Thanksgiving day was a great day of family and lots of food. The morning was stressful as I received e-mails back and forth from Dima, who was worried about some documents possibly being a problem at the SDA office. A friend of mine told me that our family should be on a reality TV show. I told him, "Well, if we were, they would see me freaking out right now!" Thank goodness my husband is a great cook because he was doing most of the "women's work" while I was freaking out on the computer. My mood got pretty low for a while and I started biting heads off and getting edgy. I decided I better just give it all over to God...after all, He IS able and He IS in control. There is absolutely nothing I can do. 

With Maria and Dima's help, we were able to straightened out a few things over e-mail, and a document was corrected today and will be priority mailed to him tomorrow. Dima will take care of getting the documents where they need to go but he went ahead and turned everything into their office today (at least that was the plan). It was such a miracle for the dossier to get to Ukraine on Thursday morning. What an answer to prayer! We know God will take care of all the details. He has brought us this far.

Finally, I read on a webpage today that the SDA office opened November 25th, and will begin issuing court dates the beginning of December. First they will issue to those who are already there (I'm sure there are many, many dossiers before ours). On December 6th they will begin issuing dates for families with a registration number. There will be no exceptions to adding anyone so I hope this includes us. At this point, I really don't know. Trusting in God! We are praying that we will get a court date very soon! OR....at least know something very soon. We appreciate your prayers for us and "Luke" during this time.

I keep reading this verse....you know how it goes...God just keeps bringing verses to you in one way or another. Well, This is a verse that God keeps showing me. He showed it to me right after a pastor friend of mine shared with me stories of how he gives clothes or food to directors of orphanages and then finds out that the children do not ever receive them. When he gives the items directly to the children, he gets chastised by the director. Here is the verse, but before we judge the directors of the orphanages, we need to look at what God is telling our own hearts when we read this:

"Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due, when it is within the power of your hand to do so." Proverbs 3:27

What might we be withholding that God wants us to give or do or say? Don't forget; if you have Jesus, you also have His power. We can do a lot! 

God doesn't call the qualified, He qualifies the called.

In the blog below, please read about our wonderful visit with Oleg: Such an awesome 'God thing' for God to bring Oleg all the way to Texas and allow us to meet him and hear all about how Luke is doing. God is constantly showing us that He is taking care of Luke while we are waiting for our adoption to happen.

Thank you God for constantly blowing our minds! (11/18/2011)

The next day, Saturday, we went to our son's soccer tournament. That night, we took off to College Station to hang out with our freshman in college, Brian, and nephews who were visiting him. We were so blessed hanging out in a dorm room with about 8 or 9 guys just talking and watching football. I guess we talked too loud because a security guard actually came and told us to be quiet. I was shocked. I'm sure the dorms who have parties and drinking are much louder than we were! 

We all went to church the next morning and had such an awesome day together.

Monday was a busy day of meeting friends for lunch and looking at some land that was recently purchased by a ministry called Trinity Oaks (https://trinityoaks.org/). It's the Outdoors Youth Ministry that we're involved in, so we were checking out the beautiful place that God provided. When we left the land, we headed off to a small town about 1 1/2 hours away to go to our youngest son, David's, basketball game. 

On the way to the game, I checked my email on my phone and saw that Dima had written a few emails. Dima is my facilitator in Kiev. He wrote 3 e-mails. The most important one said that he needed our dossier by this coming Monday or he would not be able to give it to the adoption office until February. I was in a slight state of shock because I knew we still had some important papers to get together. We also still needed our corrected home study that we had been waiting for. I called Maria, who helps me on this side of the world with all the paper work. After the game, we went over each document to find out what else I might be missing. I was short two documents that I didn't know I needed and also just one more that we knew we were missing. We picked up the home study and got things ready to be notarized for the next morning. This sounds like it was no big deal when I write it, but this was hours and soooo much stress! Maria helped me put all my papers in order and told me how to take the papers to Austin to get them Apostilled and then how to priority mail them all to Ukraine.

This was all last night after a super busy, but fun, weekend. I happen to be off this week due to Thanksgiving, but my husband is not off work. Thankfully, he was able to take off to help me get all that needed to be done today. I was so nervous, excited, anxious, scared. I was shaky; I'm never like this! My sweet daughter, Dana, gave me some verses before we left. She actually wrote them for me last week but had not had a chance to give them to me. Obviously, God knew I needed them today.

Proverbs 16:3 "Commit to the Lord whatever you do and you will succeed." and

Psalms 27:14 "Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord."

Those verses really comforted me and I claimed Proverbs 16:3 as we pulled out of the driveway.               OK, To make a long story short (why do people always say that but they don't make the story short?) :)

We got our papers notarized and took off to Austin to do what needed to be done there. No problems at all, yet I was so nervous! When the lady handed me the stack of completed documents I wanted to hug the lady....or at least the stack of documents....but, I didn't. I just smiled really big and I think I jumped up and down a little, but didn't actually leave the ground. 

The dossier is now on it's way to Ukraine and may even be there by Thursday! It's completely in God's hands and I'm so relieved that it's completely out of mine. There's nothing else I can do at this point. 

The SDA office is still not issuing court dates, however Dima feels they may begin issuing dates next week. Until that really happens we won't know, and they will issue dates for those who filed their papers first. One thing in our favor is that our child is older. If we were  adopting a young child, we would be on a very long waiting list for a date. Either way....no matter what....it's God's timing. He's in control.

The cool thing about all this, even though we were so stressed getting everything done in less than 24 hours and even though we had to rush off to Austin to get our documents Apostilled and mailed off so quickly... The cool thing is our prayers from Friday night, with Dima, Craig, and Nancy were answered. God certainly sped things up with the adoption papers. We've been praying for things to speed up for quite a while and they've been moving. Now the dossier is mailed and we're so thankful for this answered prayer. 

I have a little story to tell you that I think is pretty incredible. It's one of those God things, ya know? This past weekend Bill and I got to meet "Luke's" pastor, Oleg. I've been looking forward to this weekend for several weeks-ever since Oleg told me he was going to be coming to Houston. Silly me...I actually thought I might be in Ukraine at the same time he was in Houston. But, nope, I'm not in Ukraine yet!

Our 16 year old son, Trent (who is injured right now), had a soccer tournament in Houston the same weekend. Our oldest son, Mike, is the assistant coach of the team, so we were all going to be in Houston any way....coincidence? 

Friday night, Bill and I met Oleg and his friends Craig and Nancy for dinner. I was so excited I could hardly stand it and I think Oleg felt the same way. We had never met in person but we knew each other as soon as we saw each other at the mall in the Woodlands. We talked for a few hours and we heard wonderful updates about Luke. Oleg made a video of Bill and me saying priviet and 'I love you and miss you and we're working hard on our adoption papers'. He will show the video to Luke. I gave Oleg a Community Bible praise and worship CD (in Russian) and a card and also a present and card for Luke. Oleg gave me a book and a present and card from Luke. Luke said he loves and misses me. :)  : )  : )   He made me a beautiful strawberry pattern cross stitch. Before we left for the night, Oleg asked Craig to pray for us. He knew our adoption was not going as fast as we wanted. The paper work was going so slow...so many changes, the home study taking forEVER to get back to us, and a few more documents needed to be notarized. Craig prayed for us and prayed for God's timing. 

Thank you, God for this awesome night of fellowship! And thank you for Oleg, who takes care of the widows and orphans. 

Wow....I really do NOT like paper work. We faxed 47 pages of documents to Maria (the lady helping us with the adoption papers) so that she could check on how things were looking. We did this 2 Saturdays ago and were hoping to have everything completed by now. Everything looked pretty good until they were emailed to Dima, in Ukraine, to look over. Dima had some documents that were similar to Maria's that he wanted me to use instead. Also, the Prime Minister of Ukraine had just made some recent changes in the Medical documents and some other documents. So ,now, late Wednesday night, I finially have another new stack of documents. At least half our stack as to be redone. The Homestudy has to have changes which always seems to take forever. 

Tomorrow I hope to get as much done as possible so that the documents can be notarized and re-sent. As soon as the dossier is completed, we will send it all to Dima to be checked. Bill and I will then take it to Austin and then Dima will translate it and send it to the SDA (adoption) office in Ukraine.

Oh, and did I mention the SDA office is not issuing court dates right now? This happens off and on there all the time. Once they open again, they will catch up on who ever filed their paperwork first and then it will be our turn. One thing I remember from friends who have adopted in the past is that December and January are full of holidays and thier government offices are closed a lot during these months. They have New Years before Christmas. If I remember right, Christmas is January 6th. So, we may not even be able to get a date until late January or Febuary.

All this to say, I have NO idea when we will be in Ukraine. I was so hoping to already be there. God's timing is perfect. God's will is perfect. Waiting on Him is hard and waiting to bring "Luke" home is hard as well. I thank God that we are moving forward and I thank Him that He continues to show us that He is taking care of "Luke". We continue to pray for Luke's protection and safety as he is out of the orphanage and in 'college', living in a dorm with no supervision. Please pray for protection for Luke mentally, spiritually, and physically. Our God is able and He is capable of doing more than we can ever hope or imagine. 

Before I close, I have a huge thank you and praise! Our church, which is only 2 years old, gave Bill and me a HUGE check on Sunday to help out with the adoption expenses. What a surprise and what a blessing! Our church is such a picture of what Jesus teaches The Church to be. They teach us to live each day missionarily and to follow God by taking huge risks, aligned with great obedience, followed by great perseverance.  We continue to walk in this truth; the gift that our church gave to us is a picture of a blessing that God showed us to continue to persevere.

Do Not Worry

     “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life^b?

And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own."

     Once again, God has shown me that He is taking care of my boy while he is still in Ukraine and we're all the way over here on the other side of the world. On Saturday, "Luke" asked if he should buy a winter coat. He wanted to know if he was still going to be in Ukraine during the winter. We told him he should go ahead and do that since it will be cold soon. We told him we would send money for a coat and he said he didn't want us to do that. He only wanted to know if he should get one. He gets money from the government every month to buy food and wanted to use that for a coat. We sure didn't want him to do that, so we decided we were going to make sure he didn't have to spend his own money. We've been constantly praying for his needs to be met and for him to be safe and taken care of.

      I email the friend who was trying to get Luke into the House of Hope to see if there was still money left that I sent.  Before I heard back from him, I ,out of the blue, got a Facebook chat message from the pastor who looks out for our future son. It was after midnight in Ukraine so I was surprised to hear from him. He said he's been talking with Luke a lot and he's doing well. He also said that an American friend gave him 20 bags of clothes for his ministery.This pastor ministers to orphans, teens on the streets, and also the older people around him. Because of God's provision, this pastor was able to provide Luke with everything he needs for the winter. Luke will not have to use his money (or anyone's money) to buy a coat or winter clothes. God's promises are real. We don't have to worry about what to wear. He really does care and He really does hear our prayers.

     There's a special place in God's heart for the fatherless. May God bless those men and their families who are caring for my sweet boy and other orphans. James 1:27 "Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world."

I already love Skype because I can talk with my dear friends in Ukraine for free. We can "text" or video chat even though we are a world and  8 hours apart. When I am in Ukraine on mission trips, I can Skype with my family at home (the family members who aren't with me in Ukraine, that is).

Now I have an even deeper love for Skype because Bill and I had the best Skype date ever on Saturday morning! My unofficial Ukrainian "son" (who I won't mention so I won't get him in trouble with any orphanage directors or workers) helps me with anything I need done in Ukraine. He has such heart for these kids and loves to help in any way he can. This is not the son I will be adopting so don't be confused. He just calls me "Mom" and I call him "son" (because I love him like a son) - we have been ministering together since our school first started going to Ukraine. He started out as a 19 year old translator for us and now he organizes and leads our trips for our team.  That was a little side note just to say, my unofficial son brought our future son, who I'll call "Luke" to also protect his identity, to a restaurant with WI FI so that we could Skype. He translated for us while we had a great conversation.

Our talk went great. Luke is adorable. He smiles all the time and jokes. He told us what he likes to cook since he now has to cook for himself. When he gets here he'll teach us how to make borsch (a kind of soup) and salad. He asked if we liked shish-kabobs. We, of course, said, "YES!" He said he likes them with pork. We joked and said we like them with sabaka and kotchka, which is dog and cat in Russian. He made a shocked face and we told him "Shutka!" Which means, "Joke". He thought that was pretty funny.

We talked about school but he didn't like calling it school because he's in college now. I explained that here it will still be school. It will be high school. We also talked about his brothers and sister and her little baby. We told him how we are so excited that he is coming here. He can't wait. His face just lights up when he talks about it. He is really looking forward to being here.

We were happy to find out that he was planning on going to church the next day. We're hoping he will continue to be faithful in this. He (as we all do) needs the strong Christian community and encouragement. He needs to have the accountability, the fellowship, and a Christian family around him.

I thank God for this Skype session we had and I thank my friend for translating for us.  It made my weekend!

On Sunday, the pastor facebooked some pictures of Viktor with the himself and his wife. They took him to lunch and then to their house. What a blessing for Luke to get to spend time in a Christian family setting. They allowed him to skype with an American friend. I was already leaving for church so I didn't hear my Skype call. I found out he knows a whole youth group in America who he can't wait to see again. They have been to his orphanage 3 times and he has their contact information and plans to see them when he is here. I think that's awesome!

One more thing before I close. My friend who has been sending me incredible wisdom and advice also sent me a sermon that has inspired me so much. A pastor named Clay Peck, from Colorado, has a sermon called "Rescue Mission". He and his wife adopted a teenage girl from Ukraine and he preached a sermon about what God taught him. It's an amazing story. I will post the link to his sermon and I highly encourage all of you to listen to it. You don't have to be adopting to listen to it. You will gain so much from this sermon. Also, if you like to read, I also highly encourage you to read the blog he wrote during and after the adoption. I'm not actually finished reading it but it's like reading one of those novels that you just can't put down. And when you're not reading it, you're thinking about it. As you read it, God is just..... speaking to you, reminding you and revealing to you that He is Who He says He is. He is mighty, He is our Father. He hears our prayers. He still does miracles. He cares. He does more than we could think or imagine. He shows Himself to us in a way we've never seen Him before. So, whether you're adopting or not or whether you go on mission trips or not doesn't matter. You should read this blog that I will be posting below. (Pastor Peck did give permission for me to post these so feel free to write to him if you are as moved as I was!)

https://graceplace.org/media/sermons/?sermon_id=77

Here is the blog link

https://claypeck.com/adoption-journey/

Happy reading. It's the book you can't put down. :)

I'm super excited that I might get to Skype with our Ukrainian son Friday night (his Saturday morning). That's the plan, anyway. These plans can always change of course, but for now, I'm hoping and praying that we will get to do talk on Friday night. 

It's so cute because he just sits and smiles and I talk to my friend while he translates for me. "Luke" (not real name but we'll call him Luke for now) is more shy on Skype than he is in person and can't really think of anything to say (due to the language barrier). It will be SO GREAT to see him and talk with him though! This is one great things about him being out of the orphanage....we are able to do this more easily. The orphanage where he lived was extremely strict and it would have been almost impossible. Although, we were able to a few times. 

I'll update again after we Skype, of course! 

     I thank God for friends who have adopted and love to send encouraging words and wise counsel now that they know I am now going through what they have already gone through. They have been there for me to answer questions, give advice and encouragement, and pray.

     The way God put many of these friends in my life is quite unique. I meet incredible preteen/ teenage orphans in Ukraine on the mission trips.Those of us on the trip literally love them right away; it's a love that can't be explained or understood.The love can only come from God Himself. Just as you love a child as soon as you have that sweet little baby, we love these kids as soon as we see them and hug them and spend time with them. God just pours His love through us and into them. 

     Somehow, someway, even all the way across the world, I seem to find out when one of "my kids" are being adopted. When I hear about their adoption being in process, I follow their parent's blog and keep up with the kids. Many times the parents and I become very good friends and keep in touch through e-mail and/or facebook. A lot of times the kids and I stay in touch through facebook or texting or even a phone call ever so often.  I love this! What a blessing it is that we can continue our friendship.

     I received an encouraging word from one of these friends and I asked permission to share her e-mail on my blog. Such an awesome reminder-one that I probably better print out and glue to the front of my adoption "notebook" (if you will) :)  so that I won't forget the words any too soon. These words can really be a great reminder for anyone who is taking a stand for God or doing anything that God has asked you to do that the enemy is none too happy about:

     I believe that the enemy attacks you when you adopt at every turn  because it is so close to God's heart. Keep remembering that "He that  is in you in GREATER than he that is in the world". Don't get  discouraged, the battle isn't yours. Just keep doing the NEXT right  thing and leave the results to God. I often forgot these words and it  caused me lots of tears and needless worry. You have entered the  battle but it is one I am so thankful God deemed me worthy to fight. Bless you my sister for being willing to fight for one of his. You  will be changed by this process in ways you never imagined. David and  I had been on many many mission trips and thought this would be  similar. NOT! My life has been turned upside down and inside out and  I am so grateful. God is so very very good.

Our new blog has been launched today. Stay focused on it and we will try to keep you informed. You can read new posts on this blog via the RSS feed.

This past summer, I only had one day with Viktor the whole time we were on our trip. The previous summer, I was only able to see him one day as well. Such a bummer, but I am still very thankful for those days. Besides, I knew that wasn't the reason for our trip. The purpose for our trip was to show God's love to the kids and teach them what the Word of God says about Jesus, and just spend time with them. We were there to be the hands and feet of Jesus.

 I don't know if I'm allowed to say this out in public before we adopt him, but Viktor and I met 4 years ago in his orphanage. I fell in love with him right away. I remember his eyes. He looked directly into mine and smiled. All the kids look at you and wait to see what your expression says back. They have pleading eyes; eyes that say, "please accept me and love me". He has the exact eyes as I do-same shape and color. He also has the same freckles on the sides of his nose that my kids had.  I had to have someone get a picture of us face to face. What an adorable smile he has in that picture. Once I know it's ok to post pictures, I'll post that picture along with new ones.

On a more current note, Viktor graduated from his orphanage, therefore, he had to leave in August and go to "college" (which is high school, except in a dorm with other kids). We were really worried about him living there since there will not really be any one there to take care of him, protect him, meet his physical needs, or give him the emotional support he will need. I have two close friends who are watching out for him, but for most orphans, they really have no one and this is where they end up on the streets. There are not many people who are there helping them once they leave the orphanage. There is really no one teaching them life skills. There are not many people encouraing them or taking care of them. There are some missionaries (local and foreign) who try to help, but the need is overwhelming. Some churches also minister to them the best they can.

Viktor is way too young to be in this situation. Since I couldn't go and move to Ukraine and take care of him myself (and boy did we consider that) we looked into having him move in to our dear old friend's House Of Hope. The House of Hope is a home that helps boys go through school and then college as they live in a family situation with a Christian mom and dad. They are taught about God's love and taught how to be godly young men and at the same time, also taught life skills. Everything was set up for this to happen, but it still has not worked out.

This is kind of long, but hang in there, you're going to hear about how awesome God is and how He loves to show Himself strong. He cares about us so much. I found out last week that Viktor did not get to move into the House of Hope. A friend of mine is still working on this and in the meantime, he bought him food and clothes. I began to worry about who was taking care of him, what if he's not safe, and is he sad, etc, etc. I do not usually worry but I couldn't stop worrying. I posted on my facebook that I was super bummed about this. My daughter, Dana, who has the gift of encouragement, posted this on my facebook:   Now to Him who is able to do IMMEASURABLY more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us." Ephesians 3:20

I was like, WOW....I'm going to claim that verse. I gave it all over to God and told Him I trust Him and I know He loves Viktor even more than we do. 

I was out of internet and cell phone range for the next few days because I was on a retreat with our school's middle schoolers. When I returned, I had a facebook friend request from a man in Ukraine. I didn't know who he was, but we had some mutual Christian facebook friends so I accepted his friend request. Later that night, out of the blue, he sends me a picture. I looked to see what the picture was and it was VIKTOR! My heart jumped and smiled! It looked like Viktor was in an office and had a phone and headphones...must have been listening to music. I started looking through the man's pictures and saw some pictures of Viktor at the orphanage but couldn't comment on them because the pictuers belonged to someone else. So, being the facebook stalker that I am, I went to that person's facebook and sent her a message. She wrote on the picture that she was there on mission trip and that's how she met the man, my new fb friend, and the teenagers. All weekend, we wrote back and forth and I found out that Viktor goes to their church and the man is the pastor  and takes care of Viktor, takes him places, mentors him, and loves him. I found out the lady, who's name is Holly, is a missionary nurse and has lived there for about 1 1/2 years. I also have another friend named Misha who goes to that church. I've known Misha for 8 years.

The reason for this very long story you ask? WELL...I'm glad you asked! God was showing me, "Hey, I got this"! I claimed that verse that says He can do IMMEASURABLY more than we ask or imagine. I was worried about who was going to take care of Viktor for me. I had two friends who were going to do their best to look out for him already, and then God showed me these others that I didn't even know about. He didn't have to do this. He didn't have to show me. But He loves His children so much that He wants us to see His hand at work. When we trust in Him, He'll open our eyes to what He is doing. He can always do a better job than us anyway, so we might as well give it all to Him...especially when it's completely out of our control anyway. I'm amazed by Him! I'm so thankful for His love that I DO NOT deserve!

I can't believe all that is involved with paperwork, mailing documents in, finding out you need to send more in, and then waiting. After all that, there is still so much to do and every thing is so time consuming. I am not going to get into all of it right now. Orginally, I was going to write all the details, and maybe I will on a different page because I know how important it is to anyone who is interested in adopting. I know one thing, if it wasn't for the help of a lady named Maria, who lives near Ft Worth, Texas, we would have no idea what our next step was or what paperwork needed to be done or how to do it. She has been so helpful and so patient.