Yes, you read that right. We are expecting but not biologically. I'm sure you are all thinking "duh- we knew that", but believe me, you didn't.
Sunday afternoon we received a call out of the blue about a "situation" (adoption terms for a baby available for adoption) in Florida . We had not been looking for a domestic situation- after all, we are in the midst of an international adoption. I returned the call in order to get more details. We prayed about it Sunday and Monday, and felt like we should submit our homestudy. Our internet is down right now, so I scrambled to get things together and went to Starbucks. I was able to submit all needed documents late Monday night. Around 5 o'clock Tuesday afternoon, we got the call- WE WERE CHOSEN!! I wish I could have seen my face. Hubby wasn't even home yet, though he did get home while I was still on the phone. When our caseworker told me, I sat silent for a moment and then said "really?"! She assures me she has heard it all, so my response was okay.
We still felt like we should pray about this situation- again, we are still in the midst of an international adoption!! Our decision had to be made very quickly, though. Wednesday morning it was an absolute "yes". Hubby's exact words to me were "We've been chosen. We've been chosen." And we couldn't feel more blessed.
I know I'll receive some questions, so I'll try to go ahead and answer some of them-
1. Yes, we are still adopting Ruslana. Her region in Eastern Europe is a little wacky right now. Basically, adoptions are at a standstill. The only way I can explain it is to compare it to the way Democrats and Republicans fight. It's all about political power. So, two different "sides" are fighting and it truly has nothing to do with adoption. Unfortunately, adoptions and children are being affected because of silly political power struggles.
This only applies to her region, not all of Eastern Europe . Prayerfully, they will come to a resolution very quickly and we can move forward. We are waiting for one additional clearance stateside before we can submit our dossier anyway. We hoped (and still may) that we would be able to travel at the end of September. I am getting mixed responses about what may happen. Let's just pray that everything is able to be worked out quickly so we can get our girl home.
2. This new baby is a BOY- yikes! Birthmom will be having a scheduled c-section around August 20th.
3. He will stay home with our girls (and other adults, too:) while we travel to get Ruslana. No children are allowed in Eastern European courts, and we will NOT leave him at the orphanage while we attend court (we do know of a family who had to do that!!).
4. And yes, he also has Down Syndrome. We are blessed!
So, we are starting over...literally. Bringing a 4 year old girl home is one thing. Bringing a newborn home is quite another. We have lots to do- anybody ever been pregnant for 3 weeks? Yes, we only have 3 weeks to get ready- aaahhh!! All of our children will now be 4 years apart-
girls 16, 12, 8, 4 and new baby boy 0.
And we need a crash coarse on raising boys. Thanks for your continued prayers!! I'll keep you posted.
AMAZED by HIS grace,
E
15 comments:
Ha! You get to raise a boy:) BTW- We are leaving in two days to adopt our Tori from the Crimean Region- it's all been resolved (in case you hadn't heard the good news yet).
Best wishes!
~Lydia
follow our journey at findingukraine.blogspot.com
Congratulations!!
We were pregnant for a month while bringing home our Kai. Our son, AJ, was 6 days old when we left to China for Kai. GOD IS GOOD and it's one of the best YESSES we've ever heard from Him!
Congrats!
Congratulations! I love how God blesses us in ways that we do not expect!
That is AMAZING Elisabeth!!
Fantastic even!!!!!!!
Are you doing any emergency fundraising for the extra adoption??
What a blessing!!!!!!
What a gift from God, congratulations!
Oh, God blessed us with a little boy from China and I dream of more boys. Boys love, love, love their mommas!
Wow...congratulations!! Little boys are wonderful! I love my little girl, too, but I think my boy is more cuddly (he likes to be held more, snuggle more, etc). He'll get lots of love from his big sisters, too! God is good!
SOOOO Thrilled for you! Sounds like our family-it rained then poured kids LOL! We had 5 in 13 months-GOD IS GOOD! PTL!!
I feel the same way about girls. We have 2 girls and 8 boys. Feel free to ask any boy questions. There are lots of pictures on my blog.
What an amazing update!! God is so good!! I am so excited for your family!
Boys are outrageously awesome! I have four from UKRAINE! What at very exciting time for you! Blessings!!Stefanie
Just fyi, Eastern Europe is divided into FULLY INDEPENDENT COUNTRIES, not regions. I apologise if this seems like a really stupid comment with all you have going on, but it is a (pretty big) part of your new daughter's heritage, after all.
Awesome!
Just found your blog site. I am friends with Amy from Building the Blocks. I have a huge passion for children with down syndrome. I have looked over Reece's Rainbow many times praying and crying and asking God if the time was right for our family to bring an angel home. So far the answer has been NO, but God has said yes to adoption here in the states. We have two bio daughters and in the last year and a half, God has sent us four little boys all 2 and under. We are having a great time hard work and all! So nice to meet you and see God at work in your life.
Amy
Oh, by the way, my email address is jorfam@suddenlink.net should you ever want to get in touch with me.
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