We finally have a blog!

Where do we start?

This has been a long process for us.  We met Ana through a hosting camp in August 2010.  We took longer than other families to make the adoption decision - we had 6 people who had to agree that this was right for our family!  When everyone felt that this was the right direction for us, we started moving forward.  There have been obstacles in the way:  changing from a facilitator to an agency, getting required paper work completed with busy careers and 4 kids, dealing with the negative comments, and the amount of money we had not saved for this!

It seems that most of these things are behind us and we are beginning to feel that this is actually going to happen now! There were reasons we weren't at the place we wanted to be and God knew exactly where we should be.

One of the most amazing things that has happened during the past month of renewed anticipation is our search for an adoption agency.  There were several reasons we were looking for someone new and we were so confused by all of the choices available. Our final decision was made easily when we realized God was leading us to this place for a couple of weeks. 

1.We received an email from  a message board, where we had been asking  adoption questions,  about a mission group called His Kids Too.  We read the message but just put it to the side thinking it was some kind of advertisement. 
2. The next week, as Jim was looking up Presbyterian missions in Ukraine, he came across His Kids, Too again. This time through the Presbyterian Women website. 
3.During this time we were still exploring all of our options, emailing and calling prospective agencies and facilitators.  I had read on a blog months ago about a mission program in Ana's orphanage city that houses and trains kids who have "aged out" of the orphanage.   We started thinking that maybe we were being called to something bigger.  Maybe we were meant to do more than adopt Ana.  One Saturday, I decided to look it up again but before I could do that, I read a friend's blog who was currently in the city to adopt.  He had posted a link to the same place that morning!  I wasn't even sure how I was going to find it since I couldn't remember the name of the place.  When I contacted the director  the program to ask about mission opportunities, we realized that his name was the same name that we read on the Board of Directors for His Kids, Too! 
4. The final A-ha moment was when we contacted the agency associated with His Kids, Too and found out that the agency director has adopted from Ana's city.  With all of the orphanages in Ukraine, that is pretty amazing!

We realize that we might have been a little slow in reading the signs but feel so good about the decision we have made.

We are now anxious to continue to move forward.  We are currently waiting for our Homeland Security fingerprinting.  After that, our agency has said the process will go quickly. 

 Our agency has asked if we plan on taking our children with us.  We had talked about it before but with the cost of airline tickets, decided it was out of our budget.  However, with a new agency and as we head in a different direction -   which will include mission work in the city and possibly with summer camps for local kids and kids from the orphanages, we realize what an amazing opportunity this would be for our kids.  This experience could mean far more than the additional funds it would take to make it happen.

Please pray for our family - all 7 of us - as we continue on this amazing and life changing journey!