Big Week--the sequel

After this process being stagnant for so long, it has been exciting having things happen almost every week!  This week we received our biometric (fancy way of saying "fingerprints") appointment from the U.S. government.  We go in on March 8 for our final step before sending our dossier (fancy way of saying "whole heck of a lot of papers") to Ukraine.  Also this week, we made contact with the lawyers in Ukraine who will be serving as our facilitators for the adoption.  They have agreed to take our case, and are going to start the leg work in finding all the available info on Artyom.  Prayers would be appreciated that all of his paperwork is obtainable and quickly found!

New (old) Pic

This picture is kind of amazing.  I spent a lot of time praying this morning that I could have some kind of connection today.  This was sent to Aaron in a facebook message this evening!  It was actually taken this summer after Aaron's trip to Ukraine.  Aaron bought the soccer ball (or football) for Artyom and got the boys a matching one.  Doug (in the picture) is a missionary in Ukraine that works closely with the kids in the orphanage.  Most of the pictures that we have come from him.  It is a real comfort knowing that there is someone there loving on this precious boy when I can't.

  Maybe I am a bit bias, but I think he is pretty darn handsome!

Room for Two!

Cal has been living alone in the big room since Trent moved out on his own a couple of years ago (just into two seperate bedrooms...both of my children do actually live under my roof).  He has been so excited to get a new roommate and has been eagerly helping me put together a new room.  We have matching bedspreads and are going to be decorating around these fun colors!

The lime green "t-shirt" is actually a pillow that Cal made at school from an old shirt of his that didn't fit anymore.  Thanks Mrs Cameron!

Big Week!!

It has been months since my last post.  There have been many times that I have thought about it, and even had big ideas about what to write about...I just never could quite make it to the follow through.  We have had many hold ups and snags, and to be honest, I was getting very discouraged.  I didn't want to write because in my eyes, nothing had changed.  BUT, this week things changed!  On Valentine's day we finally got to file our I-600A.  An I-600A is just another government paper of random letters and numbers that I knew nothing about until we entered into this process.  Now, I get so excited saying those all-important letters and numbers.  Once we recieve our approval and fingerprints from the US government, we can send our dossier across the ocean to Ukraine! 
People's favorite question is, "what does your timeline look like?''  Honestly, I have absolutely no idea, and I try not to even speculate.  One thing that I have been trying to learn is that when come up with my own time-table, I am never content to rest in the plans that God has for us and for Artyom.  All I do know is that this week, we did something. And, this week was a good week. 

                                Cal sending our I-600A.  He has hard time containing his excitment this week!

A couple of weeks ago, we got an unexpected update picture of Artyom.  It did a lot to revive our spirit and keep us pushing forward.