He is risen indeed! Greetings to all of you on this special day of renewal and rebirth!
This past week has been one of great sadness and great joy, and I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of our family and friends that have reached out with your kind thoughts and comforting prayers during this difficult week. Each day, I’m reminded of the amazing people that we have been blessed to have in our lives, and we thank God for each and every one of you.
We love you all, and we thank you from the depths of our hearts for your continued friendship and encouragement!!!!!
Sunday, April 08, 2007
A Bittersweet Day – 3 April
My mother left this world on Sunday evening, 1 April, after a 2 ½ year battle with lung cancer. She died peacefully at Visiting Nurse and Hospice Home surrounded by our family. While I miss her terribly, I could not have chosen a better way for her to pass. The people at VNHH were the best…kind, caring, and dedicated to keeping Mom comfortable and caring for all of us during her stay.
We held a family calling on Tuesday, 3 April, to say goodbye to Mom. Joined on this day with the sadness of this final goodbye was the sweet joy of receiving word of our appointment date in Kiev, where we will receive permission to travel to Masha’s orphanage to begin the final steps in our adoption!
We meet with the officials in Kiev on Wednesday, 16 May…our ninth wedding anniversary! We will most likely travel to Ukraine over Mother’s Day weekend, and will probably be able to see Masha on either Thursday or Friday of that week!
Once in her city, we will begin proceedings by requesting a local court appointment to hear the case for our adoption. If all goes well, we understand that this will probably be a little over 2 weeks after our appointment in Kiev. At this hearing, we hope to be granted our petition to adopt Masha. Then we have a mandatory waiting period of ten business days, which is required following all decisions in Ukrainian courts.
After this waiting period, our adoption will be final and the official decree will be signed and translated for us. Once all the papers are issued, we will scramble to get amended birth certificates and a new passport issued, and then we head back to Kiev for about three days of appointments at the US Embassy for her visa.
In all, we expect to be in Ukraine for just about 5 weeks. While it seems like a long trip (and I’m sure we’ll be VERY ready to come home), it’s nothing in the perspective of the lives that will be changed from it!
Now that we have news and movement, I expect we’ll be posting a little more frequently. We are beginning our travel preparations, and Mark’s sister is planning a “baby” shower for us! Lots to do…and we leave in about 5 weeks!
We held a family calling on Tuesday, 3 April, to say goodbye to Mom. Joined on this day with the sadness of this final goodbye was the sweet joy of receiving word of our appointment date in Kiev, where we will receive permission to travel to Masha’s orphanage to begin the final steps in our adoption!
We meet with the officials in Kiev on Wednesday, 16 May…our ninth wedding anniversary! We will most likely travel to Ukraine over Mother’s Day weekend, and will probably be able to see Masha on either Thursday or Friday of that week!
Once in her city, we will begin proceedings by requesting a local court appointment to hear the case for our adoption. If all goes well, we understand that this will probably be a little over 2 weeks after our appointment in Kiev. At this hearing, we hope to be granted our petition to adopt Masha. Then we have a mandatory waiting period of ten business days, which is required following all decisions in Ukrainian courts.
After this waiting period, our adoption will be final and the official decree will be signed and translated for us. Once all the papers are issued, we will scramble to get amended birth certificates and a new passport issued, and then we head back to Kiev for about three days of appointments at the US Embassy for her visa.
In all, we expect to be in Ukraine for just about 5 weeks. While it seems like a long trip (and I’m sure we’ll be VERY ready to come home), it’s nothing in the perspective of the lives that will be changed from it!
Now that we have news and movement, I expect we’ll be posting a little more frequently. We are beginning our travel preparations, and Mark’s sister is planning a “baby” shower for us! Lots to do…and we leave in about 5 weeks!
VIP Visitors – 27 March
Even though Masha was not able to come to the US for the last two weeks of March, we appreciated the opportunity to host the director of her orphanage and one of the orphanage workers on Tuesday, 27 March.
Mark was a tremendous blessing and a help to me in shopping, cleaning, and preparing for their visit to our home, as I was spending almost all of my free time helping tend to my mother. At about 11:30, we picked Ludmila and Kseniya up at the home where they were staying, and brought them to our house for lunch.
Kseniya served as a fabulous translator, and also provided great insight of her own, as she works closely with the children as well. We learned much about Ukraine, the orphanage, and Masha. Best of all, Ludmila and Kseniya provided us with a phone number for the orphanage, and they are allowing us to call Masha once a month until we are able to go to Ukraine!!!!! Our first call will probably be next week.
We showed them the video of the children’s presentation from last summer, and we told them (truthfully) what wonderful children they are caring for. We talked for a long time, shared a lot of food, and then delivered them to the next set of parents.
Later that evening, the whole group of us (four families, plus Ludmila and Kseniya) shared a full Thanksgiving dinner at the Stewart’s home. We have been so blessed to have such a tremendous support system of families that are in pretty much the same boat, working with the same people through the same process as we are, and we take such encouragement from all of them!
The day was a success…we know that Masha is healthy and doing well in school, but she is anxiously waiting for us to come to Ukraine and bring her home. A number of times, Ludmila stressed to us the importance of consistency and setting limits. We also learned more about some of the losses that Masha has been through, and the circumstances that brought her to the orphanage.
We will have our work cut out for us to earn her trust and to help her grieve the losses in her life and heal the old wounds, but we trust God to help us all, and to do a great work in all our lives. People have told us what a great thing we are doing for Masha, but my answer is that she is doing a much greater thing for us…bringing her light and strength and spirit into our home and teaching me about a love I never could have imagined.
Mark was a tremendous blessing and a help to me in shopping, cleaning, and preparing for their visit to our home, as I was spending almost all of my free time helping tend to my mother. At about 11:30, we picked Ludmila and Kseniya up at the home where they were staying, and brought them to our house for lunch.
Kseniya served as a fabulous translator, and also provided great insight of her own, as she works closely with the children as well. We learned much about Ukraine, the orphanage, and Masha. Best of all, Ludmila and Kseniya provided us with a phone number for the orphanage, and they are allowing us to call Masha once a month until we are able to go to Ukraine!!!!! Our first call will probably be next week.
We showed them the video of the children’s presentation from last summer, and we told them (truthfully) what wonderful children they are caring for. We talked for a long time, shared a lot of food, and then delivered them to the next set of parents.
Later that evening, the whole group of us (four families, plus Ludmila and Kseniya) shared a full Thanksgiving dinner at the Stewart’s home. We have been so blessed to have such a tremendous support system of families that are in pretty much the same boat, working with the same people through the same process as we are, and we take such encouragement from all of them!
The day was a success…we know that Masha is healthy and doing well in school, but she is anxiously waiting for us to come to Ukraine and bring her home. A number of times, Ludmila stressed to us the importance of consistency and setting limits. We also learned more about some of the losses that Masha has been through, and the circumstances that brought her to the orphanage.
We will have our work cut out for us to earn her trust and to help her grieve the losses in her life and heal the old wounds, but we trust God to help us all, and to do a great work in all our lives. People have told us what a great thing we are doing for Masha, but my answer is that she is doing a much greater thing for us…bringing her light and strength and spirit into our home and teaching me about a love I never could have imagined.
Thursday, March 22, 2007
...And More Encouragements
Right after I posted the last update, I got an email with a letter from Masha!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
She misses us and she just started a new dance class. She sees her friend Khrystyna often, and she is waiting for us "with great impatience"!!!!!
I miss her soooooo much!!!!!!!!
She misses us and she just started a new dance class. She sees her friend Khrystyna often, and she is waiting for us "with great impatience"!!!!!
I miss her soooooo much!!!!!!!!
Disappointments and Encouragements
When God closes a door, He opens a window.....At least that's what Mark and I keep trying to remember this week. Masha was scheduled to arrive in Denver last Saturday night, and then fly home to us for a two week visit on Sunday. Unfortunately, due to some communication challenges, Masha and two other children were left off the visa list and were unable to travel.
We have learned that the kids knew much earlier than we did, and that they were told that their parents would be coming to Ukraine soon to bring them home...So the rug wasn't pulled out from under them. We were very comforted to know that this was only an issue of managing our own disappointment and not the kids'.
We also got the opportunity to speak briefly to a representative of Masha's orphanage on the phone a couple of days ago. While the conversation was short, it was very encouraging. She told us that Masha is healthy, happy, and can't wait for us to come for her. Masha has been receiving the packages that we've been sending, and she is doing great in school. We are encouraged by this news!
We also will have the opportunity to host the orphanage's Director and the woman we spoke with (a worker at the orphanage and also a translator for the group currently in Denver) for lunch next Tuesday in our home. The Director and translator are coming to Indiana for a couple of days to meet with the families that hosted children during last summer's program. It will give her a chance to meet us all first-hand, and to see the environments that the children she's cared for will soon call home. We hope she approves of us!!!
In the meantime, we wait. And wait. And wait. We are still waiting to hear that our dossier has been accepted by the Ukrainian adoption authority and to be granted an invitation to come to Ukraine to adopt Masha. Our dossier was submitted on or around 7 February, and the 20-day waiting period was up early last week. So far, our facilitators in Ukraine have not been able to get any information about our appointment, but parents in the group that had documents submitted in mid-January have begun to receive invitation letters. We watch the mail pretty closely these days!!!!
We appreciate all of your prayers and positive thoughts.....they mean the world to us, as do all of you!
We have learned that the kids knew much earlier than we did, and that they were told that their parents would be coming to Ukraine soon to bring them home...So the rug wasn't pulled out from under them. We were very comforted to know that this was only an issue of managing our own disappointment and not the kids'.
We also got the opportunity to speak briefly to a representative of Masha's orphanage on the phone a couple of days ago. While the conversation was short, it was very encouraging. She told us that Masha is healthy, happy, and can't wait for us to come for her. Masha has been receiving the packages that we've been sending, and she is doing great in school. We are encouraged by this news!
We also will have the opportunity to host the orphanage's Director and the woman we spoke with (a worker at the orphanage and also a translator for the group currently in Denver) for lunch next Tuesday in our home. The Director and translator are coming to Indiana for a couple of days to meet with the families that hosted children during last summer's program. It will give her a chance to meet us all first-hand, and to see the environments that the children she's cared for will soon call home. We hope she approves of us!!!
In the meantime, we wait. And wait. And wait. We are still waiting to hear that our dossier has been accepted by the Ukrainian adoption authority and to be granted an invitation to come to Ukraine to adopt Masha. Our dossier was submitted on or around 7 February, and the 20-day waiting period was up early last week. So far, our facilitators in Ukraine have not been able to get any information about our appointment, but parents in the group that had documents submitted in mid-January have begun to receive invitation letters. We watch the mail pretty closely these days!!!!
We appreciate all of your prayers and positive thoughts.....they mean the world to us, as do all of you!
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