Talked to Them Just Now!!

Like cold water to a weary soul, So is good news from a distant land.
Proverbs 25:25

How wonderful it was to hear "Good Morning" at 11:00 at night!! We are so thankful to hear their sweet voices and to just have a sweet, lighthearted conversation with them! They think it is so funny when we say 'ya tebe lebleu' which is 'i love you' in Ukrainian:) I guess we sound kinda funny with our American/Texas accents. They are just precious. I must admit that at times I get caught up in the process of the adoption and I don't realize that I have forgotten how very much I love these girls until I hear their voices and a get a quick glimpse into their lives. We thought it was a neat glimpse into their hearts that they when they realized that it was nighttime here, they were so concerned that we had stayed up late to call them (it is 8 hours later there). We told them that we were more than happy to stay up!!

It had been way too long since we had been able to talk to them - issues with phone service over there and busyness on the part of our translator has made it difficult over there. I have been missing them a lot this week and just praying for God's protection over their lives. We are really hoping and praying that the visas are issued QUICKLY!!! Please pray with us for them!

A Few Things~

We are not happy to report that the summer plans are looking a bit bleak right now. For varying reasons that I am not really sure of, the hosting group that the girls should be coming with is having trouble getting visas - actually with getting a visa appointment with the American Embassy in Kiev. It seems very possible that the trip will either be greatly shortened or cancelled. Originally the plan was for them to arrive this coming weekend! That date was changed to June 10th and now we are being told that it should be later June. While we are sad for every day that are not able to be here this summer, we are still cautiously optimistic that we will have at least eight weeks or so with them.

To update on the adoption process, we are just about done with the dossier - we were holding off of finalizing a few things because we didn't want things to expire. We have also had to redo a few documents already. The only thing we are still waiting on is that darn 171H form!!! About a month ago we recieved a letter from CIS saying that we were missing a few things in our homestudy. It has been updated and sent off, so hopefully we will get the 171H very soon. We are hoping that the homestudy is sufficient this time - we can't imagine why it wouldn't be. Our facilitator is pretty sure that our names will be posted to submit in August based on our number and what numbers are listed for June and July submissions. So if that works out to submit in August then we could be traveling to adopt these girls by maybe mid-November. This is all a huge guess on my part with tons of things that could change, but I am such a planner I just can't help myself! Okay so that is all I've got for now!

One other thing - we should get to talk to the girls tomorrow morning (afternoon for them).

Happy Birthday Katya!

Katya had a birthday a few days ago and we were able to call her the morning of her birthday (well afternoon for her). We all stood in our kitchen before the kids went to school and sang her Happy Birthday. It was so much fun for us and I think she was pretty excited too :) She was very giddy on the phone. Then, one of her caretakers took her and Nastya and a few friends out to celebrate with ice cream and other goodies. I pray that she would just see a glimpse of how precious she is and how loved beyond measure she is by the Lord. I am thankful that we can bless her in this small way.

I just got pictures today of the fun they had. I am happy to share pictures of the girls with you if you ask - I know lots of people post pictures on blogs of children they are trying to adopt but I just don't feel good about their pictures being so accessible at this point. So just ask and I will email you - I would love to share their pics with people I know!

I was able talk with the girls a few days before that and we had probably the best phone conversation we've had yet. (Sometimes the phone talks are a little difficult with the translations and background noise - we are so glad we can talk but sometimes it just feels a little awkward). Anyways, last week I was driving to NASA for a field trip for Allee and was actually in the car alone because Allee was riding with her friend for awhile. I called the translator and talked to the girls - we talked so easily about summer and swimming and they wanted to know all about what the our kids were up to. I asked them if they knew how to swim - they said yes and Katya asked if we could swim ALL day one day this summer :) We talked about Katya's birthday and about their schoolwork. They asked about riding horses and we talked about that too. They told me all about being in the hospital with chicken pox and how glad they are that is over now. I told them at least they won't ever get it again. Katya said she knew one boy who got it twice but I told her that was pretty rare and not to worry about it :) Anyways I am glad for a good talk.

Please be in prayer about the visas for the summer trip - we have reason to be at least a little concerned that they either may not get the visas or that the trip will become very short. It has definitely been shortened by about 10 days - that is not too bad but we are just worried that with the difficulties in Ukraine that it could take a long time to get the visas and delay it even furthur. But at this point we can't dwell on it and are just planning for them to be here.