How it all started

In July 2011 Darwin and I went to Ukraine on a mission trip with our church.  One of the things we did was go to orphan camps and did festivals.  We had balloon tying, face painting, crafts, skits, all for the purpose of sharing the Gospel with the orphans.  We were at the balloon tying station.  I was making a balloon dog for a 13 year old girl named Anya.  She wanted to learn how to make a dog, so I showed her.  We had a great time chatting, she was teaching herself English so we were able to talk a little.  Darwin was watching all this and felt that the Lord told him, not audibly of course, that we should try to adopt Anya.  He told me that and I was shocked!  Many months prior to this I had prayed that if God wanted us to ever adopt a child that He would show Darwin.  I wasn't even thinking about it on this trip.  During the rest of our time at the camp Anya always found us.  We enjoyed spending time with her very much.  As we left the camp later that day Anya was running after the bus in the dark.  It broke my heart to see her running after us.

When we returned to the States the long process of adoption paperwork began.  We filled out forms, got them notarized and apostilled.  I never heard the word apostille before.  Now I know it well.  Finally we completed all the paperwork and sent it on to Ukraine.  There were many delays and eventually our paperwork expired and we had to redo it all.  In all this waiting we have seen God's faithfulness.  We didn't  doubt God's direction and kept moving forward.

Finally the time has come.  We have done everything we can do from here.  It is time to go to Ukraine and do more paperwork!  My prayer as we go has been this; "If You don't personally go with us, don't make us leave this place." (Exodus 33:15).  In Exodus 33:14, God said to Moses, "I will personally go with you and I will give you rest - everything will be fine for you."  If God is in this, and we trust that He is, the adoption will work and it will be good.

Last week we got our approval from the government of Ukraine to come and we have an appointment at the State Department for Adoption (SDA) on June 5th.  We leave on June 2nd. We are very excited to finally be going.