Anyone?

I'm curious, have any of you heard of someone else who was sent home after a fruitless first appointment and is waiting to return to Ukraine for a second one? Other than our friends the Reeds and us, I have not been able to find anyone else in this situation. Yet, we were told at the SDA that over 100 people were in line ahead of us to be called back for a second appointment. I realize this includes hopeful adopters from other countries as well, but I have my doubts that the list is really that long. Let us know what you know!

Gina

Blood Work and Med Forms...Again

After getting our lab results back (you'll be happy to know we are still free from Hepatitis B, Syphilis, and HIV), we went in to get our medical forms updated. (Since our adoption hasn't been completed yet, we're having to make sure all forms in our dossier stay current.)

You may remember last year it was a major hassle to get these filled out correctly by the doctors and nurse staff. It took several tries (mainly by my doctor), and after finally getting it done right, I got a bill for $100--just for having the paper signed, in addition to what we paid for physicals, blood work, and all that. One of my big fears was having to re-do this form, and low and behold, we had to re-do it.

We went in yesterday, and thankfully it was a breeze! We both went to David's doctor this time, and he was very careful to make sure all the details were just right. He even walked down to the pharmacy with us to make sure it was notarized correctly by the notary-pharmacist, and let us carefully watch the process. Thank God for Dr. Bott! And for something smooth in this volatile process!

This week in Omaha, we'll be in the single digits. This makes Ukraine's 30's sound balmy. We know it's different when you have to be out in it, though. We're thankful to be able to go from building to car to building. We are so blessed here!

Gina

God sets the lonely in families

That's how Psalm 68:6 begins: "God sets the lonely in families..."
We are so thankful for the opportunity to be the family that a lonely child will be set into. Even though our little girl may be excited to come home with us, I doubt she has any idea what she's really missing in a family.

I think this could be said of a lot of people. And not just orphans.

He sets the lonely in families. We were reminded of this truth again this weekend. Our church family (Heartland Church) donated their hard-earned money to provide us with a really nice Christmas bonus. This follows the recent collection gathered for Pastor Appreciation in October. I believe the first gift toward our adoption came last year (2006) in the form of a Christmas bonus. Throughout 2007, we watched the church adoption fund (originated by our good friend and worship pastor Matt) grow beyond our expectations. In addition to financing, Heartland has been a huge support through prayer and encouraging words. I don't know what we'd do without this family!

For nearly our whole married life, we have lived far away from any biological family. Needless to say, there have been many lonely times. But thankfully, God sets the lonely in families. He continues to build us up through the Church around us, as well as through the larger Church family--friends/family from all over who have supported us. I don't know how many times this year I've thanked God for the Church. And I don't plan to stop any time soon.

Gina

Necessities

We know that many of you are reading this blog b/c you're also in the process of adoption. As you're preparing to bring home your child, you'll probably remember things like clothes and bedding. But I want to stress how important it is that you also remember music. Afterall, music is one way to help your child grow artistically. With that in mind, we'd like to recommend this option...you can thank us later.

(If you're not really interested in kids music, you'll want to watch too. This could change your mind.)

Pointless Meeting

Our facilitator Yuri did meet with the Deputy Minister. However, "they were not very helpful," according to our family coordinator. They still will not give approximate dates. She went on to write: "...we expect that they will check with Yuri when they potentially have children available which match what your request is regarding your openness to them and then you will be invited. This means that it appears we are back to where we started with the second appointment. The timing however is up in the air." We have to watch our dossier documents and make sure they are updated, which we've already been doing. More waiting. More money.

David is starting to get used to the idea of going a month or so later than we had planned. Being able to have warmer weather while we're there would be nice. But there's still that nagging urgency to get our daughter out of the orphanage and finally home.

Gina

Still waiting

Thanks for praying for Yuri's appointment today. Since it's around midnight in Ukraine as I write this, I'm thinking we won't be getting any news about the meeting today. Hopefully tomorrow. We assume that no news means no significant thing worth reporting happened at the appointment. But who knows?

What's a little frustrating is that even when we get some news, it can change just as quickly as it came. At any time, the new administration will be taking over, and we don't know how they will decide to do things. What we do know is that they can decide and put it into effect at a moment's notice. I had heard you have to be flexible when adopting from Ukraine. That's an understatement. I could be an Olympic gymnast after this journey!

Thankfully God is in charge. And He never changes.

Gina

Any News?

It's funny b/c we met some people online that are in the same situation we are processing through this stage of the adoption in Ukraine. They are having the same conversations with their friends and family as we are. The dominant question: So, do you have any news? The dominant response: Nope.

Well, here's some news...

We did get word from our family coordinator saying that she spoke with our facilitator (Yuri) in Ukraine and the scoop is that he spoke with a staff psychologist at the state department of adoption (SDA) and the plan is to invite families waiting for a second appointment back when there is a child matching their request (we were hoping for that!). Tomorrow, January 9th, Yuri has a meeting with the Deputy Director of the SDA to share our situation and to get clear answers regarding approximate travel dates based on when children matching our request will be available. This meeting is going down @ 3 p.m. Kiev time (7 a.m. Omaha time...but you can see that thanks to those saavy clocks we loaded on the site!)

Would you please join us in prayer for that meeting tomorrow? Please pray for the following:

• That Yuri would have a productive meeting with the Director and that they would be honest and straightforward giving clear directions on what we can expect upon our return.
• That we would have a much clearer picture regarding travel dates
• That our second appointment would ultimately yield the little girl that matches our request

Tomorrow we're having to start the process of updating forms. We get to start with the medical form! This one was by far the most difficult one to complete the first time around. We have to go get another HIV, syphillis, hepatitis B, and TB test. I'm wondering what our insurance company thinks of all this? What would you think if someone came in to a clinic within one year of previously having these tests for high-risk behaviors? "This is for adoption!" "Yeah...sure!" Hmmmm......

Anyway, would you please spend some time in prayer over the course of the rest of today and tomorrow on our behalf? We'll let you know what we know when they tell us what went down!