We leave TOMORROW!

I can't believe it is finally here. We leave for Michigan tomorrow. We are staying the night at my father in law's Thursday night and then we get to pick Lima up on Friday from Chicago. After we pick her up, we go straight to Michigan and get to spend 10 days with our soon to be daughter! Dropping her off at the airport is going to be so hard. I am not looking forward to it, but through the grace of God, I will have the strength.

The children get to go to a vacation Bible school while they are here and will get Russian Bibles. I pray that many will accept Christ on the trip. It will be interesting to see how Lima is with the other children on the trip. We hope to go to the zoo if the weather is good. I have been told she likes to take pictures. I got her a small camera and thought this would be a good opportunity for her.

I am still working on my Russian and getting a bit better. Maybe Lima will speak some Spanish lol, I would be good then. Lloyd has started learning Russian as well and doing ok so far. He has less time, but when he can squeeze it in, he does.

I am not sure if I will have access to the Internet when we are in Michigan, so I may not get to post anything until when we get back!

As far as the adoption process goes, I have sent off for all the papers I need and am just waiting on a few. Lloyd has his physical on the 8th. Then we should be able to have the homestudy and the next step is getting the Dossier ready. I am not sure how long all of this takes. (this is our first international adoption). It is pretty new to me. I hope to have her home before Christmas, although that may be a high expectation. I would really love to have her home before her birthday (Nov 12).

On a sadder note, with the approaching departure time, I am quickly realizing how hard it is going to be to leave my other babies!! I have never been away from Chloe or Sarah for more than a day. They are excited about going to grandma's, but it is killing me. Jacob will be fine, though he said he will miss me too. The other night he got sad about it. This is HUGE for him. He has Asperger syndrome, a form of autism, and when he was first diagnosed, we never knew what to expect and I am so happy at where he is now. When he sad he was going to miss me and almost cried, I thought back to when I wondered if he would ever say, "I love you" and know what it meant. He does, he is in our world again and I thank God for those blessings.

I think Brandon is going to love spending time at grandmas. He will be getting his permit to drive while we are gone. It is a big milestone I am going to miss. He is fine with it and has been amazing through this process. In the beginning, I was worrying about needing to go to Russia for 3-4 weeks and leave the little ones to a point, that I almost did not want to do this. Brandon said, "you are worrying about your kids not having a mom for 3 weeks and this little girl doesn't even have a mom." I was so proud of him at that moment.

I know this is all worth it. God has a plan for the whole thing. I am so excited to see where He leads us next!

Thank you for your continued prayers!

Getting Excited

We are just a few short days away from getting to meet the little girl that has stolen our hearts She has become a part of our family and she does not even know us. I just can't wait. I have been packing her clothes and it is making this more real. It is going to be so hard to have to send her back to Russia after getting to spend so much time with her. I am not looking forward to that part. I just pray that all of this paperwork goes by quickly so she can come home for good.

I have spoken with Jacob's occupational therapist and we have a plan for when she comes. It is like the whole family is prepared and ready, we just need her. We really aren't ready, we still have not started on the room. It is still Matt's storage room, but I know there is time.

Lima is going to get to see her sister for the first time in 5 years. She was adopted by a family in Michigan that did not know Lima existed. We have been speaking with the family and have plans to go shopping and let the girls sew some dresses and maybe go to the zoo. I cannot wait for her to get to see her sister.

I have been working on learning Russian and I am starting to pick up some words and learning to read a little.

We are praying about another situation that will also change our family. Please pray for clarity in our decision and to know God's will in this situation and for the strength and courage to follow whatever His will is.

Thank you all for the support you have shown. We really apreciate all of it!

Just thinking

I was just sitting here thinking. It is so hard waiting and I know there is so much waiting left to do. I just want to be able to tuck her into bed. To hug her, to wipe away tears. I have such a new found respect for parents that adopt this way. With Sarah, she was in my arms while we waited. I tucked her in every night. I always had the thought in the back of my mind, that they could come take her at anytime, BUT I still had her there.

This is so hard. The more I prepare and see pictures, the more I am falling in love with this little girl I have never met. I want to take care of her. I want to be her mom and she doesn't even know it. We get to meet her the end of the month and I am so excited, but it will be so hard not letting her know I am her mom. I understand the need to wait, I would hate for something to happen and her to be let down. She is sitting over there alone with no idea there is an entire family over her loving her.

The children are talking about her alot. We got a video of her and it was wonderful. They are getting to know her a little too. Jacob said today that he wants to play dinosaurs with her. Sarah wants to play house and Chloe wants to play babies. Every morning Sarah asks if we are going to get her today. I guess they are getting impatient too.

I really could use prayers for comfort in this. It is hard feeling like a mother and not getting TO mother.

Fundraising ideas.

As we are trying to raise money for XXXX's adoption, I started thinking about things I could offer. One of my hobbies is photography. I got the idea to offer prints of some of my favorite photos. I am hoping this will help us a little.

Some of my other talents are web page design, sewing, and anything to do with birthing babies. I am going to see about how I can incorporate those.

We purchased some fundraising candy bars and we will be selling those as well.

Papers, Papers Everywhere!

Wow, I forgot how much paper work was involved in adopting. I am getting more organized. Maybe when we are finished, I will stay that way. I have organized every other part of my life, I guess it is about time to get papers organized as well.

I am waiting on a call back from the homestudy agency. That is my next step. I have all the application, I just have a few questions for them and we need to set up when they come out.

I have sent in all of the paper work for hosting. That trip is coming soon. I still need to go shopping for some things for our soon to be daughter. A wonderful family that hosted her before has a bunch of clothes for her. That is such a blessing. God is really orchestrating this whole thing!

I want to work on her room, but there are so many other things we have to do right now and I want an idea of what she likes before we do it. I am thinking that will be a great project for when all our paperwork is in and we are waiting on the Russian side. It will give me something to keep my mind off of the wait.

I may be working a couple of weekends coming up. It will be great timing if this works out. It will be about 4 weekends total over a 2 months period. It won't take me away from the children long and it will be much needed money!

We still highly covet your prayers. Help this go smoothly and quickly so she can come over here as soon as possible!

We are getting closer to our trip to Michigan.

We get to go to Michigan to host her for 9 days. I am looking forward to it. I hope she likes us. I hope we can learn a little Russian before the 27th. We are going to stop by my father in laws on the way to our visit. It will be harder hosting in a state that I do not know, but I am sure it will work out. It is great that we get this opportunity, it will save us a trip to Russia and quite a bit of money.

I would sure appreciate your prayers during this time. The language issue will make it harder, but we will have some translators available at times.

I just can't wait to meet her. We have decided on an American name for her. At least a first name. It will be Rebekah. We are working on a middle name. Rebekah is a name I have always loved and the lady that has been such a blessing to us during this, is Rebekah. If she decides she like the name, I will start referring to her as Rebekah. Until then, I am told not to use her name.

I am working on all the paper work for the adopting application and the homestudy. We just finalized on our adoption with Sarah last August, but it was through the state and so we have to do an international homestudy. I feel like, "Didn't we just do this?" It is worth it, I do wish there was a way some of it could translate over.

Getting Started

XXXX is a beautiful 11 year old girl from Russia. We have been told that she has learning disabilities and there is a good chance she has Fetal Alcohol Syndrome. She came to the United States to be hosted. We first heard about her from an email that was sent to a friend that she then forwarded to us. She was one of the four children that did not have a home. When I saw her picture, I knew there was something there.

I had to get more information. I talked with the contact person and the more I found out, the more I knew she was to be our daughter. I spoke with my husband and he was not convinced yet. We went to a meeting about Russian adoption, which actually scared me to death. I was overwhelmed and was having second thoughts. My husband however, after much prayer, knew it was meant to be. God worked on my heart a little more and I knew as well. I know this will be so much work to find the money to get her here, but I have faith that God will provide all we need and I will work to the best of my ability to make it happen.

So, we started a web page:
http://www.ssvmidwifery.com/lima/index.html

And now I am starting this blog. This is my first blog. I hope to chronicle our process to bringing her home.