive time to fly. We thought our total flights would be around $4000 and that we would have some air miles or discounts through a friend, but I'm not sure that will work out. So, this is what it's looking like-
2 round trip tickets for 2 adults- around $2,200
2 round trip tickets for 2 adults for 2nd trip and 1 ticket home for Ruslana- $3400
Yikes! About $1600 more than we were hoping. And the more I sit here and type out my worries and complaints, the more I realized that we'll be fine. I KNOW without a shadow of a doubt that God has our entire trip planned. I know that financially we'll be okay. I know that Christmas will be a time of rejoicing and celebrating no matter which continent we're on. I know that God is Almighty and will have faith in Him forever!
I am so human.
In Him,
E
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