No Visit today...

we went to the facility to visit with D as we were told everyday visits including weekends....however, when we got there we were turned away. The workers were very very kind to us but the director (who we did not meet) informed the workers it would be best for only mon-fri. visits...so we are sad but ofcourse we smile happily, thank them and walk out the gate. I think all is ok, but it could be some possible opposition we might face with the director and doctor...please pray there would be no opposition there. So today and tomorrow we have a full day of nothing.  Our facilitator now that we are here works on all the paperwork and sice we cannot visit D we are about to get out and walk this town. EVERYONE here walks EVERYWHERE...so maybe I can take my camera and get some good pictures to keep for our son. He in fact was not born in the town but in a town several hours away. Please keep praying that all our papers would be in good shape and we would be processed quickly. The Lord is Lord over all.

After 10 months of adoption pregnancy...

and a 14 hour train ride...I embraced my son today with a million kisses! HE WAS worth it ALL!! I cannot put into words the emotions. We are much more in love with him than we ever dreamed imaginable. He is an absolute perfect fit for our family. He is doing far better than we had expected. He can walk with help but in his little mind he is ready to run and he LOVES to laugh...he is just precious! He is a little taller than Beth but shorter than Luke...he weighs less than Beth, very tiny.He is  6 and looks like he is 2 1/2 or3 and seems to be on the level of a 2 1/2 to 3 year old. We do not think he can talk but he is VERY motivated and VERY energetic.  He is not from what we see in critical condition...he is full of life and love. I will try to get pictures tomorrow when we go for our visit. We have visitation everyday while the paperwork process is being completed for court. Please continue to pray for a smooth and quick process so that Mike and I can leave here together with him ( I do not want to be left here alone, it is very intimidating to me here). Continue to pray that would would continue to find favor with the officials specifically those at the orphanage. Pray for our safety (the taxi today was going 120mph on icy roads!! with no seat belts in any of these cars!!) and for our 4 little ones back home and for Sarah and Jody. There is still so much that could fall through and nothing is final until we are on that plane coming home...please keep praying.

Lord willing I will get pictures of him tomorrow....here are a couple pictures from our train ride and our new place we will call home for the rest of our trip here. It is very primitive and is a step or 2 or 3 :) down from our last apartment but we are just thankful it has heat and wireless Internet!! Other than that it does not have much. I think we have warm water but no washer...it seemed to be the nicer place in town (just a few miles from D) so we are thankful for it.

 What a funny picture, honey :)

 Us in our little train compartment....it was a bit chilly :)

 The best we could find here for accommodations, no much but we are thankful for it.

Prayer Please

Tomorrow night (Thurs. morning, I think your time) we will be leaving on a long 14 hour train ride to our child's region...once there we will take a taxi to his town, hopefully find somewhere to stay, then clean up and go to the facility to see him, Lord willing...We need much prayer to find favor with the orphanage director and doctor...today was a huge mountain that we made it over but we have many more mountains to climb...this could be a very long and hard process. The temps. here are brutal to say the least...far worse than SD. If we stay in his town we could possibly be staying somewhere without Internet, heat and hot water....we will just have to see. We may have to stay about an hour from his town and take a taxi into his town for daily visits...this town an hour away would give us better accommodations. Please keep praying for us, so much at this point could still fall through. Continue in your prayers please for our children, for Sarah and Jody.

Pictures from today....

 Downtown Kiev (Ukraine's capital)

 Can you say COLD!

Our SDA appointment

Very humbled...we just got back from our SDA appointment....we were given the referral for the child we had hoped for, we are so thankful. The SDA worker was very kind to us. We were told a little of his medical history, the severity of it. We were told where he was born and very very little about his background. We were also shown many files on other little boys as the SDA worker wanted us to take 2 boys :) We know our little guy will need 100% of us and after looking at the other children they offered us, we were again drawn only to our little one. We accepted the referral and will leave tomorrow night on a 14 hour train ride to his region....we will be meeting him very soon, Lord willing. Please continue to pray for the process as until we are on the airplane headed home, so much can happen in the paperwork process. Pray God would clear the paths and that we would be able to get out of here with him in miraculous timing. We saw several pictures of him, he has very much declined since his transfer...we need to get him medical care asap.

More pictures...

 Our apt. from our door

 Bathroom with big tub and nice walk in shower and plenty of hot water to enjoy for now.

 Our bedroom and luggage :)

 Kitchen from the living room.

 living room..our washer in in our kitchen and if you look closely in  this pic. you will see to the left a little room with a close rack next to a heater...most people here have washers but not dryers.

 From our apt. window Did I tell you it is much colder than SD here :) Lots of snow and people walk everywhere. Our flight was delayed because of the cold and a couple hundred have lost their lives and many hospitalized because of the severe cold.

A bit out of order...here we are at our hotel in Dallas waiting on the shuttle to take us to the airport.Early a.m.

We made it to the homeland of our child...

boy it is a feeling I cannot explain, we feel so close to our child (whoever that may be). Here are some pictures of our trip so far. Our apartment here is very nice and we are very thankful for it...when we leave for our child's region we will be staying in a much much more primitive place. Today (Tues.) we headed out on our own to exchange money and soak all this in. We were hungry but before we could get anything to eat we had to find a bank...not so easy when you cannot read any of the signs or understand any of the language. After finding what looked like a bank and thankfully it was....we exchanged some money...seems so easy but it was a bit harder than that. We do have a phone on us and we can call our facilitator anytime he will translate to us or whatever we need...so far today we got by well enough on our own. We found this big underground market of stores and a very big nice underground mall. It really is a completely different world. Our apt. manager said 3% of Uk**aine are wealthy and they all seem to live here where we are. The other 97% are very poor and live in these regions outside of the capital. She said there is no middle class. If I could sum up today it would be with the word extravagant...people with big fur hats, big fur coats and very high heals. The people here are just beautiful. I feel safe and already alot more settled than I felt getting in last night. Please pray for us tomorrow it is a very big day for us...tomorrow (wed am) for us is Tuesday night for you. Pray God's will to be done and for the peace of God to abound in our hearts no matter what news tomorrow brings as we meet with the officials. Thank you for the prayers.

There were so many people I had planned on calling before we left the country but so much happened. To give a quick re cap...we made it safely to Texas with beautiful weather and we are thankful for that as a snow storm came through the same states we were driving through many hours after we made it through! Once in Texas we had some nice/sweet time with Mike's family and spend much time loving on our babies who were just happy to be with their cousins I think their minds were somewhat off of Momma and Daddy leaving, that is a good thing. Our transmission went out in our van after we got to Texas..thankfully Mike's dad will be finding someone to work on it while we are away, that kept us from having to deal with it before we left. So...we are especially thankful for nice weather and that God himself got us to Texas before our transmission went out. Ofcourse saying by to the kids was the hardest thing I have ever had to do but I know they are having fun and so far everything has worked out for us to talk with them everyday. Please continue to pray for Sarah and Jody and our little children, that God would be with them during this time.

As far as our trip here...we flew from Dallas to Charlotte( where my cell phone went dead and there was no where to charge it..another reason I did not get to call so many people). from Charlotte to Germany (our first taste in a new world) and then from Germany to here....boy the flight from Charlotte to Germany was a bit rough in that it was long...we we finally arrived here to our apt. last night my ankles and leges were so swollen! Our facilitator then had a driver (who spoke no English ofcourse but was very kind) pick us up and bring us to our apt. we felt very safe with our driver. At the apt. to meet us was a wonderful lady (our apt. manager) she was so kind and helpful to us...if you ever come here I would highly recommend her and her apts. to anyone!

Well...looks like I have got caught up.. we will be here until Thurs night our time) then we will head out on a train to our child's region. The tickets have already been purchased and if we need to change the destination we will for a small fee...we were told they should be purchased early before they sold out...our facilitator took care of all those arrangements for us. I am not sure when or if I will have internet again once we leave Thurs. night. I will post again when I can. Remember to pray for us, our safety, our meeting tomorrow, our children and Sarah and Jody.

Here are some pictures if you are interested. :)

 Mike and I at the Dallas airport...that refreshed look did not last very long :)

At Charlotte waiting on our flight to Germany. TSA walking around  and passport checks were happening alot...it was interesting.

 Our dinner..we flew Lufthansa airlines..highly recommended, quality service.

 In Munich, Germany waiting on our delayed flight to Kie*...at this point we were so sore and exhausted.

Ukra**an money. Grevna is how you say it :) One U.S. dollar for every 8 grevna