Two weeks from today we leave for Ukraine to finalize the adoption of Zhenya, Katya and Kristina. There are a lot of emotions running through our home – excitement over being one step closer to bringing the girls home, sadness over being separated from Anya, Faith & Caleb for so long, anxiety over traveling to a new & very foreign place, and at times an overwhelming realization that going from 3 kids to 6 is going to change our lives drastically. Are we ready? Do we have everything in place? Do we have it all together? The answer to all of these is NO – definitely not. My mind races at times thinking about all the little things. What we’ve really been learning, however, is that God’s timing is perfect. He has brought us to this place and He is walking us through each step of the way. Please pray for our time in Ukraine. Our desire is to minister to each individual God puts in our path. We will have an opportunity to spend a lot of time with children and caregivers in the orphanage and we want to purposefully interact with them and take the time to share the love of Jesus with them.

It’s been a while since we have updated the blog.  Having the girls here for Christmas and starting a new year has really taken a lot of our time.  The time we spent at Christmas was fantastic!  On January 14th we had to send the girls back to their orphanage in Ukraine.  It was a very emotional day for all of us.  You could tell that the girls were sad but they tried to be very strong and not show their sadness.  It was very neat to see Zhenya transition from a sister to a guardian at the airport.  As we said goodbye, she lovingly took Katya and Kristina under her arms to comfort them.   Since their departure we have been able to talk to them on the phone on a weekly basis.  They are very excited and can’t wait to be home.  Below are some updates of several things that have  been happening over the last several weeks.    You may want to start at the bottom and work your way up.  Lots has been happening and moving rather quickly (not as quickly as we want, though).  We can’t wait for our travel date so that we can finally get to see them again.  Please continue to pray for us, the process and especially Zhenya, Katya & Kristina.

Sincerely,

Jack & Stephanie

2/23/10 (Today)

Adoption process update: All of our documents have been submitted to the SDA in Ukraine and we are hoping to hear any day (quite possibly tomorrow) when we will be traveling to Ukraine to finalize the adoption of our new daughters. God has done so many amazing things over the past few weeks. Our faith has been tested and strengthened. I can honestly say that we’ve never been more sure of God’s direction or more reliant on Him to complete the work he has started (could it be that He meant for those two to go hand in hand?). Our best estimation for a timeline: We should find out this week our appointment date for the State Department on Adoption in Kyiv, Ukraine. We think it will be about March 17^th. We would leave around March 15^th and stay in Ukraine for approximately 2 weeks. We will travel to see the girls in their orphanage (a 14 hour train ride from the capital) and then will prepare all the documents necessary to appear before a judge to have our adoption court hearing. After the hearing, we will say good-bye to the girls for the last time and return home during the mandatory 10 day waiting period after court. A quick 7 or 8 days at home and we’ll be back in the air to go get our girls. The second trip should be only 7-10 days. We will obtain new birth certificates, new passports and then say farewell to the orphanage and take the girls to the US Embassy for immigration paperwork. If all goes well, we are hoping to all be home and have our entire family together around April 18^th or so. Please pray for us as we prepare for travel and as we leave three children at home for such a long time. We can’t wait to update you while we are in Ukraine. We know God is going to do more than we can imagine!

Post on 2/22/10

So glad to get a call from DFCS today! (who ever says that?) We were approved for one-time adoption assistance – that’s $4,500 toward our adoption. Yippee!!! Praise God!!!

Talked to Zhenya & Katya this morning. I tried to make conversation with Katya and she broke in and said “Mom, please just tell me when you’re coming.” I explained that we didn’t know yet and we’re hoping to hear something this week. We told them we’d call back on Thursday & maybe we would know something. Kristina never came to the phone – we talked for an hour… not sure where she was. Zhenya seemed to be doing well and after she left, I asked Katya if Zhenya has talked about being adopted and she said that Zhenya has said yes – she wants to be adopted. Wooo hooo!!! Keep praying for her… that she will remain steadfast. Their older sisters are coming to visit them this Sunday – pray that they encourage them to come & not discourage them or make them feel guilty.

Post on 2/10/10

We got confirmation that our dossier was submitted in Ukraine while we were sleeping! Now, we wait for a travel date – hope to know something in 2 weeks! It looks like we will not be held up at all by INTERPOL… the families who have been stuck for weeks in Ukraine waiting, received word today that they did get their clearance and can now have court. Yeah!!!

Post on 2/9/10

just received word that INTERPOL issues in Ukraine seem to be getting solved! Praise God!!!

Post on 2/8/10

talked to the girls this morning – they have received more letters we sent and Zhenya got her suitcase!!! She was very happy! The girls seem to be doing well – can’t wait to go see them!

Post on 2/7/10

Our adoption documents will be presented to the officials in Ukraine on Wednesday. Please be in prayer – there is a new requirement that is holding up Americans who are in Ukraine adopting right now… an international criminal background check through INTERPOL. The US is currently refusing to work with them and there is no resolution in sight.

Post on 2/1/10

Had a great conversation with the girls – 40 minutes! Today they received the letters we mailed two weeks ago and they said the New Horizons team will be at their orphanage tomorrow – they will get gifts from us then. Zhenya asked when we are coming & Katya said she wants us to come soon… Kristina mostly listened, but says she loves us and misses us. Zhenya still doesn’t have her suitcase, but talked a lot!

Post on 1/28/10

Received this from a friend: “Whenever he asks us to do something, it is always because it will lead to greater good. If we are committed to following hard after God, we must do the things he tells us to do. But the risk of obedience is that it will often make no sense to us at the time. It is counter-cultural to obey the things the Holy Spirit reveals to us in the Scriptures. Radical obedience sometimes flies in the face of human logic, but in these times our loving Father tests and reveals the quality of our trust and dependence on Him… our greatest task in the spiritual life is to will to do his will, to love the things he loves, and to choose the things he sets before us for our good.”

Zhenya, Katya & Kristina arrive today, December 13th at 8:30 pm. We have been busy getting ready for 3 more people in our home & I’m sure we’ve forgotten something! The major things are taken care of… we have beds for all the children, a bench seat added to our van so it will now hold 8 people, clothes hung in closets and Christmas presents for everyone!

We will be taking a lot of pictures while the girls are here & will try to keep this site updated. Please continue to pray for the girls. We will have a lot of adjustments during this month & I can only imagine what all the girls will be going through as they adjust to everything new.

As far as our adoption process goes, everything on our end is ready. All of our documents are in Ukraine and are being translated right now. We received the final paper we needed this week – approval from USCIS (it took about 90 days to get this!). The office that receives the documents in Ukraine has closed for winter holidays and will not be opening until the first of February. At that time, our documents will be submitted and we should receive a travel date for the end of February. We will make 2 trips to Ukraine and should be able to bring our girls home by the beginning of April (at the latest).

Thank you for your prayers! May you & your family have a very merry Christmas!

We were so excited to get a picture of Katya & Kristina’s older sister, Zhenya, today! We have been trying to get information about her for more than two months and to have her picture now is wonderful! Zhenya is 15 years old and has said she would like to come visit with us at Christmas. Please pray for her – we are praying that God will prepare her heart to receive His love and that she will desire to be a part of our family. We cannot wait to meet her in December. We believe the girls will be here around December 13th and will stay until about January 13th. If all goes well with our paperwork, we should then be heading to Ukraine in very early February and be able to bring the girls home in March. We will take two trips to Ukraine and on the second trip be able to bring the girls home. Thank you for praying for us! Please pray that our USCIS approval arrives quickly – we want our documents to be ready to be submitted to Ukraine before they close for a 2 month holiday (Dec & Jan)!

We’re so excited about the puzzle fundraiser! We have 21 pieces sponsored so far and $254 donated!!! Praise God!

Can you guess what it is yet – probably not! I can’t wait until we have more pieces added so you can see the picture!

Thank you all for praying for us and for sponsoring the puzzle for the girls. We cannot wait to have them home!

We found out this week that Katya & Kristina’s 15 year old sister would like to come for Christmas (we have been hoping to have that information for quite a while now!). We’re very excited and a little anxious all at the same time. We are not sure if she wants to be adopted or not… she might make that decision after she spends a month with us. We are praying for her and ask that you would too. We’re excited to get to know her and share the love of Christ with her. Her name is Zhenya and we hope to have a picture of her to post soon. In less than 2 months, all three girls should be here to spend a month with us and we can’t wait! We hope you all get to meet them while they are here. They will return to Ukraine mid-January and we are praying that we will have them home forever by April. Thank you for your prayers!

One of the ways that has helped Anya make sense of all the “whys” in her life is to think of our lives as a puzzle. We can rest assured that God sees the ENTIRE puzzle and sometimes we only see one piece or a few pieces. It can be confusing & frustrating to just see part of the puzzle, but we know that God is the designer of a wonderful masterpiece!

Jack & I could never have imagined some of the pieces that would be part of our puzzle of life, but God had the perfect plan! We are constantly adding pieces and in the very near future, our daughters, Katya & Kristina, will be part of our puzzle! We are so excited!

We’d like you to be a part of the puzzle that brings our daughters home – literally! We are putting together a puzzle for Katya and Kristina. This is how it will work. Anyone who would like to sponsor a puzzle piece (or multiple pieces) can do so for $5 per piece. Just call, email or respond to this post to sponsor a piece. Please click here to see how you can send your contribution. Our family will write your name on the back of a piece and add it to the puzzle. The finished puzzle will be framed between two pieces of glass so we can see the front and back. It will be a visual reminder to us and the girls of all the people who helped bring them home. Faith and Anya wanted to be the first to sponsor their own pieces – they have emptied out their piggy banks to each give $5 of their own money to help bring their sisters home. They were so excited to start building the puzzle (see pictures below). Each of them has a unique perspective about what it takes to bring home an adopted child & the two of them probably have the best understanding!

And just as the puzzles of our lives are revealed, we are going to reveal the puzzle for Katya & Kristina one piece at a time. As the pieces are sponsored, we’ll put up a picture of the puzzle in progress. We hope everyone will check back to see the development and to start guessing at what the puzzle is!

Please pass this along to anyone you think might be interested in helping! We know that economically times are difficult, but we feel that $5 (the cost of a Starbucks coffee or a meal at McDonalds) is still a sacrifice most people can afford. And, you can be a part of the “big puzzle” for Katya & Kristina! Thank you!

Well, we’ve been waiting quite a while now (over 2 months) for information about Katya & Kristina regarding their legal status (do they have siblings who must be adopted with them and are Katya & Kristina in fact cleared for adoption?). Today we received some good, but vague news. We had found out that there were 2 other siblings, but did not have much more information. Today, we learned that one of the siblings is no longer in the orphanage system and will not be involved in our adoption process. They do have an older sister named Evgeniya (Jenya for short) who is 15 years old – we will petition to adopt her, but the decision will be hers. The best news is that the girls are “Registered” with the national orphan database (a process that would take over a year if it were not already complete). So, we are very excited about that! We are still waiting for more details about their older sister, Jenya, concerning her wishes regarding adoption. We would like to know if she would like to be adopted and if she would, we would really like for her to come stay with us this Christmas on the hosting program. Please pray that we find out this information by the end of this month – that is the deadline to notify New Horizons for Children in order for her to be included in the hosting program. We are getting very excited about the girls coming this Christmas and will be so glad when they are home for good. Thank you for your prayers!!!

We are working to put together a great cookbook called “From the Oven of Another” – Recipes to delight your taste buds and Adoption stories to warm your heart. If you or someone you know has an adoption story  or a recipe they would like to share, please download these forms and email them back to me so the story or recipe can be included. It’s going to be a great cookbook! The submission deadline is October 17th DEADLINE EXTENDED UNTIL OCTOBER 25th! – so get writing!!! Thanks!

Click on the links below to download the forms and save them to your computer as Word documents.

Click here to download the Adoption Story Submission Form

Click here to download the Recipe Submission Form