Well, first things first.....

Good news to all........
We completed all our goals! The rest is in our Lord's hands. Strong and mighty are they. We hit this crossroad when we were not sure what the outcome was going to be in Ethiopia. Now, God has showed us exactly which path to take.


The answered was: The road less traveled. 


In the morning, we head to meet our Ethiopian girls. Emili and Abbigale are 10 and they live in an orphanage in Kamashi. We are going to court this trip and then we have to go back to get them to come home after passing the embassy.


Then, we head to Ukraine......

One step closer and closer and closer.........

Today, we have completed a MAJOR milestone. For the last several weeks since the girls left, we have tried to gather as much fundraising activies as possible to help raise money. We completed 3 goals in the last 2 weeks.

1st goal- get the care package sent to Maggie to give to the girls on her visit

2nd goal- order all paperwork, collect all data and copies needed for the Ukranian dossier

3rd goal- get all papers notarized and notary validated to get apostilled

YAHOO!!!!!

Now, our homestudy update will be done Monday night. Then we wait.........

We leave for Ethiopia this Thursday for 2 weeks to go to court for our first trip.

Need Your Help

OK folks, I need your help. A family that we have become very close with in our adoption journey is  in need. They are adopting 4 siblings. That's right folks, 4! They are selling raffle tickets for an I Pad 2. The tickets are $10 each or 3 for $25. The drawing will be Oct. 25th. These are very loving people that are doing what God has called them to do.

You will be helping them AND getting chance to win an I Pad!! You can skip lunch one day to help four beautiful children join their forever family!!

You can write me a check or give me cash and they will mail the tickets to me. They live in North Carolina. Nope, they ARE NOT Duke fans!! I know that is important to us in Kentucky.

Seriously folks, PLEASE help if you can.

Roger

A letter to warm your soul.....

Thank you cards and handwritten letters are priceless. My heart breaks daily as I think about the girls staying there any longer than they have too. I wanted to share this beautiful letter and card I received form my girls.

I have only the translation emailed to me by Dima. I choose to keep that personal to myself. None the less, they are missing home and we miss them.

On Slow down......for now

We have had nothing but a slew of things hit all at once. Seems that We need to take a step back and breath right now. The cost of this and that has been unreal. I thought we would be able to use alot of our documents on the Ukrainian dossier. We could however, alot had to be updated and new certificates. That was more than I had anticipated it being. The new certificates and background check was needed for that and my updated home study.

The cost of our new updated home study and the I-600 fees have to be paid before we can do anything at all. Honestly, we do not have it right now. So, we have decided to continue to raise our money like we have been and then, we can resume. We have requested assistance grants/loans from several organizations but have not heard anything from them. Our agency has been wonderful and supportive at helping us. We have to keep in our mind that our needs must come before our desires.

Meanwhile, I will continue to make bracelets, necklaces, collect old cell phones and sell items we don't use to help raise the money needed to get the home study completed and our 1-600 filed. What God intends for us to have, he will give us. Please continue to pray for all our children.

Where to now?

Friends,
This is to let you know that we are completely sane! Yes, we want 6 kids........Yes, our 2 boys, 2 Ethiopians girls and 2 Ukrainian girls. During this past summer, we hosted these sweethearts and fell deeply in love with them. Most people have no idea about this part, but it is important for us to share.

During the late spring, we were really at a stand still waiting for information about Emili and Abigail....Not knowing if we would even be able to continue on, if the country was going to close or what......That lead us to not really knowing which direction to go. We listened to God and these little ones fell right into our laps. It had became more and more apparent as to what Gods plans were to us. We were intended to be their forever family.....But how? We have paid out of pocket our entire Ethiopian Adoption for one child and our church family helped along with Show Hope Grant to pay for 1/2 the second child. Now, here we stand again. Wondering, how am I going to afford another adoption?

I have friends who are helping from all angles and doing us favors to help off set the cost. Still, I sit wondering and worrying about how can I get them home to me. Nothing is free. The last adoption we have sold everything not in use, a car, jewelry, ATV, 3 TV's, Oak table and chair set, Video games and systems and had fundraisers. Now, what is next? God has plans and I know it but it seems very cloudy now as to what they are. I have applied to 3 agencies about assistance in the way of grants. I am waiting to hear from them. I ask for you to pray for the Lords will to be done.

I am working on some more fundraiser ideas.

Some people's kids??

        Well obviously, not everyone is concerned about the weather.......Some peoples kids....... :-)

We are very thankful to Marko and Lori Horb for opening their homes to our girls for the night and allowing them to call us. Marko was very kind to interpret to the girls everything that we wanted to make sure they understood. It was important for us to make sure, even though Anya is good at speaking English, that they understood things that were very important. He explained many things to them and we are so thankful for his help. 

I also received these pictures of the girls having fun on the beach before leaving Boston.

Everything has been clear so far for their trip to Kiev. Karen Medve, Maggie Scobie and Pat Throup had kept us updated on everything going on with the weather and making sure that they were safe.

Now, yes we have decided, as did they....they fit beautifully in our family. Yes, you heard right. God gives you what he wants for you to have.....That is our Motto!

                                           Yeah.........EVEN SUPERMAN WAS ADOPTED!